Why do people keep pretending that useful things have not been invented For example, I keep seeing waiting staff in restaurants struggling to carry more than a couple of plates and IK want to shout

When we are young and inexperienced, we tend to think that if we work harder we will be more productive. As we gain experience (and age), we start to realise that this is not true.  Too

I was back in China last week. The economic miracle of China is well know but many people still think it was, and is, built on cheap labour and ‘copycat’ products. These people have never

I watch quite a bit of sport on TV, including American football. Those of you who know the game will know that each side has virtually 3 teams playing in a match - the offence,

Recently I got caught up in a great commute ... I had to travel into the city centre at the same time as all the other unfortunates that do so at the sane time every

Does your organisation practise 5S? The answer Is probably ‘No’.  It is a much misunderstood and little used approach., regarded by many as ‘mere housekeeping’. It is, of course, housekeeping but absolutely not ‘mere’ housekeeping. It

Healthy workers are productive workers. it is hard to argue with that statement. However, we might argue about what makes a healthy worker. Unlike the darkest day’s of the industrial revolution, nowadays, there are not

Many companies now encourage staff to get involved in charitable work. Some even organise it and provide resources, especially time. The motivation is usually to improve the company image amongst the local community. However there

I am not immune from careless or overhasty thinking. Recently I read a report on new developments for air conditioning making devices more energy efficient. My immediate thought was that we should just get rid

There are great hopes for autonomous vehicles - though some worry about whether the technology is ‘up to the job’. There are some driving situations and conditions where autonomy is relatively easy and others (driving

I have been doing quite a bit of work with Lean approaches and techniques recently. I like Lean ... not because of the tools and techniques (which are excellent on the whole) ... but because

The benefits of workforce diversity are well documented. Usually, however, these relate to diversity in race, gender and sexuality. There are also benefits in an age-diverse workforce where the different attitudes and skills that come

It is difficult to change the behaviour of a child who is a fussy eater. If you try to punish, you reinforce the negative associations of the food they don’t like. If you try to

Many people look to famous entrepreneurs as role models. They see people driven by success, working hard over long hours and completely focused. However, they fail to realise that such people might be ‘wired’ differently

One of things we do, as productivity professionals, is to examine the evidence - the performance data - to identify where problems and Improvement opportunities exist.  Indeed, we often go further to investigate the root

Many firms believe that technology will make them more productive - technology in their main processes and in their communication/administrative processes. Technology, of course, can be an aid to productivity. But it is only really

A few weeks ago I wrote about the need to take some time away from the pressures of work to recharge your body and mind and come back stronger.  Here is little tip (hack?) complementary

I have been reading and writing about Lean quite a bit recently. It is one if those topics where the more you know and the more you read, the more you realise you don’t know. 

Recently I talked about value - and the fact that it is not a straightforward phenomenon.  What I didn’t mention in that piece was the topic of what you value ... personally. Presumably if you

There are lots of blogs written about topics such as a The 7 habits of the Superperformers, suggesting we can learn from what successful business people and entrepreneurs do to make them successful. Well, we

Lean Thinking emphasises the concept of value - which in business is the creation of product/service features and attributes that the customer wants or needs AND is willing to pay for. The second criterion of

Are you doing everything you can to make your organisation efficient? Do you run a very ‘tight’ and ‘lean’ company.. Good! But it’s not enough. Efficiency is the baseline. It is where all organisations should

I saw someone suggesting the other day that increased private  investment in (private) education would improve its productivity. Think this is debatable? As in many other areas, it depends on how you define and measure

Remote or distance working (often referred to as ‘working from home’) has become increasingly popular over the last decade. There is no doubt that fir many job roles, the technology exists to facilitate such working.