Monthly Archives: June 2011

Gramdma Has Left The Kitchen!


I remember a commercial from a few years back, I think it was for spaghetti sauce. It showed an Italian family’s kitchen as the Sunday meal was being made. In the kitchen, there were several grandmothers working away over a … Continue reading

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Creative Projects: A Few Ideas And Tools!


Every now and then you run across some really useful tools, or fascinating trends, that can help you with your operations.  Six months later you may forget about these tools, or they may be replaced by something better. (Hey Facebook, … Continue reading

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Social Networking for Service Managers


Want less face time on Facebook? Tired of being a twit on Twitter? Don’t care if you can Google it? I think we’ve all had occasional overload from Internet social media. Yet, everywhere you go you’re told how this is … Continue reading

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 3 – Building Consensus


A Project Charter is a document that describes a project, names the people who will perform the project, what their roles will be and the name of the project sponsor (the individual that requested the project). Any book on Six … Continue reading

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 2 – A Step by Step Guide


When you’re ready to start a project you need to create a Project Charter. In our last Blog we went over the consequences of not having a charter. Today, we’re going to cover the steps you need to take to … Continue reading

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 1 – Do We Need Charters?


If you were to take everything in the very large Six Sigma toolkit and try to identify the top ten most important tools, the Project Charter is near the top. A charter is just a very good description of what you … Continue reading

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Size Matters: How Big Is Your Work Day?


Understanding exactly how many hours of work your staff is  capable of is important if you have any hope of efficiently staffing your  organization. The hours of capacity in a service organization are usually  completely misunderstood. Once you  understand the … Continue reading

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How Much Do Your Services Cost?


Budgeting in Corporate Services has always been an approximate science. In some cases, very approximate. Because your services are far removed from the products that your firm sells to the outside world, it’s hard to know how and when to … Continue reading

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The Regulators: Round 2 – Are Your Costs In Line With The Market… Which Market?


Yesterday we spoke a bit about the rise of “Regulators” in Fortune 500 Firms. In the past service managers would periodically see directives for firm-wide budget controls, freezes for new hires, or (during especially difficult economic times) special committees that … Continue reading

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The Regulators : Who Are They And Why Are They Interested In You?


Most signs for the economy are looking up, and the pressure to reduce costs has reduced. However, as business is rising and new income producing staff is being hired, the new pressure for Corporate Services is to support these new … Continue reading

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