My Favourite Waste of Time

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A few weeks ago I saw a sign someone had added on a fridge, at a place where I have been doing some work. It made me smile, but I could fully understand the well meaning thought that created it. Clearly there had been a problem at some time. The sign seemed a few months maybe a year old. I liked it so much that I added it to my personal 365 photo project, as image number 110/365.

Be careful, Door may fall off

After I had smiled a bit it made me consider how that sign was a bit like a lot of process steps I see. Pretty much added because some problem occurred at some time and then those steps became ‘the way we have always done things around here’. Don’t get me on my Lemon Drizzle cake story now….

Think about your organisation and some of the waste of time process steps you take for granted.

• The way purchase invoices are ‘signed off’ (with pen & ink OBVs), because a supplier was paid twice for the same invoice, 4 years ago.
• The way your repair works orders need three people to authorise them, as once upon a time, a staff member who was also a tenant, ordered six reactive repairs in a single month.
• The way voids (‘empty properties’, if you are a non-social housing sector person, or my pal Barry Marlow reading this perhaps), involve 5 teams, rather than 1 single joined up one.
• The way reactive repairs need to be ‘phoned in’ as the asset/repair team are afraid if they came via self-service, hundreds of tenants might be ordering themselves new kitchens.
• The way all tenancy terminations are still recorded and written down, in a big Harry Potter style ledger, because from the 70’s that was what you always did. Of course terminations also go on a big daft complex expensive integrated housing system, which does the whole job rather well. Its less ornate than the historic ledger though.

You the reader might be laughing at this point, but I saw all of these through 2018, at a variety of places, around the UK and Ireland. While these are just random examples, if you hold a mirror up to your processes, you probably already know what I could add to this list.

We have turned a new year, lets use its 365 pages to root out some of our idiosyncrasies and quaintness and improve our processes. A lot of these checks could occur post event via a KPI.

A common argument I hear is "The auditors like it that way". That's mostly because the process is documented for the auditors that way. So, don't let that one fox you!

I hope this blog kick starts some action. Lets face it, doing that might be much easier than ‘Dry January’. If I can help you get on top of your systems and processes this year, just get in touch.

Happy New Year Everyone 😊🥂 !

Related Post: Secure yourselves and be sure to start with a longer or more complex password 

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Owen Paul - My Favourite Waste of Time.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


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