Tag Archives: division of labour

Maths Class

Posted on May 4, 2015 by InspGuilfoyle

Here’s Stick Teacher. Today Stick Teacher is going to run through a few sums with the Stick Children. Adults might find his case studies useful too. Stick Teacher is going to demonstrate how to save money whilst providing a better service – what’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged division of labour, management, process improvement, Stick Child, systems thinking | 6 Comments

Silos

Posted on August 25, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

These imposing monolithic structures, silhouetted against the moody twilight sky, are silos. Actual silos. Not theoretical silos in a book about organisational structures or systems design, but vast, towering, dirty, functional, tangible silos, silently displacing thousands upon thousands of cubic metres of … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged division of labour, flow, handovers, management, silos, systems, systems thinking, variety, waste | 6 Comments

Dial ‘F’ For Failure

Posted on May 16, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

The NHS recently launched its non-emergency 111 number. Staffed by ‘a team of fully trained advisers’, the scheme’s aim is to quickly and accurately identify the most appropriate medical response to the caller’s needs. What’s important to note is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged blame, demand, division of labour, management, nhs, risk aversion, systems thinking, variety | 5 Comments

Get Back! Stay Back!

Posted on January 20, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

This post is little more than the illegitimate mutant offspring of two of my other posts – Great Expectations and Epic Fail. Nevertheless, I find it cathartic to grumble about the systems-orientated screw-ups that continually aggravate me. Today’s musings surround … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged division of labour, flow, management, purpose, systems thinking, variety | 3 Comments

Epic Fail

Posted on December 19, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Yesterday, I saw this headline in a newspaper: “£136million spent by customers waiting to get through to HM Revenue and Customs”. The article bemoaned the amount of time that HMRC customers were left on hold (if they got through at … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, demand, deming, division of labour, failure demand, flow, management, systems, systems thinking, tax, variation, waste | 5 Comments

Great Expectations

Posted on December 7, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Recently I had a minor prang in my beloved car. (I won’t go into detail for legal reasons, but I was neither texting, daydreaming about systems, nor changing dodgy 80s CDs in the CD player at the time it happened). … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged demand, division of labour, flow, handovers, management, process improvement, systems thinking, variety, waste | 9 Comments

No Cheese, Please!

Posted on August 30, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Someone recently asked me, “Why don’t you write blog posts about positive things?” I was surprised at first (and probably a bit defensive) as I think my posts are positive – after all, I don’t just go about kidney-punching management … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged decision making, demand, division of labour, management, organisational culture, purpose, systems thinking, teamwork, variation, waste | 6 Comments

Divide And Don’t Conquer

Posted on November 1, 2011 by InspGuilfoyle

In my last post (“Pie In The Sky”), I talked a bit about the effect of handovers within systems, and how they almost always result in waste, delays and inefficiencies. This post is going to look at this concept in a bit … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged deming, division of labour, hand offs, handovers, lean, management, process improvement, systems, systems thinking | 20 Comments