Tag Archives: flow

Stick Child Tries to Buy Milk

Posted on February 3, 2014 by InspGuilfoyle

Stick Child is a healthy little chappie and he loves a nice cold drink of milk at break time. (Do they still do those 1/3 pint bottles for 8p, with the really thin straws? Just wondered…) Anyway, Stick Child’s usual … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged flow, process improvement, purpose, Stick Child, systems thinking, variety, waste | 3 Comments

My Trip to America – A Systems Thinker’s Diary

Posted on November 1, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

I’ve just got back from America, and because I don’t have the ability to switch off the systems thinking part of my brain, I kept noticing ‘systemsy’ stuff whilst I was there, so I thought I’d share a few observations … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged flow, gaming, lean, management, purpose, systems thinking, variation, waste | 2 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

“It’s Complicated…”

Posted on June 7, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

I was going to write this blog post a few days ago…then I wasn’t…then I was…then I wasn’t. Then, after the agency featured in the diagram tipped me over the edge today, I did. So here it is… (Please note: … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged efficiency gains, flow, lean, purpose, systems thinking, variety | 11 Comments

Ministry of Silly Systems

Posted on April 10, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

Recently, I had cause to write to a Government department to ask a question. I knew my query was in good hands as soon as I received an automated reply advising me of their service level agreement for replying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged demand, flow, purpose, systems thinking, targets, variety, waste | 9 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

Pull The Other One

Posted on January 13, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

After a couple of forays into the worlds of wildlife and motorway driving, I return briefly to the subject of food and drink, largely because once you have been afflicted with seeing everyday situations from a systems perspective, the pub … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged demand, efficiency gains, flow, nhs, police, pull, purpose, systems, systems thinking, variety | 12 Comments

Life in the Fast Lane

Posted on December 29, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

According to St Etienne, life is ‘like a motorway’. I’m not too sure about that, but I do know that a motorway is definitely like a system… (*ignores groans from readership*) During my travels on some of the nation’s motorways … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged flow, motorway, process, systems, systems thinking, traffic, variation | 13 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