Meandering Mind - Eva Dillner [14]
Step 5 - Analyze
This is the trees part. Document where you are now. Analyze potential benefits, soft and hard. What alternatives are there? What is the bottom line impact of keeping inefficient systems?
Step 6 - Plan & Organize
Put together the plan for projects, key decision points, target dates, key resources needed etc. Obtain approval for issues beyond function jurisdiction. Ideally, the Re-Engineering Manager is put in charge of the function to be re-engineered. This ensures that he or she has the authority to implement changes.
Step 7 - Implement
Depending on alternatives pursued, this phase may be long or short. What you learn from the implementation phase forms the basis for the next level of improvements. Learn to see both the forest and the trees. The learning is on-going. Return to step one and remember - the joy is in the journey!
Examples of re-engineering
Eliminated 75% of reports previously generated that were found to be non-essential.
Increased quality levels and streamlined communications by connecting users directly with producers at shop floor level.
Reduced development cycle time 60% from concept to finished product by discovering real instead of written processes and procedures, by streamlining communication flows, by upgrading capability of people involved in the material flow chain, by learning the supplier manufacturing processes to understand what information they needed at what time and in what form. Sales volume went from zero to one million cases per year.
Increased engineering staff productivity 10% by developing new planning model for prioritizing and assigning projects.
About the Author
Ms. Dillner graduated with honors from the University of Washington with BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering and readily passed the professional engineering license exam. True to her INTJ type, she has always sought to find more effective ways to accomplish work. She has a fifteen-year track record of achievement in management roles reaching across packaging, purchasing, engineering and international construction for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. Her studies of creativity, intuition and the theories of individual working and learning styles add another dimension to her competence.
What others say
“...thanks for your professionalism, dedication and determination to bring the value of our department to the high level it now enjoys...”
“...a self starter developing systems and methods to increase efficiency and organization...”
“...excellent delegator with a strong emphasis on personal growth...”
“...extremely well organized and very efficient at prioritizing...”
“...has the ability to get to the heart of a problem...”
Squashed by projections
Sound pretty good, doesn't it? One of my “life energy” friends liked it a lot, she said it really captured the essence of who I am. The next person to read it went ballistic. Her fears came flying out as she screamed, “how are you going to get known?” followed by, “how are you going to market yourself?” and “why can't you just stick to normal ways and just get a job?”
Good questions I suppose. But you know what? The universe didn't want me to get a job like everyone else. God knows I've tried every which way to fit in and be normal and be like everyone else. But my path was elsewhere. I just didn't have the confidence to pursue that path then. I had no idea how to market myself and go be a consultant. My current view is that my job is to write books about it and seed the thoughts and give you the tools to do the work yourself. As one psychic friend put it, “you can reach many more people with your writing than you can by doing individual and group consulting or therapy.” She is absolutely right. When I write I have time to pull my thoughts together. After the books are written it may be time to go teach seminars based on the material in them. Or not.
New ideas often scare people. What happened when I got screamed at? Well, I felt