by admin | 09 Wed Nov 2016 | Automation, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Method, Process, Tools
How Do You Eat An Elephant? You cut him into bite-sized chunks, and eat them one mouthful at a time. (The oldest jokes are the best, and the funniest ones have an element of truth to them.) The same principle applies to making changes to your processes: don’t try...
by admin | 09 Wed Nov 2016 | Automation, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Method, Process, Tools
Do It Right The First Time (DIRTFT, pronounced “Dirtfoot”) is a variation of “a stitch in time saves nine”. Nonetheless, it is honoured more in the breach than the observance –we never seem to have time to do things right, which means we often have to find a lot more...
by admin | 09 Wed Nov 2016 | Automation, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Method, Process, Tools
No one process will address all situations, but the 80-20 rule applies: 80% of your work is routine, and 20% are one-offs. Automated voice attendants are great, if not universally loved, examples of this. Good ones are set up to quickly take the caller past the most...
by admin | 09 Wed Nov 2016 | Automation, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Method, Process, Tools
Do you remember your first bicycle? Did it have one gear, and you had to quickly slam the pedals backward to brake? Do you remember begging for a new bicycle, probably a ten speed? And – this is the critical bit – did one of your parents tell you “The more gears it...
by admin | 08 Tue Nov 2016 | Automation, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Information, Method, Process, Tools
… and Give it More Grunt Where You Can’t. The world record for a spreadsheet-based error is US$6.2 billion (yes, Billion with a B, with JP Morgan). It involved a copy-and-paste error, and was a real cash cost. The runner up is “only” US$2.6...
by admin | 04 Fri Nov 2016 | Economy, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Information, Quickbooks, Tools
Good question. As we’ve said elsewhere, each of Quickbooks’ three editions (Online, Pro, Premier) can have multiple versions (eg. 2013, 2016), flavours (eg. Contractors, Non-Profit, Retail), and regions (eg. Canada and US for most of our readers). Features (Budgets,...
