29 May Systems and processes

I have been considering that the difference between a business that makes it and a business that doesn't is their ability to have systems and processes in place to ensure the least amount of rework based on errors or misunderstanding client instructions.

We have been testing a number of checklists and processes of late to see where we can minimise errors when working with other contractors or trying to meet time turnarounds.

There can be no underestimating the saying ‘measure twice and cut once’.

This also makes me think on what I would call ‘editor’s block'.  By this, I mean that if you continually look at the same document or manuscript over and over again, eventually you can no longer see the errors and you need to step away from it and have someone else read it.

Another option to assist with breaking up this sort of editor’s block is to read a manuscript back to front, to deliberately make your written words out of context. This is a great tool to pick up errors within individual paragraphs.

I was taught this trick by a lawyer.  As you can imagine, most of their days would be reading line upon line of documents and mistakes could be the difference between a document being valid or invalid.  There is high incentive to do things right.

The Checklist Manifesto encourages you to keep looking at what you are doing. What are your processes and systems? Are you always aiming to improve, these systems and processes? To minimise simple errors and to be able to focus on finishing a project in a timely, and cost effective manner.

In book publishing, the aim is to have our books in print, to be shared with others.

Sometimes I think we can forget the end goal, publishing the book. We need to have clear and concise systems and processes so we cannot become caught up in them.

We want to bring the story to life to share with others.

Keep your eye on the end goal. Refine your systems and processes.