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Here's an interesting piece for all those interested in quality systems, Six Sigma, uptime, downtime, SLA's, the unexpected unexpecteds, the 5 Whys, and all the rest. Thought provoking stuff, I reckon. Let's hear some more in similar vein from you guys out there.

Interesting article Geoff. I worked in the software application industry for 15 years and found SLAs generally useless, unless penalties were built in to them. Essentially SLAs are not contractual documents and are really just constant works in progress and hence are not legally binding. I would always advise any company purchasing software on an ASP basis to make sure all downtime penalties are added to the contract as well as the SLA. In terms of Quality I personally have worked with and have a red badge in "Service Management" using ITIL (IT Infrastucture Library) a set of best pracices procided by the OGC(Office of government commerce)http://www.ogc.gov.uk/guidance_itil.asp
This is the most widely used set of processes in the IT worls nowadays, however it is still mainly common sense applied efficiently. Anyway that is my twopenneth

Sometimes quality, eficiency, and continual improvement, can be over complicated by management tools. We can spend a lot of time implementing management tools and not enough time actually improving the system/process.

These tools are uselful to understand but the manager needs to be careful not to think that they will be the solution to their problems. They are only techniques - ultimately it is people that deliver quality, efficiency and improvements.

It is strong leadership and teamwork that is needed
The flavour of the day appears to be 'Lean' but all the academic papers i have read relating to Lean (in a public service environment) indicate it is 70% more likely to fail than to succeed, and where success happens, it is cannot always be proven to be Lean.

Don't get me wrong ... I believe there is a place for many of the management tools out there, and jumped on the band wagon promoting them.

With regards to NHS management is important to stay focussed on Input-output processes:
1. Understand what you put in:
Sick patents/broken equipment

2. and what you want out:
well patients/functional equipment

Don't assume that you know how something is being done - analyse the process.
Ask your staff what they do, how they do it, what causes delays or frustration. Then ask them how to improve the process.

One of the main blockages to change is telling people to change... it immediately gets their backs up.

If you ask them, review their ideas - implement the good ones, and then monitor adherence, the change will usually happen successfully.

AIM: Ask , Implement, Monitor.

This simple acronym belies all management tools.

"Something for the weekend, sir"?

Well, how about this:-


Find this gem (and more) in this piece. Yes, today is Pi day, apparently.

And, guess what, tomorrow is Idus Martiae (probably better known as the Ides of March)!