Examples of “keeping what works”

I decided these examples should be a post of their own, because it was making the previous post way to long.  So what follows are two examples of how I “tried a lot of things, and kept what works” and “fired bullets, then cannonballs.”

Example 1

I was looking for project management software to help me coordinate a bit better with the 7 stores that I have to interact with.  I tried 3 different versions (try a lot of things).  I tested them myself first (fire bullets).  When I found one I liked i started to use it exclusively (keep what works).

I kept track of my work by using the software.  It helped me get better organized and stay on task a lot more.  It also helped me not let small projects fall through the cracks.

So far so good.  I then got 3 associates at one store to test it (fired another bullet).  I would assign tasks and they would give me feedback and put their own tasks on there.  It seemed to be working well, so I tried to expand again (fired another bullet).  Then discovered where the problems were.  I, and the associates testing it, were more tech oriented.  When I expanded to the store that had less tech savvy individuals, it didn’t work as well.  I dropped the idea and will revisit in the future. (did not fire cannonball)

Fortunately, I was using freeware and hadn’t upgraded to the paid version yet.  But I learned a valuable lesson and had it worked, our productivity would have increased.   Since it didn’t, well…we’re back where we were originally.  No harm, no foul.  If the worst that happens is you’re right back where you were, then that’s where you would have been had you not tried.

You may ask, “but didn’t you waste your time and some of your colleague’s time?”  Actually, no.  Since I first started with just me, and it did help make me more efficient, it didn’t waste my time.  When I expanded it, only after seeing positive results, it actually helped them as well.  Had I only had to work with 1 store, this program would have been fully implemented.  The cost/benefit at that point would have been worth it, going to 7 stores with various levels of proficiency meant more costs (in training, etc) than benefits.

I use the example of a failed test, rather than successful, because failure should not be a reason to not attempt something.  “How can you know if you don’t even try?”

I have a number of examples of things I’ve tried that work.  Wordpress is one example.

Example 2

My company has 7 stores.  We used to send out “comms” (store memos about policy changes, new programs, etc) to all seven stores.  These were printed at one location and faxed.  The stores would then save them in a binder.  As you can imagine this had several problems.

1. Comms not received
2. No archive
3. Waste of Paper
4. Poor search function (“I think there was something written back in May?”)

And many more.

I tried a couple of different things to solve some of the problems.  We had a single folder where all comms were to be saved for future reference.  We tried to create a database to save them.

Then one day, I switched my personal blog over to WordPress.  Then Eureka!, I’d found our solution.

I’d considered using a blog before, but the blog software I was using wasn’t as user friendly as WordPress and we couldn’t make it private.  Wordpress solved all this.

I started out again small.  Simultaneously while I was sending out regular comms, I would copy them to our *blog*.  I was able to search by words.  I could put tags on them to help with search.  I could create categories to help even further for searching.

On top of that, we could link to product info websites, post pictures & videos, more easily share documents. I now get more feedback from our store employees, thanks to comments. Even better, we were using less paper.  By one estimate we’re saving about 2 reams of paper a year.

We “tried a lot of things, and kept what worked” and “fired bullets then cannonballs”.  I tried different solutions, found the one that worked, started small, then went big to great success and increased efficiency.

With your business, if you’ve discovered a problem and can’t seem to find a solution, keep looking.  The more solutions you try that don’t work, the more you’ll actually KNOW what type of solution is required.  Had I not tried different project management solutions, I wouldn’t know how useful they can be in general, or what I really need to make it work for my company.  Likewise, had I not tried blogging software before, and different sorts of archiving, I wouldn’t have realized that WordPress would make such a great solution.

Are you letting the bullets fly at your company? (figuratively, of course)