Driving Forward

It takes a lot of drive and stamina to keep moving forward when you are creating new technology. It is good once in a while to raise your head from your work and look around at what is happening around you.

Government Money Spent Well

We looked up recently and found a grant program that will pay for a PhD Student to work with us to help solve some technical hurdles. I forgot how resourceful and connected the student world is. Some of our bigger hurdles turn out to be easily solved using open source software solutions.

You Can Partner for Success

We are working with the University of Waterloo to stretch the grant dollars as far as we can. Canada has put together this program to help connect industry to academia through the National Sciences and Engineering Research council of Canada. (nserc) It is a great win – win when companies can advance their technology and students can work on real world applications. Canadian companies can have an advantage over our competitors when we think outside the box. Connect with your local University and start reaping the rewards.

Ask me and I will be happy to help connect you.

Find a Winning Idea

There are a million ideas out there. The problem is that only a few of that million are really any good. The numbers are smaller are even smaller if you want the idea to be profitable. I find ideas all the time and love most of them right out of the gates. Sober second thought and a vetting process takes the luster off many of them pretty quickly.

Sort Your Ideas

The first step when you find something you really like is to write it down and leave it alone for a few days. I love the way our minds continue to work even when you are not consciously thinking about it. If you still love your idea then next thing I do is apply a rigorous filter to it. Ask yourself some hard questions and be honest.

Sample Filter Questions

·         What are the goals for this idea? (don’t forget minimum and stretch goals)

·         What resources are required to reach your goal in dollars?

·         What people are required to reach your goal?

·         How long will it take to reach your goal?

·         How big could this idea possibly get? (Dream Big - I love this one!)

Now What?

Create a form with these questions on it that you can use over and over again. Write down your answers and tweak your form. It is therapeutic to write these things down. The one person you really have to sell your idea on is yourself. If you are still bought in after all of this its time to find someone you trust and respect. Ideally you should find someone with some expertise in the field. Take your filter sheet with you and pitch the idea to them. Be ready to accept honest feedback. If after all this you are still bought in then go for it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Don’t forget, if innovation was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Being Prepared is Critical

I remember the good old days at D&D when we got an order for a controls solution and we’d shoot someone out to provide the service. Our person would have to find someone to answer their questions on site and figure it out when they got there. Wow that was awesome.  Wait a minute. That was terrible! Our technician was hung out to dry with no project information, the client had to explain what they wanted a second time and no one was clear on the commercial details. We had to get better and we did.

“A winning effort begins with preparation.” Joe Gibbs, coach Washington Redskins.

How to be Prepared

We borrowed an idea from a company in a similar business called Project Execution Plan or PEP. A PEP is a meeting with all of the key people to ensure that all of the information about the project is transferred to the people doing the work. You will have to figure out what is important to your company but we focus on 3 critical areas; people, contract and quality.

Know the People

In this section we inform our team about all of the people who are involved in the project in any way. Every project is ultimately about people so this is a key point.   Your technicians need to know who they are working with and what their involvement is in the project. Who can help internally and which supplier partners are preferred.

Know the Contract

In this section we ensure our people understand what is included and what is not included in the contract. It is much easier to manage expectations when you understand the agreement. Over delivering can be just as problematic as under delivering. We always try to over deliver just a bit and this is only possible when you completely understand what is contractually required.

Have a Plan to Ensure Quality

In this section we talk about how to ensure quality on the project. We decide ahead of time what we are going to do to ensure a quality project. We decide how many peer reviews and client reviews we will have. We decide if we are going to do a D&D-3&3 project review on completion and we look at all other tools for quality control. Having a plan for ensuring quality is the best way to make sure it happens.

What if No One Knows Anything?

This is a scenario that we run into from time to time.  Still do a PEP. Imagine going to a job site and knowing almost nothing about what you are expected to do or who you are to meet.  Believe me it happens. With a PEP you know you have all the information available.  You will be much more comfortable stepping into the breach than if you think there is information available and you are not up-to-date.  Now you know will that your first step is to begin a fact finding mission.

Build a Process to be Prepared Every Time

Build a PEP sheet that clearly lists the key issues that you might run into on any given project. Create a process that ensures that this critical meeting happens each and every time you are called to a job site. Taking a few minutes to get prepared up front will save you hours in the long run.

You can see our PEP Sheet here to get you started.

Creating Client Partners

Prospects will become customers and customers will become clients but only if you are doing things properly.

One of the keys to success for any business is to truly connect with your customers to make them clients. Clients truly ‘like’ you and want to succeed by helping you succeed in a mutual win-win scenario. I often tell our customers, “I want to grow my business by helping you grow yours”. It’s not just a catchy slogan, it’s the truth.

Get Customers Involved

When we complete a project for a good client partner we try to engage that customer in a D&D-3&3 meeting. This type of meeting is intended to get direct, candid feedback from our customers about our most recent project and then create a plan to make changes based on that feedback. The customer now buys in to our company processes and an incentive to work with us again as soon as possible. This is a competitive edge you can’t afford to miss.

D&D - 3&3 – How does it work?

The beauty of the D&D-3&3 is its simplicity. We bring our key project team together with key stakeholders in the completed project and actively listen to everyone’s concerns. First we collectively decide which 3 things went well on the job and create a plan to ensure that these 3 things continue to happen. Secondly we decide which 3 things could have gone better on the project and pick one of those 3 to fix on the next project.  We believe that if you pick more than one you will end up fixing nothing. The D&D-3&3 document is stored in a client file on our server and pulled out when reviewing the PEP for the next project. PEP is an acronym for Project Execution Plan and I will explain that in another posting.

Just Ask

How many times have you had feedback for a service or product you bought? How many times have you been asked for that feedback and had it honestly listened to and acted upon? This is a golden opportunity to make your customers and client partners in mutual success so listen and act. Get your customers involved and they will be your clients for life.

First Hand Account

Julian Assange spoke to the YPO-WPO Global Leadership Summit in Denver Colorado via Satelite Link from England on Friday February 25^th at 9:40. George W Bush was scheduled to speak live to the same group live on Saturday February 26^th at 11:00. George W. Bush cancelled by 8:00 Friday evening because “The former president has no desire to share a forum with a man who has willfully and repeatedly done great harm to the interests of the United States.” Wait a minute! These two men were not debating a topic. They weren’t even supposed to be speaking on the same topic.

Why is this Important?

The basic idea of free speech implies that we also need to listen. Standing with a megaphone and blaring nonsense is not what free speech is all about but neither is covering your ears and not listening to what others have to say.

In refusing to “share a forum” the former President lost a great opportunity to speak to business leaders across the globe. I think he should have quietly listened to what Julian was saying. If he truly has “willfully and repeatedly done great harm to the interests of the United States” maybe it would be a good idea to get a better handle on the guy. More importantly Mr. Bush lost the opportunity to find out first hand what 2000 YPO business leaders across the globe think about Julian Assange and what he and WikiLeaks are doing. What a shame!

Take Time to Understand

The next time you hear about something you like or don’t like, take the time to really listen and find out the facts. More importantly look and listen to others around to get a feel for the impact of the message. We base too much of what we believe as a society on the headline grabbing sound bites and opinionated reviews of the facts. Dig a little deeper into the story of the day, you might be surprised to learn what is really going on behind the headlines!

I was at the Young Presidents Organization Global Leadership Summit in Denver this past week, where I witnessed, first hand, the controversy and excitement over both the appearance of Jullian Assange and George Bush’s last minute cancellation because of Assange’s appearance. Bush refused to share a forum with a known terrorist – so named by the US State Department and the FBI!

Why All the Fuss?

Assange is the director of WikiLeaks,[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks] a non-profit organization that publishes private, classified and secret media from anonymous sources and news leaks. 

Now we all have preconceived notions about people. Because of Assange’s notoriety, I was expecting him to be kind of creepy – a shameless face for people who hide behind the anonymity of the internet and throw verbal rocks at whatever catches their attention. Have a look at the comments section on sites like MacLeans Magazine or the CBC to see what I mean. But I was surprised to find Assange was poised and extremely articulate. I was struck by his obvious intelligence and his direct approach to all questions.

Assange Gives Us a Lesson On Principles

The most striking thing Assange said was that he has a vision for his company and a mission with guiding principles. He was clear he wouldn’t compromise his values in pursuit of his vision, no matter the cost. He may end up paying a huge price for his values, time will tell.  But whether or not you agree with what he does, his passion is very inspiring!

Is All News Media The Same?

Tom Browkaw, George Bush’s replacement, was asked a question similar to one posed to Assange:  Would you have posted secret D-Day information before the raid? Brokaw’s answer surprised me. He said that in return for not breaking a story of national concern and delaying the release for 24 hours, the network (NBC) demanded and received exclusive interviews with key people. It seems to me, that in this context at least, Brokaw’s network is certainly no better than WikiLeaks. What are the values that drive NBC to take a payoff for withholding information in support of national security?

What Is The Truth?

Where do I stand on Assange? I can’t say. But his passion and commitment to his values are impressive.

Our Values Direct Us

D&D values Safety Caring Ambition Learning Excellence Integrity and Trust. These are values that we will not compromise on while pursuing our Vision and driving our mission to be the best company to do business with. Values are not about some big company-wide initiative that everyone gets involved with. They are the little things we do everyday that we believe make our world a better place. Maybe that’s what’s behind Assange’s actions too.

What do you think?

D&D's Work Gets in a Super Bowl Commercial!

The Canadian feed didn’t carry it but BMW ran a great built in America ad at Super Bowl XVL. Imagine our surprise when we noticed that their ad included footage of the control system that D&D designed and installed in the Spartanburg SC plant to build the new BMW X3.

You can see the commercial on our YouTube channel at ddautomation1. Subscribe to stay on top of our latest uploads.

What’s In The Video?

That’s the cool part! Anywhere that you see car parts being assembled, we designed and programmed the controls for that. There are parts where you see cars being painted and we did the tracking system for that. There are even some places where you see robots handling the car parts and we did the controls for that too.

We’re Famous

We’re not really famous but I never thought that the work that we did would be featured in a Super Bowl commercial. 25 million viewers saw our work. Well, except for the ones that were out getting another beer or some more chicken wings.

The Cost of this Exposure?

It is incredible to think that 30 seconds of television commercial space at Super Bowl XLV cost $3 million and BMW chose to showcase our systems. How are we going to follow this up? We have designed, programmed and commissioned a lot of systems over our 20 years of business. Maybe we should have our own spot at Super Bowl XVLI?

AT D&D we meet on the first workday of the week at 8:15 until 8:30 to talk about the coming week. We call it Monday Morning Meeting (MMM). It is a stand up meeting. Our people who are on the road are able to call in using conference phone technology. I borrowed this idea from Brian Scuddamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Awesome idea, thanks Brian.

Agenda of the Meeting

Our three item Agenda consists of Positives, Review of Uptime and Reviewing the Schedule. .

1- A Positive

Everyone has the choice on how they choose to start the day and week. We take a few minutes and celebrate life. Someone’s birthday or anniversary is a great one. A new customer or new project is awesome. Anything as long as it is positive.

One of my favorites is Leafs vs. Canadians. Two of our people have a running bet. If the Leafs win, Marlin wears Steve’s Habs jersey for the day. If the Habs win Steve wears Marlin’s Leafs jersey for the day. Check it out

2 - UpTime Review

We look at our current UpTime numbers, celebrate achievements and review targets.

3 - Schedule Review

We update everyone on management’s schedules and travel plans…where they’re going, where they’ve been.  Who are we meeting with…what industries and companies? What opportunities are we pursuing?

The project schedule is reviewed and discussed making sure everyone knows what’s expected for the coming week. We go around the room for contributions…this is key in conveying meaningful input from on site projects. In some cases people could use some  help and some people may have time to help… it’s critical to make these connections.

Additions to the Agenda for 2011

4 - Innovation

Innovation has been added to the basic agenda. We are doing some cool things like vision guided robotics and industrial building automation among others. When people are not on UpTime projects they make great use of their time by driving innovation. This addition to the agenda will help us to keep innovation rolling.

5 - NewsRoom

We have also added NewsRoom to the basic agenda. Newsroom is a simple tool to keep social media channels up to date. (Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn) I will detail the NewsRoom in a future blog once we have all of the kinks ironed out. Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss it.

Why Just 15 Minutes?

Everyone knows that we are going to be there for only 15 minutes. A short meeting self filters the meeting. The most important things are covered and the rest gets taken care of during the normal course of the day. A variety of items are wrapped up in the MMM with “I will talk to you about that at 10:00” or “let’s meet about that later”. Jaclyn Wells has a good article on short meetings.

Why Stand Up?

Do you notice that the clock starts on most meetings when every one is sitting? Do you notice that may people settle into their chairs and lose a ton of their energy the second they sit? A stand up meeting is a different animal. It screams ‘quick meeting, be on your toes and don’t waste any time.” People come to a stand up meeting engaged and energized. Martin Fowler has some great insight on standup meetings. Try it, we love it!

We Need Better Conference Technology

Conference phones and conference calls are not designed for our type of meeting with lots of people calling in. The technology we have used has noise cancelling features that filter out too much of the great energy of the meeting. We are going to try standard microphones into a PC. The problem with this is how to call in using a mobile phone. We don’t seem to be able to mix the traditional phone call with web based technology.

Do you know anything about this kind of technology? Please let me know.

Setting a goal is business 101. Successful people have goals and so do successful companies. The same logic that applies to sharing your KPIs with your team applies to sharing corporate goals.

At D&D we use total number of hours billed in a week as our goal.

Our current goal is to hit the UpTime target 3 times in a 6-week period. This is simple and reinforces our objective of work life balance for our people.  A single one-week target does not support this.  The UpTime number achieved along with the current goal is announced weekly.  Everyone is in the know. 

Reward Goals Achieved

When we hit our UpTime goal we immediately pay out a $50 bill to every employee. I adapted this idea from Jack Daly. A $50 bill has special power & punch. I love to get a $50 and I can’t really explain it. What ever you decide to do, don’t issue checks for $50 minus the income tax. It doesn’t have the same effect on people. People won’t turn it down but believe me a check for $38.42 does not have the same positive impact as a nice crisp $50.

The bill is put in an envelope with the UpTime logo, the employees name with a thank you along with the target achieved and the date. We deliver the envelopes personally whenever possible.  It is critical to have the $50 in the employee’s hands ASAP to ensure relevance and appreciation.   I have every UpTime envelope I have ever received on my desk and so do many of our people. Even in slower times we are reminding ourselves of the good times.

We also put $500 into the FunTime pool when we make an Uptime target. Read my previous Blog post ‘You Work Hard. Do You Play Hard?’ to learn more about FunTime.

Super Goal

We recently added a Super Goal. Our Super Goal is a big one time UpTime hit.  We make it a stretch for the team. The message in Super Goal is that we plan to grow and while the target might seem BIG now, it won’t in the future.

What are we going to do to reward Super Goal? I’m not sure but it will be cool. Maybe a nice crisp Hundy!

Can’t Afford to Pay Out $50 to Every Employee?

If D&D made solid UpTime numbers every week I would gladly pay out the $50 every week. The best part is we could readily afford to pay for it as long as we make solid UpTime numbers every week.

Examples of Simple, Immediate KPIs

·         Courier Company - Boxes delivered per day

·         Coffee Shop - Customers per hour

·         Car Lot – Cars sold per day

·         Trucking – Miles per Week

·         Taxi – Fares per Day

What business are you in?  I would love to help you come up with your KPI.

What does your company do to reward achieved goals?  

Knowing the Score

Every successful business owner has the tools they need to keep score. They know if they are profitable.  It is just as important for your team to know this too. People want to be on a winning team. To know if they are winning they need a simple Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to tell them the score.

Your KPI Must be Simple

At D&D our KPI is called UpTime. We sell our time at D&D . When time is billable to a project it is called Uptime and is totaled weekly. If I were to run this company with only one measurable it would be UpTime.

It is important to think about what your one KPI is and make it as simple as possible. One number is simple and with employee feedback we added percent capacity to our weekly UpTime figure. Capacity is the number of hours we worked that was billable as a percentage of the total number of hours that we worked. As I write this I have just received our weekly UpTime email and I see that we are at 93% capacity. This is a strong indicator telling us to review staffing and consider hiring.

Your KPI Must be Immediate

As in sport you want to know what the score is right now. We do this weekly because of our time card schedule. Our accounting team is efficient so we know by Thursday at 10:00AM how many hours we billed for the previous week. An email goes out every Thursday before noon telling everyone in the company our current UpTime. As in sport people dig in a little more when they are behind a bit and get charged up when they are winning. This builds a great team atmosphere.

Share Your KPI with Your Customers

Wouldn’t it be cool if your customers got on board and helped you to achieve your goals? I believe that your best customers would want to.

Is this a scary thought?   

Does your company share it’s KPI’ with its customers?