By Stuart Corrigan, 2022.
I live in the middle of nowhere, literally. It’s five miles to the nearest village, so when I pop to the shop (yes singular) I want to make sure that I maximise my visit and get everything I need. Imagine my delight then when last year an antique shop opened just down the street. ‘Amazing’ I thought ‘the thing that was most missing in my life was the opportunity to buy an old clock when I go to get my Jaffa Cakes’… But despite my apprehension I thought I would give the chap a chance, so with the option of a twenty-mile trek to the cinema or spending time in a tiny cold shop haggling down the price of said clock from 20p to 5p – I opted for the antique visit, and I was not disappointed.
As I began my Narnia-esq adventure, I saw he was selling eco-friendly Christmas trees. Surely the whole concept of a tree is that it is good for the environment, but no, these particular trees were even better. They were the equivalent to a reformed commuter who not only rides their bike to work, but the bike itself is made of biodegradable silly string. I made the mistake of asking the owner about the trees… After thirty minutes, I discovered that they were cut from a sustainable forest and completely untreated with chemicals. Maybe it was inhaling all the dust from the old books in the store, but I was sold. I thought about how sanctimonious I could be over the holidays when friends came to visit and I could pose the question: ‘Oh, you’re still using steroid injected trees are you?’ As you will soon see, I never got to have that conversation with anyone…
By Christmas Eve, this was our tree:
Not a needle left on any branch. We thought at least we had some firewood, but ironically it didn’t burn as well as on with flammable chemicals. My mistake, of course, was taking advice from an antiques dealer, overestimating his knowledge of trees. Next year I will make sure to buy a tree from a garden centre… The lesson here is, if you need a particular problem solved then go to the people who have that particular set of skills (think Liam Neeson in Taken).
At Goldratt UK we do three things:
- Deliver projects early.
- Improve Throughput in manufacturing plants.
- Increase output and efficiency in warehouses.
This year alone we have helped one of the world’s largest bus companies deliver more buses than ever before at lower cost; we have helped clients in Financial Services deliver their late-running projects early; and we have helped numerous others save thousands of pounds by optimising their warehouse capacity.
In early 2023, we will be running the next set of our CCPM (Critical Chain Project Management) Masterclasses – run by leading CCPM implementers – which will cover every single aspect of how to deliver Agile and Waterfall projects faster, and with less cost. The best bit? It’s all free of charge! Kick your New Year off to the best start and register your interest here.
Or, you could spend money learning how to run ceremonies and retrospectives (which will make no real impact) from a large consulting firm which dabbles in Project Management – heck, maybe they’ll even throw a Christmas tree in as part of their deal!
Have an amazing Christmas and New Year. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read our blogs this year.