Disqus - Latest Comments for capablepeople

Re: What company will be the next Toyota and why?

capablepeople — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:59:44 -0000

Rob

Knowing you as I do as a person with a keen environmental conscience, I was surprised by your unqualified nod to the raft of recent achievements, projects and wot-not going down in Dubai (with more planned for the near future including a building 1.4 km tall - Oh yes). Whilst you do have to admire the ambition and willingness to JDI displayed by the Sheikh, it is a fact that many projects do not bear up to close environmental scrutiny. And that is putting it mildly

For example, a vast indoor ski center in an area with an average daytime temperature of about 38 degrees?

Also it would seem that the plethora of island-related hotel and leisure complexes that now dot the coast line were constructed with no more than a hope that there individual and combined effects on tides and currents wouldn't put the marine life out too much

Don't mean to piss on your bonfire mate, but it all comes at a cost and I'm not sure we understand even the half of what this will bring about

Re: Do Paretos REALLY work?

capablepeople — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:48:17 -0000

Ah, yes, Rob, I recall the Black Swan and I believe I linked to it in one or other of my older posts because I liked it. I did however find the argument strangely ironic in that only some days prior to reading that article I visited Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands reserve actually expecting to see black swans (among other items) - and I did

Re: Do Paretos REALLY work?

capablepeople — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:07:33 -0000

I often wonder whether a lot of things are just a smokescreen of activity to either mask inactivity, basic cluessness, or to avoid the stark reality that we might not actually be able to do much about it

I argued a little while back that long-term planning is often a waste of time. See my argument below

http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/...

Re: A solution to the class war on tax

capablepeople — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:42:25 -0000

Hey Rob

I've just found out that Sarah Palin is a creationist. She believes the world is about 8,000 years old

Come on ... you can't let this one get away ...

PS that's CREATIONIST. It is the daughter that is a pro-creationist

Re: PDCA is dead?

capablepeople — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:23:34 -0000

Let's not get all anal about this, and remember the intent in the original methodology (if you can call it that). PDCA is more of a discipline or a message that suggests that a "Ready-Aim-Fire" way of working is superior in the long run to a "Ready-Fire-Aim" or even a "Fire-Fire-Fire" operation

As a message or guiding principle, it is hard to see how PDCA can ever become outdated, but the means and methods employed will change from year to year with fashion and technological advance

Considering how "old hat" we are in danger of badging it up, it is still surprising how often the PDCA cycle is compromised. And when it is, it is generally in "P" territory where the greatest liberties are taken

My view, anyway

Re: Atheism: A Very Short Introduction

capablepeople — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:52:02 -0000

As no-one can really be 100% certain about the existence of a supreme being and how such a being (assuming it exists) would prefer us to conduct our affairs (assuming in turn it even gives a hoot), the only true religion (based on what we don't know) is agnosticism

Re: Are fatties lepers who cause global warming?

capablepeople — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:32:05 -0000

fat people produce more methane too. fact. unless this can be harnessed in some way like clean-burn coal fired electricity generators, it is our children that will be counting the cost

on the other hand they feel the cold less than skinnies and hence their consumption of domestic energy resources in this respect may cancel out the methane. But then they eat fewer uncooked meals like salads. Surely some sort of "methane trading" system can be devised?

Re: The good that comes from a herd mentality

capablepeople — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:12:56 -0000

Indeed. There is a lesson inside this post for advertisers and government, and that is "be careful who you choose to sponsor your campaign". In the turkey twizzler/school meals debacle you used as an example, the government clearly over-estimated the degree of national fondness for the irritating and over-exposed twerp Jamie Oliver. Rather than being inclined to follow his lead, many of us may have vowed that we should hear him out and do just the opposite - I know I did
Iceland on the other hand have made an astute choice in Kerry Catona. This girl is indeed a champion of those "mothers" who would rather smoke than cook. In fact I would go so far as to describe her as a patron saint of that particular group. As such those "smart mums" probably would be inclined to waddle off to Iceland, fag-in-gob, on her recommendation

Re: The dark cloud of recession has a silver lining

capablepeople — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:39:26 -0000

I can see a lot of sense in this. There is a trick in being able to distinguish between a temporary dip and the beginning of things coming to an inevitable end, and the tactics for dealing with each are quite different. In the first instance you can economise and ride it out, in the second instance such an approach is, to put it politely, swimming against the tide. I think few of us would argue that the whole world order is in the process of a fundamental transition and, so far as America is concerned, things are never going to be as favourable in the same way again. It was good (for them) while it lasted. However there will soon be a lot more "haves" in the world. The sooner America somehow reconciles itself to that fact and then develops a way of dealing with it, the better (for them)

Re: The Britney economy is still thriving

capablepeople — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:47:42 -0000

It is interesting how things move on. Britney Spears has put on a couple of stone, shaved off all her hair, acquired all manner of intrusive tattoos and, so we are led to believe, struggles to maintain an upright position for more than a few seconds at a time. And yet we can view her latest video "a piece of meat" (or something) and never know. The customer facing product is now as abstract as are the images in the recent "materpiece" "Beowolf", and the person is no more than a set of early design drawings. Sure enough once the product has been established it becomes the property of the organisation, and provided the person behind the product doesn't completely screw things up by death or long term incarceration, they can become as contaminated as they like by excess

Contrast that with what happened to poor old Elvis (Presley) a few years ago. As soon as he put on a few stone and lost the ability to articulate, his career hit a steep decline, as the technology did not exist to mask the problem, he became a liablity with no option but to get bigger cat suits. Ironically it was only death that saved his career

How time have changed. Is this progress?

Re: We’re slaves to a culture of sneering service

capablepeople — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:14:42 -0000

There are those who'd argue back on that point. Only yesterday I stumbled on this great website, when this counter view was posed

http://www.customersarealways.com/2008/01/custo...

And it's been like that for a while with me lately, as almost as quickly as I credited Amazon for a bit of decent customer facing quality

http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/...

then the next day, there was curious cat saying taking the opposite tack on the same ubiquitous vendor

http://management.curiouscatblog.net/2008/01/11...

Well waddayado?

Re: Philanthropy: an opportunity for everyone

capablepeople — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:29:38 -0000

With great wealth comes great responsibility? I remember seeing a fly on the wall documentary a couple of years ago about multi-millionaire former convicted murderer Nick van Hoogstraten and philanthropist he most certainly was not

By pure coincidence I notice today that he has again been arrested on new serious criminal charges. What goes round ...

Re: Sometimes it’s wise to follow the crowd

capablepeople — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:10:23 -0000

The democratic process is an exercise in statistical manipulation and it works like this

1. Most people will make the best choice for themselves based only on the information they have available to them
2. Statistically, if you can control enough of the popular information channels (the popular media) you can persuade enough of the people to vote a certain way
3. You don't need to control ALL information channels. That is where the communists went wrong. When you try to control everything, people know they are being manipulated and rally against the system
4. Open dissent through people like Michael Moore is helpful as it creates the illusion that free speach can affect the outcome. It is important that these people exist provided they are sufficiently marginalised not to have too strong a voice. This is managed to an extent by the processes of dilution. Basically you allow every nut-case to have a voice and this helps to dilute and marginalise any coherent but dangerous dissention
5. Collusion is necessary between the two lead contenders and two is a magic number. The parties are never too far apart on fundamental policy, social and economic matters, and the "war" is waged on relatively cosmetic issues that the players nonetheless pretend to get really worked up about
6. Two is a magic number. The two party system can't be allowed to become a real three horse race as this would split the vote three ways and make it too easy for a wild card fourth, fifth, sixth runner to pitch in and secure a statistically significant share of the vote. The system can only work if, over the course of years, the power just flips between one and the other, with neither party doing the other much harm in the meantime

I think

Re: Americans need to be more French

capablepeople — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:08:12 -0000

There are a few things in life that really do need regulation, and advertising is one of those things. The central problem is that humans, uniquely as a species, can be persuaded to want things they don't really need and whilst that may be good for the sellers, it is not a universal good. For example, it results in the production of a whole load of crap that has a life cycle of a millisecond, but still needs costly disposal, the steady migration of scarce capital from the witless to the commercially exploitative and, ultimately, to an increase in the appetite for unsustainable credit and a longer hours culture

I blogged about it a while back

http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/...

Re: Chinas Toxic Toys

capablepeople — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:27:46 -0000

The risk exists and it is well known. Any company that skimps on its incoming goods checks from China deserves all it gets you might argue

Re: Why should smokers pay for fatties?

capablepeople — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:38:06 -0000

I agree

http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/...

Re: The problem isn’t Facebook, it’s apathy

capablepeople — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:31:19 -0000

Couldn't agree more with this assessment. People are actively trading their most valuable commodity - days of their lives that they can't get back or replace - for what? Personally as an employer if I felt that I was paying people to make that sacrifice I would find it hard to reconcile my conscience if there was little point or value to it. How often do we hear of people dropping down dead shortly after retirement from a god-awful job?

The situation is frankly immoral when you take it to bits

Re: Workers need to daydream

capablepeople — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:17:53 -0000

Hey, don't talk to me about Toyota. The crown may be slipping. I don't know what to believe anymore.

Check this out, and the related links in the post

http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/...

Re: Workers need to daydream

capablepeople — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:46:59 -0000

It's a difficult one, this. Left uncontrolled I could see it being counter-productive. Not only that, but potentially divisive. For some job roles (Stores? FLT Driver?)"having ideas" is unlikely to be a significant part of the deal, whereas for others (R&D?)it may be. Maybe a job related "quota" or a "weighted" system is what is needed. Thinking outside of the box, why can't they do it (daydream) whilst on the toilet? The process could be stimulated with appropriate reading material, which could also prove useful in an emergency

I should be a "lean" consultant

Re: Six Sigma is rubbish

capablepeople — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:11:58 -0000

I find that many things in life are not what they are cracked up to be. Swimming pools for instance. I went in one once and I got soaked

Re: 6 key six sigma black-belt skills

capablepeople — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:41:22 -0000

(Ahem)

Which do you feel is most important, Personal Attributes or Technical Ability?

Re: Learn Lean & Six Sigma for Free! Save $$$$$

capablepeople — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:11:03 -0000

I can't help but think that this could be taken a bit like one of those "consultant" stories you love so much, Rob.

A consultant walks in to a restaurant and uses scientifically proven techniques to tell the restaurant manager he's chucking out too much food and maybe he should prepare less?

Less of an "Ah-ha!" moment than a "DURRR!" moment???

* I do accept the example you've used may well substantiate the intuitive problem by quantifying it ;)

Re: Chocks Away! Time for a 5-Why

capablepeople — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:33:50 -0000

I don't do smut. To avoid such confusion in future I will avoid the general use of the word "it" and particularise the noun in all future contributions

I have noted on further investigation that the deliberately general use of the word "it" was the main stay of the "Carry On" Films, "its" situational uses being practically inexhaustible

Unless you are electing to venture down the "Carry on Sigma" route by choice of course in which case I wouldn't wish to be branded a killjoy?

Re: Chocks Away! Time for a 5-Why

capablepeople — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:28:13 -0000

Apparently early test results have identified that due to it's size, when it gets wet it goes a bit floppy

Re: Avoid the curse of the active banana!

capablepeople — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:37:08 -0000

I may be wrong, but is this Newcastle Office with the black desk tape and inactive bananas the very same one that only today has managed to lose the personal and financial details of over 25 million child benefit claimants?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7103566.stm