http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com Extending the power of kaizen from company to company...one person at a time Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:27:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Too many e-mails in inbox\\\\nI implemented a process of new work management:\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\n1) new rule: no email lives in my inbox more than 48 hours\\\\r\\\\n2) new process: email does not require immediate attention. Schedule time to respond by sorting all incoming emails into groups...task: urgent; task: low. \\\\nLess time ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/44/email-improvement/ Launching programs by scrubbing through the Start menu -> Programs submenu, or navigating a folder hierarchy, is often time-consuming and error prone. I installed the free Colibri, available from (http://colibri.leetspeak.org/), on Windows, and Quicksilver, available from (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/), on Mac OS X. Now launching any application is as fast as hitting control-space and ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/42/use-an-application-launcher-to-start-apps-faster/ Tough to integrate softwares to create simple business graphics such as timelines, flow charts, etc. Purchased SmartDraw and learned how to use it. Creating graphics is a snap and the output is highly integrable to MS Office products. http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/41/smartdraw-is-properly-named/ My colleague Andrew (in a non-profit I'm a part of) had a major document to distribute that was just over five pages in length. Andrew modified a couple of margins and edited some non-essential words out of the text which shortened the document to 4 pages. He thus printed it ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/38/edit-text-to-save-paper/ I didn't do this improvement...my son just discovered it and sent the link to me. We have a problem of energy usage; specifically, the power utilized by millions of computer monitors every day. Some folks put up a site blackle.com . It uses the Google search engine and puts it ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/40/blackle-saves-energy-for-google-users/ I forget to check in on great websites like this. When I do check in, I can't remember what I've already read. I began subscribing to this website (and others like the Lean Blog) via RSS. Now, any time these websites are updated, the updates come in to a ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/39/rss-feeds/ I observed a shelf label which had very similar looking, but different, containers on the shelf above and below it. It was not clear which containers the label was referring to. I found the supervisor of the area and asked her which was which. She explained. We ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/37/clear-shelf-labels/ Setups at our test station required the worker to walk to the back side of a bench to connect wiring. Drilled a large hole in the bench top so the wiring could be passed through the table allowing connections under the bench from the front side. Worker now doesn't have to walk ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/33/table-top-access-hole/ Spreadsheet used to run laboratory (where specimens were stored) was used all day, fear was file would be closed and data would be lost. Post it had been on screen saying "Please remember to save after every entry." This wasn't error proofed and the post its guaranteed nothing. Changed ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/29/preventing-excel-data-loss/ We needed to post on-going daily and weekly metrics for our team to see. But there was no wall space we could use, for practical and aesthetic reasons. We found a white-board on wheels that was maneuverable in our hallways. We could attach the metrics with magnets or just ... http://www.quick-n-easy-kaizen.com/28/portable-metric-display-board/