Organizing chaos is the stuff of headaches and frustration for some businesses! The problem is, mere “order” tends to be a temporary fix, and then chaos returns. However, systemization can bring order to order, permanently!
My wife Susan and I enjoy weekend shopping excursions to antique shops, flea markets, etc. We also like scouring business supply places for more items that could help keep order in our business.
A few weeks ago we went to an Office Max store to pick up some purple highlighters—hard item to find in bulk we discovered. But, our daughter-in-law Jennifer (also our production manager) needed them it seemed.
Improving the Job Ticket System
Susan asked me. “Why purple highlighters? What does Jennifer use them for?”
“To highlight some key information on Job Tickets in production,” I replied. “Purple is Jennifer’s favorite color!”
“That must take a lot of time, highlighting all those Tickets!” Susan commented.
“Well,” I said, “I’ll tell you why it’s so important!”
It amazes me sometimes, that, after all these years, Susan is such a good listener. She also edits or corrects everything I write, so I’ve learned to listen to her, too! I told her how, many years ago we had a huge error on a particular job and I needed to find the root cause of the error. A press operator had told me he “didn’t NOTICE the special instructions printed on the job ticket.” A very expensive error, and a pretty lame excuse!
My guess was, the press operator had not bothered to look for the special instructions printed on the Job Ticket. However, in the spirit of fairness and continual improvement, we always gave an employee the benefit of the doubt. In our quest for zero errors, not just organizing chaos, we are always exploring ways to improve our systems, and finding the root cause of errors is part of that effort.
I remember being a press operator myself, many moons ago. I had made this same silly mistake, NOT reading a Job Ticket thoroughly. There can be a lot of information on a Job Ticket and, when it’s all printed in black type on white paper it can be a little dizzying! But, merely scanning the Ticket is not an option; details matter!
The Purple Highlighter System
In order that special instructions were not overlooked on the Job Ticket, Jennifer and I, and a press operator had come up with a “highlighting system.” We added a PROMPT to our Quality Control Checklist (for inputting data, and printing our Job Tickets). The PROMPT was to highlight various items on the ticket, i.e. pink highlighter for ALL special instructions, and purple highlighter for other key data.
Surely, I thought, there is a BETTER way, and eventually we would find it, but for now, it was PURPLE highlighters!
So, “Why PURPLE?” I wasn’t going to argue with my daughter-in-law over purple highlighters versus some other color. After all, she was the Production and Customer Service Administrator and functioned at a high level.
One thing I’ve learned about implementing systems over twenty-plus years is: you need the INPUT and buy-in of your employees. Then if they want something as small as using the color purple to improve a system, you just go with it.
THE END RESULT of highlighting key items on our job tickets with those purple highlighters? It STOPPED the excuse about “not seeing” special instruction. It also STOPPED errors.
Moreover, on the operators own Quality Control Checklist, there is now a PROMPT for the pressman to check off. It states, “All special instructions high-lighted in purple have been read and understood.”
I assure you, this works!
Organizing Chaos—So, where do Hoarders come in?
During that same visit to Office Max for those purple highlighters, a product demonstrator approached us. She introduced herself as the owner of a business called “Clearing the Way Home.” An Organizing Specialist, she helps individuals organize their homes and offices by providing organizational tools to eliminate clutter that causes chaos.
“Wow! You’re speaking my language,” I told her, “Tell me more!”
Over many years of organizing clutter in many homes and businesses, she had become aware of people with “out-of-control organizational behaviors.” She said she even meets some with “mild-to-severe psychological issues, like HOARDING.”
Hearing some of her exploits, and about what she called “interventions,” I was intrigued. She goes into a person’s home or business to help resolve issues of disorganization and clutter. She’s often able to help them find the deeper reason they are so disorganized.
After hearing her stories, I went out to my car and returned with my book, System Busters: How to Stop Them In Your Business. I suggested she read the chapter titled, “The 100% System of Cleanliness,” about how we dealt with clutter, using the power of systems. I assured her I would also read her materials, to better understand WHY some owners just can’t seem to get their business in order.
Dear “Organizing Chaos” READER:
The root cause of chaos in your business is likely NOT some psychosomatic condition, like hoarding, that might need some intervention beyond my expertise. I suggest, you may only have a simple case of what I call, Disorganitis. We have a cure for that!
P.S. Remember I told you I was sure there was a BETTER way than purple highlighting those Job Tickets by hand, and that I would eventually find it? WE DID! On our mission of continual, unending, ongoing, non-stop improvement, our manual highlighting system has now been AUTOMATED. Due to the reduction in cost of toner for digital printers, our Job Tickets are now printed in living color. This saves Jennifer a lot of highlighting time; thus, speeding up data entry and making it even easier for production employees to read and become aware of key data.
Did I mention? Great systems work!
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