Right Sizing Technology

At some point early in your Lean Journey, you will learn about and begin to use right sizing. Right sizing workstations means that workstations are designed specifically for what they are going to be used for. Tools, materials, fixtures, work surfaces, and information are all designed to be available at the point of use in an orientation that takes as much waste out of the process as possible. 8020, Creform, Fastube, etc... all make systems where you can design your solution around your needs. When talking about developing a good 5S program (Sort, Shine, Straighten, Standardize, Sustain), this becomes essential. And it isn't all that difficult. A saw, a screwdriver, and some imagination go a long way.

So why not do this with your business systems too? Building these great workstations using pieces designed to fit together makes sense when talking about physical tables, but it makes even more sense when talking about your technology. Using pieces designed to fit together, you can create custom solutions that make it far easier to execute internally.

If your team is relying on Outlook for communication, copying/pasting data into Excel to create reports, printing documents that get out of date quickly, and clicking through screen after screen just to execute a simple function, it's time to right size. Designing dashboards that communicate information instantly, getting real-time information from equipment, and designing screens to minimize waste just makes sense. A server, a database, and some imagination go a long way.

We at MCFALLSTECH designed a tool (we call it TimeTracker) to track our hours, projects, expenses, and invoices. We use AWS to host this which is about $5 a month for the server and database. That's it. We own the code and can make whatever changes we want. Whatever works best for us. If I add a user, I just go to Users and add them. No incremental costs or extra licensing fees. And the reports are designed specifically to streamline my business. The result is a solution that removes much of the waste of running a service-oriented business. And it took only a few days to create.

The future of business software is software designed for you. Not the expensive, cumbersome solutions that cost money any time you want to add a user, add a site, or expand your business. But business systems that grow with you. No licensing issues. No incremental costs. A solution that is designed around your specific challenges and needs. And, today, it's as easy as it has ever been to do this.