You Don't Say......
It's been a while since my last article and there are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly, those who follow my posts will no doubt be aware of the amount of travelling I've been doing lately and, secondly, a lack of time to read or take in any relative news (mostly due to reason number one) have both conspired to limit my time at the keyboard. Nevertheless I am always taking on board snippets here and there and thinking of how I could translate that into some LinkedIn content. Today is Sunday and I have just been reading the August edition of 'Pipeline Oil and Gas Magazine' during my lunch break (I am UAE based so Sunday is a working day) and I came across a wonderful double page spread written by two gentlemen from the Boston Consulting Group (ME) titled 'A New Era For Operations Excellence In E&P'.
Nothing of note so far.
As I was reading the article I was drawn to the graphic (opposite). There were a couple of areas which immediately stood out to me. As someone who likes to keep things simple and, furthermore, as a pragmatist (according to the psychometric tests I've taken over the years) I am always looking for ways to improve efficiency whilst maintaining high standards, compliance requirements and delivering a result. Perhaps this is why I feel so drawn to, and comfortable within, Quality Management. The specific points I noted were:
- Optimize Processes and;
- Simplify Organisation
Now perhaps I am reading this article incorrectly, missing some key point(s) maybe, but I was surprised that this organisation has realised that one way to improve operational excellence is to address these two areas, among others. Again, perhaps I have missed something but, for me, this is just obvious. How many times have we heard the phrase "too many Chiefs around here" (simplify the organisation then) and how many of us, day in and day out, sit scratching our heads asking ourselves 'why on earth do we do it like this'? (optimise processes then). Surely an organisation of this size should be evaluating areas like this as a matter of course as part of their ISO 9001 certification - continuous improvement anyone?
Anyway, it piqued my interest and gave me reason to grab a brew and sit down for a few moments and share my thoughts. As always, happy to engage so feel free to comment, connect or both.