How to manage production through your schedule?

It sounds obvious that you would manage production through ones schedule, but it’s often not the case.

Let’s start with the 3 most common mistakes when scheduling production.

• Schedules are not measurable

• Schedules are set with too much fluff

• Schedules are dictated by whoever yells the loudest

Does this look like your scheduling system? If you don’t schedule according to $ of produced revenue you are just filling in days with people. S2W was created for this main reason. Having $ of produced revenue associated with every task allows you to clearly see if you are schedule to win before you every start the day, week or month. It’s very clear which crews, types of jobs, clients, etc. are winning and which are losing. This makes it easier to identify the weaknesses, which in return helps you to manage and correct them. It’s impossible to fix a situation if you don’t know the problem.

I also find too many people like to schedule too much fluff. Fluff is the fillers that we like to do, but don’t often need done at that time. I’m not saying you can’t do these tasks, but let’s make sure they are helping you hit your mark. This goes back to having a measurable schedule. Many people have no idea if they have time to do the extras or not. Using a measurable system like S2W makes it easy to see if you produced enough work yet. Did you notice, I didn’t say work hard enough? Often we confuse activity with achievement. After you hit your mark you can do all the fluff you want. You may even chose to go home early or make more money. S2W allows you to make this choice guilt free.

I probably don’t have to say much about the third mistake. We have all been there. Yes sometimes you need to answer the screening client, but now you can see how that scheduling decision affects your team’s ability to win for the week. If this happens too frequently you may need to rethink that client or how you are acquiring your leads. You may even find it isn’t the issue isn’t the client. It is the employee, the task, or even the day of the week this task is being scheduled. Either way you can’t manage what you don’t know.

Does your scheduling system help you to:

Schedule to win, so you can produce a win and finally celebrate the win.

Have a great week.