You might be absolutely convinced that you’re not a systems thinker. That you’re not the systems guy. That you’re more of a free-thinking entrepreneur who leaves systems thinking up to the geekier members of the team. You write notes on paper, you’re swamped with emails and your work gets done, not perfectly but at least on-time.
I’m here to tell you that you are a systems thinker and you’ve got systems thinkers wrong. Thinking in systems is grabbing a process and finding out how it changes over time. Take a teenagers room and you’ll see that a neat space becomes a mess through very specific inputs. It’s not the universe, some mystery wind or life, it’s half a process performed hundreds of times.
It’s the same with business. Perform a process a hundred times and leaving a small amount of chaos each time winds up being a mountain of chaos.
Our team sees it every week when we’re looking at the systems and processes that teams are using. They’re cobbled together systems and sticky-taped processes that have been built just-in-time to meet a business need. They’re not always bad but they’re a long way from a place where they can be constantly improved bringing more calm and more order to a business.
The first step to becoming a systems thinker is to take an elevated view of your business. Imagine it like you’re looking down on a LEGO village that you built. Customers come in, products get made, customers go out. Now adjust the variables, more customers, less staff, more products – what changes? What will break? Will you be able to keep track of everything that is happening?
This is just a first step to thinking in systems but it’s those slight changes in perspective that can make a huge difference in knowing what’s happening, what’s possible and what needs changing.
Having beautiful online order forms ensures that you’re not losing customers at the most important part of your sales process. We offer the following order forms (customised to suit your needs): Online product order form Cake order form Newspaper subscription order form Online donation form Online giving form Pledge drive form T-shirt order form Avon …
Further details of question I’m thinking of creating a Microsoft Access Data Base to record site records for field inspections. Is this the best option? Each Field Site item with have: Location description Location details Provide for linking to site maps Allow for 100 sites Each site item will have: A drop down Description A …
If you’re looking to build a classifieds website like Kijiji (Canada) or a marketplace like Gumtree (Australia), you could potentially use Sharetribe to build it but you will come up against some limitations in managing listings. Sharetribe is built more for, what I’ll call, persistent or permanent listings. These are marketplace listings where you list …
It’s been interesting looking at the systems behind gift cards, gift vouchers and generally sending some kind of credit to someone else through your website. It looks like your main options for allowing people to order gift vouchers or cards through your website are: They fill in a custom form (built using a custom form …
But I don’t think like that!
You might be absolutely convinced that you’re not a systems thinker. That you’re not the systems guy. That you’re more of a free-thinking entrepreneur who leaves systems thinking up to the geekier members of the team. You write notes on paper, you’re swamped with emails and your work gets done, not perfectly but at least on-time.
I’m here to tell you that you are a systems thinker and you’ve got systems thinkers wrong. Thinking in systems is grabbing a process and finding out how it changes over time. Take a teenagers room and you’ll see that a neat space becomes a mess through very specific inputs. It’s not the universe, some mystery wind or life, it’s half a process performed hundreds of times.
It’s the same with business. Perform a process a hundred times and leaving a small amount of chaos each time winds up being a mountain of chaos.
Our team sees it every week when we’re looking at the systems and processes that teams are using. They’re cobbled together systems and sticky-taped processes that have been built just-in-time to meet a business need. They’re not always bad but they’re a long way from a place where they can be constantly improved bringing more calm and more order to a business.
The first step to becoming a systems thinker is to take an elevated view of your business. Imagine it like you’re looking down on a LEGO village that you built. Customers come in, products get made, customers go out. Now adjust the variables, more customers, less staff, more products – what changes? What will break? Will you be able to keep track of everything that is happening?
This is just a first step to thinking in systems but it’s those slight changes in perspective that can make a huge difference in knowing what’s happening, what’s possible and what needs changing.
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Online Order Form Template Options
Having beautiful online order forms ensures that you’re not losing customers at the most important part of your sales process. We offer the following order forms (customised to suit your needs): Online product order form Cake order form Newspaper subscription order form Online donation form Online giving form Pledge drive form T-shirt order form Avon …
I need a database created for field inspections
Further details of question I’m thinking of creating a Microsoft Access Data Base to record site records for field inspections. Is this the best option? Each Field Site item with have: Location description Location details Provide for linking to site maps Allow for 100 sites Each site item will have: A drop down Description A …
Can Sharetribe be used to build something similar to Kijiji or as a platform for matchmaking? How can I monetise such a market?
If you’re looking to build a classifieds website like Kijiji (Canada) or a marketplace like Gumtree (Australia), you could potentially use Sharetribe to build it but you will come up against some limitations in managing listings. Sharetribe is built more for, what I’ll call, persistent or permanent listings. These are marketplace listings where you list …
How to manage gift vouchers online?
It’s been interesting looking at the systems behind gift cards, gift vouchers and generally sending some kind of credit to someone else through your website. It looks like your main options for allowing people to order gift vouchers or cards through your website are: They fill in a custom form (built using a custom form …