High Output Management

by Andrew S. Grove

Production Points Identify the operations in your work most like process, assembly, and test production. 10 For a project you are working on, identify the limiting step and map out the flow of work around it. 10 Define the proper places for the equivalents of receiving inspection, in-process inspection, and final inspection in your work. Decide whether these inspections should be monitoring steps or gate-like. Identify the conditions under which you can relax things and move to a variable inspection scheme. 10 Identify half a dozen new indicators for your group’s output. They should measure both the quantity and quality of the output. 10 Install these new indicators as a routine in your work area, and establish their regular review in your staff meetings. 20 What is the most important strategy (plan of action) you are pursuing now? Describe the environmental demand that prompted it and your current status or momentum. Is your strategy likely to result in a satisfactory state of affairs for you or your organization if successfully implemented? 20 Leverage Conduct work simplification on your most tedious, time-consuming task. Eliminate at least 30 percent of the total number of steps involved. 10 Define your output: What are the output elements of the organization you manage and the organizations you can influence? List them in order of importance. 10 Analyze your information- and knowledge-gathering system. Is it properly balanced among “headlines,” “newspaper articles,” ...