July 23, 1992
Dear Everyone:
Not much time for letters, with all the meetings
going on this week, plus leaving a day early to start my vacation.
Have I mentioned that I've been put on another
Team? This makes three:
First, there was the Destruction
Review Process non-Quality Improvement non-Project Team. Then, when
“Crow” found out the scope of the thing, he turned it into a real
Project and we became a real Team. So,
yesterday, we had our first official Guidance Review Team Meeting.
This is not to be confused with our two previous
Guidance Review Meetings. Those
weren’t official. A Guidance
Review Team is a group of people, who may or may not know a blinking
thing about the Process you're working on, that you invite to come in
and review your work so far and ask questions designed to make you feel
like an idiot. Needless to say, I
insisted that as many of my Team have the opportunity to enjoy this
experience as possible.
It went as smooth as glass.
Afterward, “Crow” asked “Rowena”,
our Quality Coach, if they usually go this well.
I gather he's had some trouble
with another Team here in Records Management.
In addition to the Guidance Review Team open (GRT)
Meeting, “Abby” and I will also be holding a "Focus Group" meeting with
representatives from Corp “Tiddly and Winks” to find out what they
really want in the way of Records Destruction Review processes.
In a Focus Group meeting, you
gather people from your Team, plus customers, or suppliers, and you ask
them lots of questions. Hopefully,
these questions and answers will inspire "that reminds me…s" that might
not come up in a standard questionnaire or interview.
Focus Group meetings are all the
rage right now because people are sick and tired of getting surveys in
the mail. (By the way, our survey
went out this Monday.)
This will last until people get sick and tired of
Focus Group meetings and begin to clamor for questionnaires and surveys
again. In the case of our Focus
Group meeting, I happen to know that one of the guys from “Tiddly” was
also on the Records Management Study Team of old.
If he stays true to form, he'll
ask us more questions that we ask them.
The Second Quality Improvement Team, of which I am
the only member, is to look into the process we use to change Owner
Codes in the CRMIS computer system. Since
it often takes up to two weeks to get an Owner Code changed, it could
stand some improvement. Although,
frequently the reason it takes so long is that I'm the only one doing it
and some days I just don't have time to work on it.
What I have to do now is "Flow
Chart the Process", which I've started. It's
sort of like one of those "Yes/No" diagrams where, at each junction, you
ask yourself the question and then, depending on whether the answer is
yes or no, you follow that pathway. Only
trouble is, Owner Code Changes have about 2700 "Yes/No" questions built
into them, beginning with "Do you know what the new Code should be?
(Yes/No).
This latest Team is not officially a Quality
Improvement Team, although there was talk of using the standard "9-Step
Process" that you learn in Quality training.
The mission of this Team is to
look into replacing the existing CRMIS system.
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking, "Didn't they do
that once before?" And the answer
is, "No."
We've done it
twice before.
We did it several years ago and then we did it
again when IDI proposed working with us to develop a Records Management
software package. However, like a
lot of companies these days, Company included, IDI has been feeling a
cash flow crunch and decided to put the project on a back, back burner
for an indefinite period of time. So
we’re back to square one.
We've had two meetings so far.
At the end of the second meeting,
we decided that, considering the current economic climate, wherein
everyone is cutting costs like crazy, even if we came up with the
perfect plan, if it cost more than $1.75 to implement, we be laughed
right out of the “Domination’s” office. So
we've tabled this Project until probably next year.
CITC tells us that CRMIS can keep
hobbling along as it is for at least two more years.
Let's hope so.
Movie reviews…
Batman Returns.
Batman should've stayed home.
Even the kids don't like it.
Plenty of special effects.
Lots of cute penguins.
Absolutely no discernible plot.
Cool World.
Definitely not for the kiddies
and probably not for their parents either.
It takes advantage of the
technology developed by Disney, combining live-action with animation.
But this is no Disney cartoon.
More like if you took the
animators from Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera and the big D, locked them in
a room together and told them they couldn't leave until they came up
with a movie. Then slip something
into their soft drinks.
Sister Act.
Definitely
better than the previous two. Safe
for kids; no whoopee except for
Whoopi Goldberg.
The only trouble is, there isn't
much for Whoopi to do. She plays
a wood-be singer who has to hide out in a convent.
Of
course she becomes the
catalyst that moves the nuns to rediscover themselves and all that (big
surprise, right?); but, frankly, until everybody starts singing, it's a
bit dull. Preferable to
Cool World, but dull.
Of course, the movie we’re all waiting for, with
bated breath, is Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. Off on Vacation, won't be back for 2 weeks.
Talk to you then.
P.
| Previous | Next |