posted
I'm just sitting here in a bit of disorganized chaos & worndered if anyone has some good workflow habits.
When I receive an order for something, I write up a work order and it goes in a pile with all the other workorders not completed. I usually have about 20 on the go at the same time. The jobs that are in no hurry always get shuffled to the bottom of the pile, and the ones that phone to check their progress get moved a little closer to the top of the pile.
Every week I go through the pile and try to prioritize, but with the daily calls for work needed right away, everything gets rearranged again. Every Monday I swear I'm going to get everything caught up before I take on anything new, but by the end of the week, I've only accomplished half the things on my list, plus lots of other projects I didn't have scheduled.
I try to keep a whiteboard with a joblist, but it doesn't help me stay on track.
How does your workflow work? Any tips for me?
Suelynn
-------------------- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot
Suelynn Sedor Sedor Signs Carnduff, SK Canada Posts: 2863 | From: Carnduff, SK Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
EVERYTHING gets a work order! We have 3 LARGE bulletin boards. One is "pending", either a job we need to quote on, have already quoted or or waiting to hear we got the job. If something is up there more than a few months, I take it down and file it away. The next bulletin board is behind the computers, in the sight line as we are working. This is the work to be done. We thumbtack them up there is order. The last bulletin board is off to the right of where we work. That one has the stuff we are working on THIS week. As we finish something, it goes onto the "secretary's" desk in the front office, where the bookkeeping computers are and it gets billed ASAP. It works for us and we have tried NUMEROUS ways over the years. Things don't get lost as easy. On Mondays I go thru all the orders and write them on the calendar just as a name so they get a time to get done. Also that way they can get prioritized (if they are a rush etc.) Interesting post...I'm anxious to see how others do it!
-------------------- Bill Diaz Diaz Sign Art Pontiac IL www.diazsignart.com Posts: 2109 | From: Pontiac, IL | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Great question Suelynn. My system sounds like yours, its based on chaos. I have a dry erase board with categories,(1) Vehicle Lettering & Magnetics (2) Banners (3) Point-of-Purchase (4)Yard signs (5) Schools/Church/Institutional (6) Decals/Cut Vinyl (7)Faces/Channel Letters-Gemini/Windows (8)Sub-Contract/Service (9) Business cards
These are written when a job is 90 - 100% committed by the client. A few will drop out for various reasons (too often delays by my part in getting a design/layout done or some hang up with a sub, and sometimes I put off jobs that are out of my comfort zone.) Overall though, we can track job status on completion/non-completion...but do not always see what stage a job is in or the deadline. I like organization...but I get interrupted all day long and therefore documentation gets neglected.
I am improving a little at a time...but as business increases, I need to make a quantum leap in job control. My business is staffed by myself and two sons and my wife. They don't seem too anxious to get involved in this area of our business, but would like to pick up a job folder and know what to do without asking me for details. I would like to hear from other mom and pop operations doing $250,000 - $350,000 a year on how they manage this range of work flow.
-------------------- Tony Lucero Eagle Graphics Waterford, MI www.eaglegph.com Posts: 305 | From: Waterford, MI, USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
i have tried several systems, such as the dry eraser marker board.(i am looking at one on the wall right now as i type, i see jobs i did back in 2001!!! hahahaha, well that doesn't work.
i have a system i learned from my good friend mark jordan years ago. i use clear document jackets (you can buy these at any good office supply company. they are 8 1/2 x 11" they have a black back and a clear front with a grommet at the top (to hang from a nail) i insert any notes that i might have on the job as well as customer's notes and scrap pieces of paper i might do as a quick "scrawl' sketch. (bic pen on a post-it note)
i keep any relative info such as proposals, sketches, business cards, camera ready art, color swatches, photos, zip disc, CD's, signed work orders, deposit checks etc.
at a glance i can look at my wall and see 12 jackets with info. work order on top.
i prioritize deadlines promised from top left to bottom right.
(after all i am a one-man shop)
just my quirkey system. hope it helps suelynn.
mark
[ April 15, 2003, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: Mark Fair Signs ]
posted
That's exactly what I do Mark. It's really easy to just glance at my board and see what needs to be done. I try to keep it in a bit of an order. Jobs needing to be done first at the top.
I also have a dry erase that I use for scheduling jobs. It's a blank calender that I fill in the dates as the months change. This is mostly used for vehicles coming in and also to mark when certain jobs are due.
posted
if i could only clone myself, i'd be all set! i have most stuff in my palm pilot...if something doesn't get done that day i change the date to the next day. i try to schedule painting so i'm doing as much as possible all at once...then i'll do the same with the router. i find it easier when i try to focus on one area at a time when possible and group jobs. i'm a one person gig so i find i spread myself way too thin..but i have such a hard time saying, sorry i'm too busy call someone else. i only do that when the customer sounds like they're just going to be a major hemorroid...who needs em. the palm pilot has helped me big time but i'm sure i could use improvement. it's a tough business when you have to wear all the hats...but i guess we must like the challenge.
[ April 15, 2003, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: KARYN BUSH ]
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Hmmm, I like the idea of actually SEEING all the projects that need attention rather than a pile!
What I currently do in a similar way to above:
Each workorder gets a temporary file folder. I label the file folder with a post it note on who it's for, then get to work. If there's a delay of some kind and I'm waiting on the customer, I place the file in a file holder, the kind that get higher as you place them behind each other. This way you can see all of them.
I keep tabs on who needs what via my dayplanner I have setup in Pagemaker. Very easy to change and update. When the day is done, I print it out for later reference if need be. When something is completed, I place a big DONE beside the project.
Same idea as seeing it on a big board I suppose, except more condensed, takes less space.
posted
I failed with the dry erase thing too. I like mark's idea well enough I just may have to try it out someday.
My personal chaos goes like this:
I have the file holder Donna described like bleachers so you can see everything.
I used to make a file folder for every job. (then I would clean out my files on new years)Now I only have folders for very large projects, on-going re-order clients, or those who are very likely to re-order.
I have a misc. jobs folder in the filing cabinet (the fattest by far, which should soon become "MISC. A-D", "MISC E-H" etc.) I also have a "Current Misc. Jobs" folder in the bleachers with my other 5 or 6 folders.
I need to look through the bleachers every morning & set stuff on my desk that needs attention.
I try stop working on stuff once or twice during the day to sort through the piles on my desk & put away the notes & work-orders from todays walk-ins & calls that don't need further attention today. This helps to discover "must-do" things that were on my desk expecting to be seen in order to be done.
I try to clean my desk every night to make sure I didn't forget anything. This results in putting in an extra hour or two several days a week. Yesterday I arrived to a mess I hadn't cleaned Friday when my wife came down to the shop with me to help on a rush job. (the extra 2 hours to wait while I finish un-done stuff on my desk is not in her job description) By the time I got to the bottom of the pile I found a post-it reminding me to get my teeth cleaned. Luckilly I had just enough time to still make that appointment.
The other important thing is I try to make as few promises as possible. Most people still pressure me for a completion date, but if they don't have a genuine deadline where they MUST have it, I try to keep it loose. I give up enough evenings & weekends as it is, & I don't want to have to turn away lucrative rush jobs just because there are not enough hours in the day to keep promises I made for people who won't come in to pay for & pick-up there jobs for several days after completion anyway.
posted
Suelynne... We have a 3 part work order that also acts as an invoice (only write it once is our motto)one page (pink) is a numerical file that has been kept seperately from day one in our business ( I can find every w.o. since we've been in biz).
One page goes in the shop(hard copy/manilla) to work from.
and one remains in the office as an invoice (white)...
As the work is completed the shop w.o. automatically comes back into the office and is placed with the invoice (that indicates the job is ready for billing). At which point it either goes with (or) to the customer for payment.
And the shop w.o. remains in the office til the check comes in (usualy cash and carry) never over 10 days.
When the check arrives the w.o. copy is pulled...the check number recored on it and the date it came in...at which point it is filed and the check is endorsed and recorded on a deposit slip for the bank.
With this system I can locate any work order even years later ... if the customer knows the date it was paid for or even if all they have is the year or the year and month (or) if they have the number of the invoice I can locate it in the numeric file.
We can let this system run itself for weeks and even months at a time and never lose track of what we are doing. It really is self tending.
All three copies "live" on a box next to the phones for quick acess.
The best part is it is really easy to keep up with.
At any time of any day I can go thru the (finished billed w.o.'s) and add them up to see what the recievables are.
Then add up the w.o.'s that are (finished, not billed) and see what the billables are.
Then add up all the new w.o.'s to see what the "work in progess is", and have a total picture of what the biz is doing. All of this in just minutes.
If you are interested let me know and I will fax a copy of our system to you...
You will always have a priority problem but with this system you never loose track of where you are on any given day...or hour for that matter.
We divised this system over many years of looking for better ways to stay organized.
"Werks fer me it'll werk fer you."
[ April 16, 2003, 01:35 AM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
Because of the larger size of our projects I tend to do a lot less individual jobs than most here. They also last a lot longer and pass through many stages, waiting for feedback from the customer.
Our system isn't very complex. I have a file folder rack on one corner of my desk (like the others described) which shows the folders above each other.
I also usually have post-it notes stuck around the edge of my computer screen to remind me of meetings and important deadlines.
My daytimer also serves as a back-up source of information.
And for really important reminders I write myself a note and stick it under the clear overlay on my computer drawing pad. I can't miss it there.
Janis has me write important deadlines and meeting times on her calendar upstairs as a final check point in the system.
The system wouldn't work for a shop that does a high volume of small jobs... but it works for us with the type of work we do.
-dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8741 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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