Andy Grove sees his work as part of a production process. He does not measure his output by hours worked, or any other gauge of personal activity, but by the output of those he manages. Learn to use indicators to monitor progress and ensure that your "leverage" enhances everyone's output.
Understanding the production process
Grove derives general production principles from his early experience as a waiter, when he was working his way through college. He had to deliver to the table boiled egg, buttered toast, and coffee "simultaneously, each of them fresh and hot". This routine exemplifies the PAT formula of Process, Assembly, and Test.
The PAT Formula
Process
any activity that physically changes material
Assembly
components are put together to create a new entity
Test
components or the total are examined and evaluated
In Grove's breakfast task, the Process includes boiling a three-minute egg and making the coffee, the Assembly is setting out the tray, and the Test could be checking on the browning of the toast.
The PAT formula applies to all kinds of productive work, such as training a sales force, developing a "compiler" for a computer, recruiting a graduate — or managing anything. Analyze your own work. How does the PAT formula apply?
Making the production process flow
All production processes have what Grove calls a limiting step — the "longest (or most difficult, or most sensitive, or most expensive) step". You construct your production flow by starting with the limiting step and building around it. In the case of Grove's breakfast, the limiting step is the three-minute egg. Grove works back from the time taken to boil the egg and staggers the other steps to ensure that every stage is completed in good time. Identify your own limiting step and organize the flow of work around that priority.
Focussing on the production essentials
There are five essential parts to every production process. Make these the basis of your approach to your own output, which is ultimately judged by its contribution to the output of others.
The Five Essentials of Production
Build and deliver products...
in response to customer demands...
at a scheduled delivery time...
at an acceptable quality level...
at the lowest possible cost.
Relate the five essentials to your own activities. Ask yourself:
* What are my "products"?
* Who are my customers and what do they want?
* What deadlines must I meet?
* How do I measure quality and what quality is acceptable?
* What does my "production" cost and how can that cost be cut?
Your effectiveness as a manager depends on knowing the answers to these questions and on using the information to raise performance.
Using your time well
Time is your only finite resource. How well you use it is crucial. How do you divide your time between the three activities seen by Grove as the key functions of a manager?
The Three Activities of a Manager
1 Gathering information and giving it out
2 "Nudging" people to do what is required
3 Making decisions on what has to be done
Write down everything you do in a day under each heading. Are all your activities having a positive impact on the Five Essentials?
