Continuous improvement has been a part of my thinking since I was a kid. My wife has a love/hate relationship with the tinkering I am constantly engaging in around the house (she hates it until I get it right or put things back the way they were before I started…). Continuous improvement can make a huge difference to your ability to be successful as well as just making your day more enjoyable. Here are some of my more recent continuous improvement projects and some insights on how to make the best of your improvements.
1. Motion detecting lights in the bathroom
I have four kids and I was (am) that grumpy old man who yells “Who left the light on?” So I installed a motion detector light switch. Problem solved! Nope. It was more effective for short visits and occasionally left someone in the dark resulting in the need to flap arms while seated… So I improved it until I adjusted it to stay on 5 minutes without movement. Sure, it wastes some electricity, but 5 minutes is not so bad. The first implementation of an idea often has unintended consequences. Keep improving until you get the benefit you intended.
2. Slow close toilet seats
Since two of my children are boys, teaching them to lift the lid was tough and teaching them to put it down equally as tough. And since sometimes this happens late at night—SLAM. So a slow close toilet seat did the trick. But I haven’t replaced all the toilet seats yet. I’m letting each old one wear out first and then “upgrading.” Sometimes it’s best to leave technology alone until it has reached the end of its useful life.3. Programmable thermostats
Originally I bought the $40 programmable units and they are great. They follow the programming you enter perfectly. If someone adjusts the temperature, it reverts to the original program when the next time block kicks in. Count a win for the grumpy old man!? Nope. As with all technology, people who are annoyed by a technology find a way to work around the technology. Kim (my wife) “beats” the programming by hitting the HOLD button which keeps the temperature set where she needs it. The problem is, this HOLD can last for days until someone releases the hold!
4. The NEST Thermostat
Around the office, we have a minimum acceptable goal of 6 implemented continuous improvement ideas per person, per year. It is impressive to me how many great ideas have been implemented over the last 24 months. AppleTV’s in all our conference rooms, simplified reporting tools for sales partners, and hundreds of other changes have been implemented.
With over 300 people at our office, we have 1,800+ improvements every year. Some very small, some large. It doesn’t matter. 1,800+ improvements every year adds up to significant improvement.
What improvements can you make to your home or office? Are you making continuous improvement part of your culture?
Now back to replacing all my light bulbs with CFL…
