Strategy

Performance Objectives – Public Sector

Performance Objectives - Public Sector Slack et al. identify five generic performance objectives: quality speed dependability flexibility cost These generic performance objectives are explained below. There are public sector examples to help illustrate them. Quality Quality is about consistent performance. This could be meeting a product specification or about providing a superior service.  In the public sector, it could be how many decisions get appealed. Or the number of letters re-drafted before being sent. Externally Quality increases customer satisfaction. Excellent services for the citizen should  drive public services. Internally Quality reduces costs and increases dependability. Measurement Customer satisfaction surveys where there is a direct service to the public. Internal metrics ( redrafts or errors recorded on a case management system). Speed Speed is about minimising the time lag between a customer request and its fulfilment. This could be the time taken to reply to correspondence, or…
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Scouting

Biscuits without an oven

I'm experimenting with making digestive biscuits without using the oven today. I'm trying it out ahead of the cubs cooking competition to see if it works. The cubs aren't allowed to use electrical stuff and only have gas rings to cook on. This year's theme is the cub scout centenary. We've not yet finalised the menu, the choice is between something jungle book inspired and a twist on classic cub camp food. So the digestive biscuits I'm trying will become the base for smores. Digestive biscuits without an oven Recipe rolled out dough for the digestive biscuits 2 cups wholemeal flour 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup milk I've given the measures there as cups, but I used a nominal 100g per cup for my trial. Method Take a…
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Reviews are King – Book Marketing Pt.2

Reviews are king. Books with good reviews sell way more copies than those that haven't. Even when you do a free giveaway more people will download a book with positive reviews than the same one with none. (See my A/B testing post). Getting Reviews You don't want to rely on people who buy your book leaving reviews. There are two reasons why not. Without reviews you won't sell many copies Very few people review products (compared to the numbers that download/buy it) So you need to do some research. Google book review sites for the genres you think your book is a reasonable match for. Read the reviews of books you've read and see whether you think they might like your book. (You have read other books in the genre you're writing in? If not go do so immediately, you must understand…
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reviews

Disaster at Havendale by Richard E. Davis [Book Review]

Disaster at Havendale by Richard E. Davis My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was sent a free copy of Disaster at Havendale by the publisher as a prize in a twitter competition. I started reading it when it arrived, but then lent it to a friend to read, and then it sat neglected in the bottom of my work bag when it was returned to me (because I was then in the middle of another book). Disaster at Havendale I finally came back to Disaster at Havendale a couple of days ago and read it on my daily commute over two days. It is a bit of a slow burn to start with, taking slightly more than half of the book to set the scene and establish the characters. This would be fine in a full length novel, but its…
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Study

Innovation – what exactly is innovation?

Innovation, like strategy, is constantly talked about yet greatly misunderstood. Government and business alike talk of innovation as driving economic growth. Innovation is a Holy Grail. So what is it? What is Innovation? I think that the best definition is 'an idea that is developed and implemented to bring something new into being'. Lots of people confuse ideas with innovation. I have this great idea for a self-cleaning car. Am I not innovative? Unless you build the self-cleaning car, I don't believe that you are. Ideas are easy. We all have ideas all the time. To be innovative the idea itself does not have to be novel. However the product, service or system you develop as a result should be. The key thing is to bring something new. Incremental Innovation How new is new? It could be a very small increment over what has existed before.…
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