Archive
paying late doesn’t make good business sense
News last week that one of the suppliers to a global construction giant had elected not to accept any more work from that source because of delays in getting paid should sound warning bells to over aggressive procurement functions. Whilst the news may not have told the full story it is clear that there are moves to stretch payment terms and that many of these are beyond what is reasonable under the circumstances. Read more…
musings on the fire drill and other emergency procedures
For much of my working life before getting involved in Facilities Management the fire drill was the province of HR, or Personnel as we used to call them and at more than one location there was a delight in picking a wet day for the practice. Because they always had the drills in the same weeks every year, and always in the gap between morning tea break and lunch, the old sweats could usually work out when the drill would be from the weather forecast. Someone based near HR would be watching for the tell-tale signs of activity. As soon as HR were seen to be assembling with clip boards, macs and brollies the word would go around and people would be ready for the bell; after all, the quicker they were out the quicker they could be back in again, but whilst some very good evacuation times (as I would later come to know) were being recorded HR would always moan drainishly about everyone having apparently stopped to put their coats on before leaving the building; somehow it never occurred to them that we were ready and waiting for the bell. Read more…
Dad’s Army: FM Pioneers?
Scene: Walmington-on-Sea church hall, Vicar’s office. Captain Mainwaring sits at his desk reading an order from HQ.
As he reads the letter a smile begins to play around his lips. There is a knock at the door; he looks up. Read more…
dealing with prank callers
Hoax calls made the news last week in circumstances that turned out to have tragic repercussions. They are, of course, not a new phenomenon, so how are facilities management teams geared up to handle these sorts of things? Read more…
Risk registers and contingency plans; how robust are yours?
Risk management has been very prominent for me over the last week. Meetings on the topic have led to a commission to deliver a risk management seminar early next year and I will be running a risk management course on the day you read this, so that alone should have been enough for me, but the fates had other ideas in store. Read more…
it’s not the third place; it’s an alternative second place at least, but maybe we should call it the fourth place?
Have we established the Fourth Place? A few weeks ago I mused here about developing the Second Place and commented about the hi-jacking of Ray Oldenburg’s well established Third Place for other purposes. This debate flared up again on Twitter at the end of last week where, under the hash tag #worktech, there was more discussion about misuse of both the term and the location. Read more…
the office of the future needs to be flexible and productive; but what does that mean?
I saw a headline that said the office of the future would need to be flexible and productive, but that’s a bit like saying that a house has to have walls and a roof. Let’s examine those words in more detail though. Read more…
things that go bump in the night – a Halloween special tale from the facilities front line
“We’ve lost about 100 yards of fence”. The words were succinct and, as it turned out, accurate, but when you hear them on the ‘phone at 0130 having been woken from a deep sleep to take the call they take a moment or so to register.
Outside the wind howled and the rain lashed on the windows. It was a foul night, but I was on call so I told the security guard who had rung me that I would be with him in about ten minutes and dragged on some warm clothes. My waterproof hi-viz gear was in the back of the car and I was quickly on my way. Read more…
wardrobe malfunction! it’s back into the closet!
I really must stop writing these prophetic posts. This morning’s Monday Musing had barely hit cyberspace when my tea making activities were interrupted by an ominous rumble above me. The Berkshire Belle was then heard getting out of bed and that moment every Facilities Manager dreads was upon me, for the client’s voice was heard to call “we have a problem”. Read more…
getting facilities management out of the closet and into the mainstream
I am often asked what I miss most about no longer being an operational Facilities Manager, and I have a two part answer; on the up side I am glad I no longer have to put up with sitting at interminable meetings where the chair and many of the participants are ill prepared, but on the down side I miss making things happen. Read more…
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