My Job Is to Provide Information
Today, I’m starting a new chapter at C2i - Change 2 improve.
My name is Claudia Vega and I’m joining C2i with a very simple mission:
- Provide information.
- Share ideas.
- Start conversations.
- And help uncover opportunities for improvement that could be useful to engineering, design and manufacturing companies.
My job will not be to sell products or services.
Nor will it be to convince anyone to change the way they work.
My intention is much simpler.
- Observe.
- Learn.
- Share.
- And provide information that can help other people make better decisions.
Because sometimes, an idea, a question or an observation at the right moment can save hours of work, prevent mistakes or open up new possibilities we had never even considered before.
My mission
Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing thoughts, experiences, trends and observations related to some of the topics currently transforming businesses the most.
- Not because there are any magic solutions.
- Nor because every company should work in the same way.
- But because we live in a time when information has become one of the most valuable tools we have.
That’s why I like to sum up my job in one very simple sentence:
My job is to provide information.
- Information that helps us better understand the changes taking place.
- Information that helps us identify opportunities for improvement.
- Information that encourages us to ask new questions.
Because some of the most interesting opportunities emerge when we start looking differently at something we have been doing exactly the same way for years.
Companies aren’t as different as they think
There are a few phrases I’ve heard many times over the years.
- "This company is different."
- "“It’s just that this company is special."
Sometimes, instead of “different” or “special,” people use expressions such as “very particular,” “unique,” or “things just work differently here.”
Sometimes it’s the managing director who says it. Other times, it’s the technical manager, the production manager or one of the employees.
And, in a way, it’s true.
- Every company is different,
- Every company is special.
They manufacture different products, work for different customers, operate in different markets and are made up of different people, with different experiences, skills and personalities.
But there is an important detail.
These phrases usually come up when we talk about processes, organization or potential improvements. In other words, when we talk about how they do things. Not when we talk about:
- Who they are.
- What they manufacture.
- What they do.
But when we talk about how they work.
And that is where my experience leads me to a very different conclusion. Because once you have observed enough companies, you begin to notice something interesting.
Most companies share far more problems, challenges and opportunities for improvement than they realize.
- Information gets duplicated.
- The same data is entered multiple times.
- Spreadsheets end up performing tasks they were never designed for.
- Documents become difficult to find.
- Processes grow in a disorganized way over the years,
- Or, at the opposite extreme, processes remain unchanged despite advances in the tools and technologies being used.
And people spend enormous amounts of time on tasks that could be performed much more simply — or even automatically.
- These problems appear in large and small companies.
- In modern and traditional businesses.
- Across completely different industries.
That’s why, when we talk about processes, organization or productivity, being “special” and doing things “differently” isn’t necessarily an advantage.
In fact, it often means there is a particular way of doing something that requires more time, more effort or more resources than are actually necessary. And, in many cases, it also means missing opportunities to improve processes or take advantage of more modern and efficient tools.
And that has a positive consequence.
- If many companies share similar problems, they can also learn from one another.
- A good idea implemented in one company can inspire improvements in many others.
- A solution found by one organization can help others avoid making the same mistakes.
And that is precisely where some of the best opportunities for improvement tend to emerge.
If we keep doing the same things in the same way, we’ll keep getting the same results.
- It doesn’t matter if we work more hours.
- It doesn’t matter if we put in more effort.
- It doesn’t matter if we devote more resources to it.
If the process doesn’t change, the result won’t change very much either.
Are we asking the right questions?
The most interesting opportunities for improvement rarely come from working harder. On the contrary, they tend to appear when we pause and analyze how we are working.
When we question processes we have been using for years.
When we review tasks we have come to regard as normal.
And when we start asking the right questions.
- Why do we do it this way?
- Does it still make sense?
- Does doing it this way actually add any value or provide any advantage?
- Is there a better way?
- Is there a simpler way?
- Is there a faster way?
Many opportunities for improvement emerge at precisely that moment.
When we stop asking how much more we can do and start asking how we could do it better.
We live in a time of accelerating change, and everything suggests that the pace will continue to increase over the coming years. Asking the right questions has therefore always been important, but today it matters more than ever.
Not because the problems companies face have changed. But because the tools available to solve them are evolving at a pace that is difficult to keep up with.
- The challenge is staying up to date.
- Understanding what is genuinely worth our attention.
- And understanding what can actually add value to our company.
Because nobody has time to follow every new development, try every tool or analyze every trend.
That is precisely why I believe sharing information, experiences and real-world cases is so important.
Not to chase every new trend.
But to better understand which changes can genuinely help us work in a more efficient, more organized and more intelligent way.
What you’ll find here
I already have a long list of topics I’d like to write about — and an even longer list of questions worth exploring.
But I’d like to start with the topics that are most interesting to you as well.
So I’d like to finish with a question:
What topic would you like us to cover in the next articles?
See you soon.