Get a 12-Step Program --Dickeson
June 2004
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Somebody, anybody, tell me I'm wrong. Pick a fight with me. Start an argument. Anything. Don't just sit there like a bump on a log. I've taken positions in this column that are heretical. I think. I've sent out copies of a putative book to a number of friends, including printers, and asked for their reactions a couple of months ago. Not a word have I heard.
I'll send copies of Monday Morning Manager, A 12-Step Program to Printing Profitability, my book, in PDF format over the Internet, FREE, to anyone who requests a copy. All you need to do is drop me an e-mail at the address at the foot of this column. Read the book (or as many pages as you can stand!), print it, circulate it to friends and associates, and do what you like with it. Respond, if you choose. Bawl me out, if you want.
After 13 years in the law practice following a master's degree in accounting, I'm used to seeking the truth by argument. As they say of a good advocate, "Not always wrong, not always right, but never in doubt." Yes, I said FREE. Can you beat the price? There's one catch. Reading the book, and thinking about the 12 points, may be dangerous. You may begin to doubt the wisdom of the system that you've been using all these years!
Summing it All Up
Many of these things you've read before in these pages. Let me summarize a few for you.
Systems are supposed to be ways we get accurate collections and reports of the data of our business. The purpose is to assist us in making good decisions. We've learned that we can't budget or forecast with any accuracy for a year or even a month—call it Chaos Theory. So we must use a shorter period—a week. But a week is a short period for looking at past history.
Let's look at a rolling 13-week quarter, but make our predictions for only the upcoming week. I learned this trick from Europeans. It's a way of making forecasts that are fairly consistent with facts.
We're basically concerned with CASH—how much is in the drawer for any period. Is there more or less than expected? If, at the end of a period such as a year or rolling quarter, there's less than we started with, we're headed for trouble unless we've got a damned good explanation. Call it the Grandpa's Cash Drawer system.
I'll send copies of Monday Morning Manager, A 12-Step Program to Printing Profitability, my book, in PDF format over the Internet, FREE, to anyone who requests a copy. All you need to do is drop me an e-mail at the address at the foot of this column. Read the book (or as many pages as you can stand!), print it, circulate it to friends and associates, and do what you like with it. Respond, if you choose. Bawl me out, if you want.
After 13 years in the law practice following a master's degree in accounting, I'm used to seeking the truth by argument. As they say of a good advocate, "Not always wrong, not always right, but never in doubt." Yes, I said FREE. Can you beat the price? There's one catch. Reading the book, and thinking about the 12 points, may be dangerous. You may begin to doubt the wisdom of the system that you've been using all these years!
Summing it All Up
Many of these things you've read before in these pages. Let me summarize a few for you.
Systems are supposed to be ways we get accurate collections and reports of the data of our business. The purpose is to assist us in making good decisions. We've learned that we can't budget or forecast with any accuracy for a year or even a month—call it Chaos Theory. So we must use a shorter period—a week. But a week is a short period for looking at past history.
Let's look at a rolling 13-week quarter, but make our predictions for only the upcoming week. I learned this trick from Europeans. It's a way of making forecasts that are fairly consistent with facts.
We're basically concerned with CASH—how much is in the drawer for any period. Is there more or less than expected? If, at the end of a period such as a year or rolling quarter, there's less than we started with, we're headed for trouble unless we've got a damned good explanation. Call it the Grandpa's Cash Drawer system.
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Best Practices for Print Automation
Printing Production Management
