Part of the reason for starting this business is the realisation almost on a regular basis, we have all been the recipient of a person’s or a business’ disjointedness or lack of smooth process in the background. It could be one-on-one with a family, friend or even colleagues. Or it could be when you are a customer.
There are some that can’t be helped. But there are some where it caused some form of friction to my day-to-day and it could have been resolved with relative ease. And once resolved, it makes everyone’s lives so much easier because everything works smoothly and more efficiently.
And sometimes at little to no cost too.
Let me share some personal and business-related examples of when operations goes wrong and how, once resolved, can make everyone’s lives better.
1. When you order food, and something goes wrong along the way
I’m sure we have all experienced this at least once in our lives. Either the wrong food has been placed in front of us, or your order has been sent to the wrong table.
After dinner and bowling with my wife, we decided to end the night by satisfying our sweet tooth and get some dessert at a Heavenly Dessert, a major national dessert chain in the UK. After sitting at our table, I noticed they had a table-side POS device, where you order, make payment, ask for assistance, etc. Everything at your fingertip. Think of it as an alternative to scanning a QR code on your phone and order that way.
Alright, I don’t mind using tech to make things run smoother. I welcome it at the right places.
After ordering (waffles with ice cream and Biscoff sauce, just in case you need to know), made payment, we waited…for 40 minutes. Because I used to be a waiter in my teenage years, I don’t like disturbing the waiting staff. It’s a hard enough job as it is for such little pay, and they deserve respect. But then I used the feature in the device to request assistance and waited…for another 10 minutes.
I then checked my bank app to see if the payment had gone through and it definitely did. And rather than request help again via the POS device, I had to physically talk to a staff member about our order, old school style.
They have noticed why we haven’t gotten our food (you’d think that’s a clue for them!) and notice that my order hasn’t gone through. They can see from my bank app that the payment has gone through and realised there is a disconnect somewhere in the system and our table specifically, but nobody noticed it until I pointed it out.
In the end, they refunded the payment. But by then, it was getting too late in the evening to reorder. So we left.
It’s not like I won’t ever go back again. But you can imagine many customers won’t bother because of this experience.
2. When the check engine light is on
I had a situation where the amber ‘check engine’ light turned on. And then off. And then on again. Nothing catastrophic has happened yet (unless it’s a red light), but it constantly reminds me to deal with it soon.
But you know how it goes. If it’s left for a long time, the back-end of the car will start to go awry and the bill could five times what it would have been if it was dealt with earlier.
It’s similar to a business owner who’s been ignoring the operational mess. “It’s fine” one might say while putting plasters on the cracks…as the number of issues and errors start rising. This will then start slowing the processes and workflows in your business, to the point where you are spending more time doing things that you shouldn’t do and your service will start to suffer as a result.
Like in many scenarios, the sooner it was dealt with, the better.
3. When personal email addresses are used for professional work
How many times have you seen traders putting their personal Gmail, Hotmail and AOL.com as their “business” email address, (at the time of writing, I’ve seen at least five throughout the day). While it’s easy to pick on the traders because it’s very public, many business owners are guilty of this.
You might think it’s not a big deal, so long as everything works. But the bigger will suggest otherwise. It might not look “professional” and it’s not great branding, but it also secretly signals that everything is not set up properly. That person’s inbox will be full of personal emails that can make yours lost in the mix: Amazon orders, GP appointment reminders, personal messages from friends, newsletters, monthly payment made of all of your subscriptions. It can get messy.
There’s also a GDPR dimension that most small business owners haven’t considered. Client data, correspondence, and personal information sitting in a personal email account is not a clean data environment. If you were ever asked to demonstrate how you store and protect client information, a personal Gmail is not an answer that inspires confidence.
And when something goes wrong with the account, which personal accounts are more vulnerable to given they tend to have weaker security hygiene, your business can go down with it.
4. When someone has dozens/hundreds/thousands of unread emails
Similar to the non-professional email address, this can cause chaos with the number of unread emails, though this is also evident for those who have proper branded business accounts too.
You glance at someone’s phone and that number is sitting there in red. Before they’ve said a word, you might form an opinion: you wonder how anything important ever gets seen? How do they know what needs a reply? Is anything automated? Are they keeping on top of their inbox?
I’ve had that in my mind at times.
I’m not saying it has to be Inbox Zero. But having some management of your inbox, whether it’s with someone who can assist you and/or by automating it, it will help fine tune your inbox and your business.
5. When you go back and forth about availability
When I contact a business about their availability, I personally don’t understand why they don’t use some form of scheduling software like Calendly. It will save so much back and forth in an attempt to find the right time and date. It will save everyone a lot of time at minimal cost.
However, I do find it slightly awkward doing it between friends. Like when we want to arrange a meetup or have a meal together. Or is that just me?
6. When someone has a messy desktop or unorganised file/folder system
Oof, this one hit hard. I struggle if my desktop has any files or a folder that are not systemised. But then I’ve seen those where their entire desktop is filled with files.
It doesn’t matter what you say, it will still take you effort to find what you’re looking. It’s not a practical process and I refuse to accept that it’s “fine” to manage your documents like that.
You could manually create the right structure yourself. But Claude Cowork can also help with creating a structure and reorganising your files. I have attempted it a couple of times, and after some additional tweaking, it is structured to how I want it, both on the business and personal side.
7. When someone has inconsistent or unconventional file naming structure
Hot on the topic of unorganised file and folder systems are the lack of consistency in file naming convention. We’ve all done it, especially when it involves multiple people co-operating over the same project at the same time.
You just know things can get messy.
And we’ve all seen variations of the final version of that document that we’re supposed to work on as the final source of truth. I mean, do these sound familiar?:
- final_v1.doc
- final_final_v2.doc
- NEW_final.doc
- final_new_v2.doc
- FINAL_USE_THIS_ONE.doc
- final_DO_NOT_EDIT_v2.doc
- final_approved.doc
- final_approved_amendments_v2.doc
- absolute_final_version.doc
The other detail worth noting: somewhere in that folder there is also a copy sitting in someone’s Downloads, another in a shared drive, and a third that was emailed as an attachment and never reconciled with the others. Nobody knows which one was actually sent to the client, and nobody wants to ask.
So much time and energy wasted. Yet, so avoidable.
When someone says “let me look for it” or “where did I save it” and pause
Someone asks for a document in a meeting, and responds “Let me just find that.”
Twenty seconds. Thirty.
Clicking, scrolling, checking folders.
The room is waiting, and everyone is trying to fill the awkward silence by looking away and pretending to do something on the computer, while the searcher is making some form of noise to symbolise that they are “almost there”.
“Eerrrrrr….mmmmm…riiiiight…theeeeeereee”
That pause (and the “eerrrrrr”) is the visible gap between having a system and not having one. It’s small. It’s cumulative. And we notice it even when they don’t say so. Was it Google Drive? The desktop? Did you email it to yourself?
And if you add that to bad file naming structure, and we may as well cancel the meeting.
When someone’s accountant is chasing them about their expenses.
If your accountant called you today and asked for last year’s expenses in full, how long would that take you to put together?
But if you had it all set up using an accountant platform, which is integrated with your business bank account, all it needs is a few minutes of your time to make sure that you tag all expenses correctly and give your accountant access to it. And that’s it!
Otherwise, it will require gathering lots of receipts together, calculating it via a spreadsheet, old school style and sending it via an email. That is a lot of steps when it can be more efficient using a few pieces of software and integration.
When someone’s onboarding process is either non-existent, broken or long winding
I have worked for an organisation where they require their customers to go through a 16-step process of an important application process during an onboarding process that they have to go through.
It doesn’t matter who you are, it will put people off or at the very least, cause an element of frustration. And even if it doesn’t (because they have no choice but to bite their tongue and do it to apply), why make it difficult for them? Why create a painful experience?
The other side of it is if you have new clients signed up, the only place that has an understanding on how to onboard a new client is in your head. It’s not written down anywhere. It’s not an automated process. Plus, it takes hours to complete.
Either of the examples can be done better. And everybody wins if an onboarding process is a smooth one.
When someone has lost their access to 2FA…and also their backup codes.
I’m a big advocate of managing your online security via password managers, 2FA and basic practices like not clicking on suspicious looking links when you receive an email or SMS.
I use Proton Authentication and Proton Pass for this purpose. And I also use Proton Drive for storing my backup codes, not just for my business but also act as a form of digital will that my wife can access if anything happens to me. Doing it way allows me to keep everything stored securely and encrypted.
Whatever happens, if I lose my phone or don’t have immediate access to it, I can access my backup codes and crack on as normal.
When someone has tangled hair…oh wait, that’s on me.
The inspiration behind the brand ‘Untangli’ comes from the routine of regularly untangling my daughter’s beautifully curly hair. It can get tangled very easily, especially after some enthusiastic playing. If us parents neglect it and leave it as it is by just doing the standard shampoo and quick brush, it can get very messy and even more difficult to untangle at a later date.
But with some regular attention plus some love and care, it makes it easier to stay on top of it. It’s worth the effort in the short and long term, just like how it’s worth managing your own digital operations before it gets too messy.
It can save a lot of headache.
Ready to get it sorted?
Start with a discovery call. You show me the mess, I tell you what it’d take to untangle it. No obligation.
