Long story short I take Wednesdays off and work Saturdays and a few late nights during the week to make up for it.

As a natural progression of this I started writing up a "one pager" for the staff to sort themselves out for the day. I noticed it was quite an effective way to organise them for the day and am now trialling making them a "one pager" for each working day. maybe every second or third once were up and running.

I can send a copy if anyone is interested. At it's current stage of evolution it tells them
- what deliveries are coming in
- a list of the jobs in production and what stage they are at
- a table with each job that CAN have work done on it and some basic notes.

Then at the bottom there is a list of things to do if they run out of work. this is only if everything is done and clean and ready to go.

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Wondering if anyone does this, has done this or will do this.

I just want to find the balance between giving them a focus and direction but still having them think on their own. It only takes one day and I can come in to chaos. I honestly don't get it. I drum it into them!
- Figure out what is most important
- Start that job and don't stop until you finish it.
- Pack it away
- Start the next one

I come in to many half finished jobs.

Can anyone relate?

Thankyou

Yes, I did something similar when I ran a basic architectural shop with 8 to 18 people in it. Every night before leaving, I'd make notes on a printed list of employees' names. I'd note which area they were to work in (door shop, molding mill, custom, etc) and what jobs they would do. Special things could also be noted, like completing a certain job, and then prepping it for UPS.

Some guys spent every day in the door shop, and some spent every day in the molding mill, so their descriptions never changed. But it was a good place to remind someone they were to stand in for Hugo while he was on vacation, or Mongo, who was faking a fever so he could spend more time with his hot new girl friend. I kept my remarks on the sheet short and professional.

This shop was Neanderthal when I arrived. They thought chisels and utility knife blades were disposable. They did not know how to operate any of the equipment (Molder, resaw, shaper, etc.).

Simply putting up my Daily Sheet impressed the owners/managers ("he's one of them college boys...") so much - it was like the adventurer flicking his Bic for the natives just before they put him in the big pot. They were so impressed, they wanted me to take over the whole company (full line lumberyard).

We have a spreadsheet that we use at our morning meetings. This is put up on the tv screen for all to see. Have small sheets for everyone to write down what they are to do that day. We have both the sheets and spreadsheet separated into time segments so that they know how much time is allowed to the work. By having them write it down on their own sheets, they have more memory as they wrote it and they have their personal sheet at their station. We also have a meeting when the lunch break ends. Just for everyone to check in and see where they are at in the daily plan. If we have someone running behind the plan, we move resources to get that area caught up.

As it is a spreadsheet on an IPad, I can update it from home or on the road with my IPad. I can also see the Daily Plan from out of the shop when I am gone. This way I know what is happening.

Ive been wanting to do the same thing, but with a couple of tablets, and from a cloud drive, so that notes from the shop or field are updated to the office. Any one doing it this way?

If you are using paper to make lists then you should be using google sheets. if you are using excel then you should be using sheets. Its the same as excel spread sheet except everyone can work on the same sheet at the same time, just not in the same cell. The advantage is that everyone is literally on the same page/workbook! Also everyone can participate in creating the TODO list and add to it during the day. It is live and current so any changes are seen by anyone and anyone can makes changes/ updates.

We have pages for each job progression of tasks, cut sheets, photos, client info and procurement as well as special notes for drilling operations etc.

We also do our timesheets on it, gone are the days of timesheets being filled out minutes before they are due. No more overtime surprises!

We found that once we migrated from excel to sheets we found more uses and are able to use them as a great communication tool.

I would recommend starting with a simple one and build it as time goes on.

Exactly what im thinking of. I am using sheets/docs for some things between my computer at home and here in the office, but ive just scratched the surface. What kind of tablets are you guys using in the shop and field