114 Proved Plans to Save a Busy Man Time 101 - 114
PLAN 101
SAVES 50% IN COST AND LOTS OF TIME
There may be nothing brand new under the run, but it’s
pretty certain that some of the old ways can be worked
over to advantage. And of that this plan is the proof.
“It costs us only about half as much now as formerly to handle our records on accounts payable,” says one busy man. “We also spend only about half as much time at the work as before; yet we find that our records are even more valuable than they used to be. Our sys- tem has worked so well for us that we believe it should produce similar results in other concerns.
“We made the saving in two ways: first, we reduced the number of operations; second, we adopted a com- pact card index and a simple voucher sheet in place of an immense voucher register, 10 feet long, that we had previously used. The work is now arranged so that several entries are made at one time on the typewriter. This considerably reduces the time and labor.
“We have eliminated hand work in a dozen or more places, using rubber stamps instead; yet we have not decreased the value of the records in a single instance. In fact, we increased their effectiveness.
” Our former plan was to make a record of all vouchers to be paid on a page that contained enough columns to accommodate every department or controlling account, governing auxiliary department records, to which an expenditure might be charged. Our company owns a number of mines. In order to save time and have the record complete, it was necessary to have a separate column under each department for each mine. As our operations grew, the size of this book increased, until at the time when it was abandoned, as we have said, it was fully 10 feet long when open.
“The importance of having immediate access to the original record of an invoice and its voucher was indicated to us time and again in legal proceedings. We never were able to satisfy a lawyer with anything but the original record, and we found that our filing system did not permit us to find that quickly. “We had been depending largely upon our 10-foot register and an adequate filing system.
“As our system is now, the originals are the records to which we most often refer. This original record we know as the voucher sheet which is assembled in a bound volume with the original invoices and papers. It is a carbon made at the same time as the statement of settlement— which goes to the supply company from which we have purchased — and the paying check. All three of these documents are written at once. The statement of settlement is exactly twice the size of the check, and the voucher sheet is twice the size of the statement of settlement.
“Writing the three at once means an important saving of labor; and it also means that all the documents correspond in every detail. The check, which is smaller than the other sheets, drops out of the typewriter after the name and address, the amount, and a reference to the statement of settlement are entered. Then as much of the invoice as may be necessary is copied to the statement of settlement; and at the same operation, of course, the carbon transcribes the invoice on the voucher sheet. At the next turn of the typewriter platen the statement of settlement drops out. A final entry is made on the voucher sheet to indicate the account to which the bill is to be charged, the name of the mine, and the initial of the clerk who made the voucher. In this way, one operation makes all these important documents.
” The treasurer signs the check after it has been signed by the general auditor. We then place it, with the statement of settlement, in a window envelop—thus we avoid the necessity of writing the address again.
“For quick reference to a given creditor’s account we have a card file. The cards are arranged alphabetically according to the names of the creditors. Each card has 24 spaces, in which to make records of payments. Columns are provided to show the voucher number, date of entry, the amount and the date.
” Our method of handling checks is a little unusual. In fact, the sheet which we have been calling a ‘check’ might better be termed a ‘warranty of payment.’ In the lower left-hand corner, under the words ‘payable through,’ we stamp with a rubber stamp the name of the bank through which payment is to be made. We have accounts in several banks. When our check, or ‘warranty,’ returns to the bank, it is brought, together with all the ‘checks’ received on that day, to our treasurer.
“The operation of finding a certain voucher is some- thing like finding a given page or chapter in a book in a library. We first go to our card index, find the name of the concern to whom the voucher was made, find the item wanted, and thus secure the voucher number. We then go to our voucher ‘library,’ select the book containing this number, and find the voucher and papers as you find a page number in a book.
” I should like to call special attention to an important feature of our check. Just above the space left for indorsement are these words, which turn the check into a valid receipt: ‘Indorsements legally and technically correct must be made below. Officers of corporations must give their proper titles. Signatures by mark must be witnessed and witness’s residence must be stated. One party signing for another must attach power of attorney. Indorsement of payee hereunder will constitute a receipt for the account specified hereon.’
“A complete record of all voucher amounts is made on a ‘voucher index.’ This index is printed on a letter size sheet. It has columns in which we enter the voucher number and amount. Postings of totals are made from this index to the ledger.
“We post to the other ledger accounts direct from the voucher sheet, which is our permanent and original record.
“This system, which requires us to make only two postings, has greatly decreased the number of errors. Experience has shown us that over 60% of the errors in balances are directly due to rerecording and sum- marking. Our method eliminates most of this extra work to a large extent.”
PLAN 102
A ‘TILE” PLAN FOR FINDING FACTS
INSTANTLY
And it comes in handy for a Denver business man when-
ever he attacks a knotty problem. It’s somewhat like plan
27 and has proved practical in every way.
“I wanted a practical substitute for the old-time scrap book,” writes a Denver executive,” one that would enable me to file clippings, memoranda, and suggestions so that I could get at them quickly. The scrap book, of course, I had discarded because it took too much time. After studying my requirements I decided on a plan that has not only saved me time but is much more accessible than any I have ever heard of.
“It consists of a cabinet with eight rows of what may be termed portfolios. The cabinet contains about 300 of these pockets, which are made to open at the top. Each pocket is 6 inches high, 1/2 inch wide and 11 inches deep, and is indexed alphabetically to include any word or subject that may come up. The lettering follows the general plan of an encyclopedia.
“Clippings, memoranda, and suggestions are filed in these portfolios or pockets under the title of the subject. For instance, an article on ‘Inverted Lighting’ would be filed in the pocket labeled ‘LI.’ A card index, with cards printed as shown in Figure 25, enables me instantly to refresh my memory on any facts filed in the cabinet, without spending time to look through the port- folios. I keep a number of blank cards on my desk so that when I get an idea I enter it for future reference before it is forgotten. These cards are later filed in the regular index.
“To further facilitate finding facts in the file I have a cross-reference index. This prevents loss of my time if there is any uncertainty as to where an item may be filed. In the case of ‘Inverted Lighting,’ for example, there is a second card under the index letters ‘ IN.’ These cards are very practical for tracing one illustration through a number of subjects. The plan, I have found, may be modified for the use of executives no matter what their business.”
PLAN 103
GETTING THE OTHER FELLOW’S
MOMENT-SAVERS
Finding out how the other fellow gets more out of moments
is admittedly a logical way to save time—but the question
is how to get the time to find out. Read below how one man
answers this question.
“I find I can put many profitable minutes to use by doing selected reading during the noon hour,” says a Milwaukee business man. ” I spend my time advantageously this way except where I have a special luncheon
engagement, or take a walk.
“Whenever I am delayed in any work during the day and have a few unoccupied minutes, I read something of a helpful business nature. It pays to keep carefully selected business reading on hand. In this way I absorb
the shorter articles without effort, and secure at least a preliminary survey of more extensive reading to be done after hours.
“Putting a value on ideas and seeing that they are used is a further step in my plan, and here is how I use my time to get best results.
“I go over the day’s work trying to note my mistakes and to correct them with the good ideas I get from my reading. It is important never to read on business without taking a few extra minutes to translate the scheme or system into terms of your business, and find its application to greater effectiveness and, therefore, larger profits.
“By making out a card for each important case, reference can be made quickly to it on any proposition in hand. Such a file in alphabetical order I have found worth while.
” The one point that remains is to keep the files cleared of dead wood. This requires the services of an intelligent assistant in frequent consultation with the business man himself. A few days of such work once or twice a year are necessary.”
PLAN 104
“FOR SPEED IT HAS NO EQUAL”
That’s what its originator says of this plan. Perhaps
you’ll not be able to use it j ust as it stands, but half the
fun in using the other man’s idea comes in working out
variations.
A business man in the “West has had success with a graphic chart which he uses to keep track of the results obtained by his salesmen. The cost of keeping the graphic records is moderate. The information they supply is valuable for comparative purposes. This method is suggestive and probably could be used profitably by many in other lines who desire a comparative record of effectiveness.
As part of his office equipment this sales manager uses a flat-topped desk 6 feet long, the top being entirely covered by a piece of plate glass. The comparative chart is kept under this glass.
The chart is drawn on millimeter paper. A 6 foot length of this paper takes care of the records of salesmen. The chart is arranged for a monthly record. If so desired, the comparisons could be made weekly, or for any other period—the only consideration is that the longer the period, the longer must be the paper, in order to display the same number of comparisons.
In the column headed “number,” a scale is printed which starts at zero and works upward, by even steps, to somewhat more than the maximum number of calls possible per day.
In the column headed “dollars,” a scale starts at zero and works upward to a point about 50% higher than the average sales per man per month.
In the column at the foot of the page marked “aver- age cost,” a scale starts at zero and works up to a point higher than the maximum cost per call.
The figures in these scale columns depend, of course, upon the nature and quantity of business obtained, and are not shown here because they would not apply in other business in precisely the same way, although it is easy enough to fit them to any business.
The framework of the chart is drawn once each year. It shows graphically seven facts about every salesman. In the upper portion, the following appear:
1. Number of orders obtained: black line
2. Value of orders obtained: black dotted line
3. Number of calls made: green line
4. Average value per order: green dotted line.
On the lower portion of the chart, these facts are shown:
1. Average cost per order (salary, commission and expenses)
2. Average cost per call: black dotted line
3. Average cost per $100 of orders: green line.
These seven points are plotted and drawn on the one chart in less than four hours a month, and they show the record of 27 salesmen.
To secure the information which goes on the chart, each salesman is provided with a supply of postcards. He fills out one of these every day and mails it to the office. On it, in the convenient spaces it provides, he shows the number of calls he made during the day, the number of orders he obtained, and .their value.
“When the cards are received at the office, the information is transferred to the salesman’s individual summary and at the end of each month the figures on this form are totaled and the averages figured.
The whole routine in connection with keeping this chart does not represent more than two days’ work per month for a clerk.
“It is a time-saving method,” says this man, “for speed, simplicity, and effectiveness.”
PLAN 105
THE INFORMATION YOU WANT IN PLAIN
SIGHT ON YOUR DESK
You probably hare information in files handy to your
desk—most of us hate data which we frequently “want
quirk.” You may find in this plan just the suggestion
you are looking for.
Several executives are saving time by using an ingenious adaptation of the card index, for use on the desk, devised by a university professor of a practical turn of mind. It is to all essential purposes a graphic representation of a card file, condensed in form and so arranged that the cards may be readily removed or inserted. The device has been especially useful to executives who have occasion to make frequent reference to data which may be tabulated in this manner.
The device is comparatively simple. It consists of a wire frame about 2 feet high mounted upon a wooden base. Suspended from the framework are aluminum strips to which cards may be attached so that the tops overlap and are thus kept in view. The cards in the index are slit in such a way as to slide up and down on the aluminum strips. A card may be taken out or inserted at any point in the series without pausing to readjust each of the other cards. The aluminum strips are in turn suspended in such a way as to slide bodily in a horizontal direction (see Figure 26).
The strips also overlap each other laterally. In consequence every key word in the index is visible all the time and the entire card may be exposed practically as fast as the eye can work. It is, to some extent, a much condensed form of the planning board in common use in a great many concerns. The cards instead of being hung in full view with all the data upon them in evidence, are arranged in overlapping groups, and the device is obviously unsuited to the uses to which the larger board may be put. But it has proved a time saver, and may be adapted to many practical uses on the executive’s desk.
PLAN 106
ITS HARD TO FIND A TIME LEAK IN THIS PLAN
Making the oilier fellow “make his business snappy”
we’ll all agree is a mighty effective way to sate your
own time. But how? This plan points a way.
The system of one business man for making every minute count now is automatic. You can’t tarry long with him during business hours, because he invariably makes it a point to receive a caller standing up. There is no chair handy to offer the visitor. And there is not even a carpet on the floor to suggest sitting-room comfort. Everything is so immaculately clean and simple and businesslike, that the visitor—standing first on one foot and then on the other, as he is obliged to—states briefly what is on his mind and then moves, in a quiet, orderly manner, toward the door.
Another plan which reduces the time he must devote to visitors is this man’s insistence that everything possible be reduced to writing. If a man comes in with a proposition that he wishes to outline in considerable detail, this man tells him to present it in a letter. One advantage of this is that a letter may be read and disposed of when he can best spare the time, but a visitor may come in to talk about a thing just when he is most anxious to give time to something more important.
” To read the average letter, look up the subject matter, and prepare a proper answer takes less than one fourth the time,” he declares, “that is required to talk over the same matter in a personal interview—and in the latter instance there is no record to fall back on except two memories, often widely varying and more or less unreliable.”
“Then there is this objection: A business caller arrives full of his subject and is likely to catch the other person comparatively unprepared. Because he is pre- pared for the interview and I ‘m not—inasmuch as he has picked the time for it and I did not—he has really an un- fair advantage.
“Moreover, a man will say things more accurately in writing. We all say things on which much more thought would be expended if we had to put them down in black and white.”
PLAN 107
PERHAPS THIS PLAN WILL CHECK TIME WAST-
ING AS WELL FOR YOU
Sometimes we are using our own time to best advan-
tage but other people are losing us a good share of the
time we save. Here’s a plan that won for one man
in a similar situation.
“I must find what ails our filing system. It always seems, when I particularly want a letter, it cannot be found, and I waste a lot of time. And if the file clerk is absent no one else in the office can find anything.”
It was rather a deplorable condition which the manager of one business outlined in these words.
Careful examination showed that the trouble lay, not with any one piece of equipment or any one individual, but rather with a combination of careless, time-wasting practices which somehow had gradually grown up.
The investigation further showed that the files were stuffed with a mass of unimportant matter which was never referred to after it was filed; that this dead material not only took up valuable space but interfered seriously in locating important documents; that changes in the details of filing were made from time to time by the filing clerk and were known to her alone; and that practically no one in the office, aside from the filing clerk, had a comprehensive idea of where or how anything was filed. “With only one regular filing clerk in the office it may readily be seen how important it is for others to know where and
how to find material when the filing clerk is away from her post.
Here, then, was the manager’s first step: All of the filing drawers were plainly labeled to show their contents; so were the binders for quotations and the indexes used for them and for the purchase invoices. A printed card explaining the correspondence filing system was hung directly over the correspondence files. A basket was put on the filing clerk’s desk, in which were to be placed all papers returned for refiling—that is, those which had once been filed but had been removed for examination and which were now to be replaced in the files.
A simple sketch showing the various filing devices, and lettered to show the contents of each section, was then made. Enough blueprints were struck from this drawing to supply each one in the office who might have occasion to consult the files, and one was given to the filing clerk as her plan from which to work. To each blueprint was attached a typewritten sheet giving, in words, the information shown graphically on the drawing.
By these means everyone was given enough accurate, concise, and easily understood information to enable him to find without difficulty or loss of time any paper he might want if he found it necessary to look for it himself.
A set of rules to govern the handling of all correspondence was drawn up and these rules, which follow, were incorporated into a house bulletin over the manager’s signature. The first five rules are for all employees, the last five for the filing clerk and anyone-else who may find it necessary to remove letters from the file in her absence.
1. Retain nothing in your individual filing case except the personal or other papers to which no one else has occasion to refer.
2. Do not have filed unimportant letters or data which have served their purpose. Requests for prices or catalogs, acknowledgments of catalogs, and so forth, only encumber the files.
3. Return promptly to the basket at the filing desk all letters or folders removed from the general files for examination. Be sure to replace in a folder all the correspondence it contained when you received it.
4. “When possible have the filing clerk procure letters from the files for you.
5. Do not return letters or folders to the filing cases. This is to be done by the filing clerk exclusively.
6. Deliver a complete folder to anyone wishing a letter unless the letter is in the miscellaneous folder, in which case deliver only the letter requested.
7. “When a complete folder is removed put an “out” guide in its place, making the indicated notations on the guide.
8. “When a letter is removed from a miscellaneous folder put an “out” guide in its place, making the indicated notations on the guide.
9. Check up once a day on all letters or folders which have been out of the files for 48 hours or more.
10. Pile correspondence from the “return” basket in the proper folder according to date.
The effects of observing these suggestions were immediately noticeable. Although no accurate count was kept, it would be safe to say that the volume of correspondence sent to the filing desk was reduced at least one half; besides, the work of the filing clerk was so lightened that she has since been able to assist materially in other departments. And the manager does not have to let valuable time slip by while he waits for letters to be found.
PLAN 108
“A NEW VIEWPOINT ON DETAIL SAVED MB
PRACTICALLY 100% OF MY TIME”
Here’s a clear, sensible statement by a man who readjust-
ed his way of looking at his job. It deals with a question
of vital importance to all of us who want to make every
minute count.
“My point of view is best expressed perhaps in Figures 27 and 28,” explains a western business man who has worked up from the bottom. “The whole idea behind my time-saving plan is to overcome the objections on the one hand of one-man control and on the other make it possible to develop men from under positions.
“The two divisions of the organization A and B may be departments of equal prestige, or one may be head- quarters and the other may be a branch, or they may represent the relations of two independent concerns. All details originating in one organization are passed up over the respective desks of the minor executives to the head executive, who in turn transmits them to the head of the other organization, where they filter down through heads and subheads to the proper subordinates to do the work.
” With many organizations the volume of papers passing over the executive’s desk is so great that it requires his entire time to give each one even the most meager attention.
“Anybody who has made a success in obtaining results from an organization realizes there are many things seen that it is wiser to consider unseen, many things that can be done better, but in the interest of subordinates it is wiser to let them be handled without interference, and even with praise if the effort attains a reasonable success. A business can be successful with a sprinkling of inefficiencies or even mistakes, but it cannot endure if the spirit of the force is threatened.
“The plan I am now using is illustrated in Figure 28. Each subhead or minor executive is responsible and can decide upon matters in his own department or squad without fear of being humiliated by its countermanding. Each can take up matters directly concerning his own specialty with outsiders or with persons of similar standing in other divisions of his own organization. Each person in the organization feels his share of the responsibility for his share of the results. Employees are supported and guided instead of commanded.
A man always has the feeling that no matter who is against him, his boss is with him.
“I’ve organized my own work so I am not a funnel through which all details leave my organization nor the means through which they are fed into it.
“I have to perform only a minimum amount of routine work. I receive very little mail and dictate still less, except instructions. I believe in writing them if possible, as it saves endless bickering because of misunderstandings. I have at hand a book of carbon copies of all letters written by my subordinates during the preceding day, which I glance over as occasion offers. Each of these letters is signed to convey the idea that I am the executive, and the correspondent is merely one to whom I have delegated authority.
“This plan has doubled the effectiveness of my office
organization.”
PLAN 109
NOT “SIGNS OF THE TIMES” BUT A “SIGN
OF THE TIME”
Of course there are some of us who don’t care to use
a plan of this type, but it’s worth including because
there are so many busy men who can use it.
One business man who is eager not to offend people’s feelings, and yet is unwilling to waste time, has ended his difficulties by this notice in a conspicuous place over his desk:
When you visit a man of Business, tell him quickly your Business, Leave him to his own Business, Go about your own Business.
He declares that the sign offends but a small percentage of his visitors, and that it has saved him countless, valuable minutes.
PLAN 110
HERE’S A SIMPLE PLAN, BUT IT’S MIGHTY
EFFECTIVE
Ever send a telegram and then wait and fume and fret
for an answer? Maybe your man didn’t get it. This
plan tells how you can save some precious minutes in
finding out.
Just a little thing, and yet of moment when every minute counts, is the plan used in one large concern where a number of the executives are empowered to send telegrams over the firm’s name. The sender’s name and tele- phone number are put on the telegram in brackets in the lower left-hand corner. “When a message cannot be delivered for any reason, the telegraph company can instantly locate the right man for further directions.
PLAN 111
THIS PLAN “GETS THE JUMP” ON THE CLOCK
Shunting the detail is all very well, but it must be done
intelligently or that same detail will suffer. Here’s
how one man makes the most of his lime and not at
the expense of detail either.
“My methods for saving time are simple,” says one business man. ” The first thing that I do when I reach the office is to go over the reports of the day before—these I find on my desk. If any details in the report call for attention, I go after them at once. My letters have been sorted out and every letter that someone else could answer is given to that someone.
“If the letter is more than ordinarily important, it is temporarily put aside for consideration and disposition in regular order. When I have a letter requiring a personal reply, but a full knowledge of technical facts, I pass the gathering of these facts and the dictation on to the man who intimately knows the subject.
“An executive must be ever on the watch to prevent detail being dumped on him; if he cannot select men to work with him as associates without close supervision, he is not an executive—he is only an imitation.
” The letters which I should answer myself, I dictate at once—if I am out of town, my secretary at once tells the writer so.
” The examination of the reports and the routine of the mail consumes only a few hours of the day, so that the major portions of the day I devote to bigger questions. I have no rules of procedure or precedence.
” Fixed daily programs are no doubt useful to anyone who must dispose of a lot of routine, but beyond that point they are positively harmful because they do not allow an opportunity for the only function for which any man is paid a high salary—for thinking and planning.
”My general rule is this: ‘Do but one thing at a time. I do not start that thing until I have all the facts in hand so that I can finish it at a sitting. I think a man may waste a great deal of time in jumping from one unfinished matter to another, for concentration means both efficiency and dispatch. I work very quickly, because I can dismiss all thoughts from my mind except those which concern the problem on which I am working.”
PLAN 112
THE “HOURLY REMINDER” PLAN
It’s usually the simple. little plans like this one that
“pan. out” so big in actual practice. It amounts to
a second memory for its originator.
Considerable time was lost, one executive found, because of the numerous points that came up throughout the day which he was compelled to postpone for one reason or another. This postponement continually interfered with the regular routine that passed over his desk, and it also was distracting because of his constant efforts to remember everything. What was almost as bad, an important matter would every now and then escape his attention entirely, because of several postponements, which frequently led to actual money loss.
Finally he devised a little follow-up form, which he divided into hourly periods. It also provided space for “lunch with.” He keeps a pad of these on his desk. Now, whenever he thinks of a task that should be accomplished by a certain time, he scribbles a word or two in the appropriate space as a reminder. Whenever a postponement takes place he simply scratches out the first note and carries the entry ahead. At night he carries over incompleted plans to the next day’s card, and there they are for attention the next day.
PLAN 113
HERE ARE TWO WAYS FOR MAKING
MINUTES COUNT
As in saving money, so every minute, of course, has its
value in the aggregate. That’s why this manager uses
the following plan to help carry his work forward con-
tinously.
A manager, who signs his name frequently, fastens the blotter to his left wrist by a rubber band. This eliminates waste motion as he doesn’t have to lay down his pen.
He also saves delays, due to eye strain on work that requires close application, by having a miniature quilt of many colors on his desk all the time. When his eyes get tired he stops for a moment and rests his gaze steadfastly on these colors.
PLAN 114
THE LAST PLAN IN THE BOOK BUT A GOOD
ONE TO BEGIN ON
Here’s a plan that takes “time by the forelock” about
as literally as il can be done. And the best of it is that
it is so simple for busy men to adapt—perhaps not
regularly but at least when occasion for its use arises.
One western business man seldom gets to his office before 10 o’clock in the morning, but this does not mean that he may not have been at work for several hours. The nature of his work is such that he often has important conferences to hold with other members of his organization and with out-of-town business men.
His method is to invite them to breakfast at one of the hotels. There, over the toast and coffee, many important business deals are closed before the usual working day begins.
114 Proved Plans to Save a Busy Man Time
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