PLAN 11

A PLAN WHICH IS “WORTH MANY HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS” TO ONE ALAN

Unfinished work is always a troublesome “Sword of
Damascus” in most concerns. Here’s a plan for reducing
its terms.

A “danger signal” progress board serves one business man as a warning on work unfinished in his office. This is a development from the progress sheet on which tasks

were checked to completion as they passed through various stages. His objection to this old method was that the blank spaces, showing what was still undone at critical periods in the work, were lost in the maze of “finished” checkmarks.

The new plan, on the contrary, “shows up” boldly in red any steps still to be taken on any tasks. The executive thus has at his command a picture of delays or slow spots in his organization and can quickly attend to essentials in management without burdening himself with unnecessary supervision.

This plan is a panacea for complaints and excuses from his assistants. The “red signals” afford no chance for useless parleying and therefore are invaluable in conserving his time.

The arrangement of the board is indicated in Figure
The red signals are colored pasteboard disks an inch in diameter, and they take the place of the check- marks in the old scheme, or rather, of any missing check-marks of work still incomplete. These disks have a small hole punched in the center and slip over screw eyes on the board slightly smaller in diameter than the hole. The chart itself is of a dustproof gray and is arranged in this case especially for the individual business of this executive. Circles are drawn in rows around the screw eyes to map the progress of each task, which is indicated by name on a removable tab at the left.

In operation each circle is covered with a colored disk at the start of the work. As each step is performed, the particular disk that represents it is removed. The red spots remaining on the board at any time thus show prominently the incomplete items and consequently those that need attention. The task-name tab is of cardboard and is punched at both ends and mounted over screw eyes in the same way as the colored tabs.

The desks are a standard product sold for use as checks, and are ready for use when purchased except that they have to be punched. In cases where a sharp distinction is deemed necessary for different tasks, blue tabs are also used. The red disks indicate the more important items. In a larger organization a variety of colors would probably extend the scope of usefulness.

PLAN 12

A PLAN FOR QUICKLY “CLEARING THE DECKS”

Is there too much intrusion on your time? Here’s one
way out. At least it has turned the trick for others.

One executive has worked out a plan for disposing of interviews in the least possible time which makes a substantial saving for him because he sees an unusually large number of callers.

His desk is located in the center of the room, a little back of the middle. About six feet away from him is a long seat for those who are waiting to see him.

When this man talks with a salesman, the visitor’s chair is so placed that he cannot help seeing the others who are waiting. This obviously hastens the interview. The merchant himself is a man of quick decision which gives him a reputation of seeing all callers quickly. If a salesman asks an opportunity to show him photographs or samples which he does not have arranged, the merchant leaves his desk and goes to the next caller while the sales- man is preparing the goods to show him. Again, while the salesman is packing his samples, the merchant finds time for another caller or for work at his desk.

PLAN 13

A “COLOR CODE” FOR KEEPING TRACK OP
VERBAL ORDERS

All there is to this plan is a “memo” pad and three pencils
of different colors. They are not the plan, however—they
are only the tools. Each pencil serves a different purpose
—and therein lies the plan.

Colored pencils help the secretary of one company to watch the day’s work. He uses a desk calendar as a reminder in keeping track of verbal orders and following up all details. On it he notes in red pencil all important items requiring attention first. Subjects for disposal next are entered in blue pencil, while unimportant details which can be left to the last are written in black pencil, and not too heavily.

“With this calendar schedule in “color code” before him at all times, the secretary is enabled to tell at a glance what duties are to be taken care of each day. The important subjects, standing out in red, indicate just how much work he has to accomplish, and what orders he must follow up. A code of this kind eliminates the possibility of forgetting the most important work of the day and going at a task which is not immediately essential

Another executive keeps track of his duties by un- screwing the mouthpiece of his telephone slightly and inserting a card on which are tabbed memoranda of all the items scheduled for disposal each day. As he uses his telephone a great deal he is not nearly so likely to lose sight of his “tickler” as he would be if it were in a less conspicuous place. Thus his mind is relieved of the possibility of forgetting an important appointment or other duty.

PLAN 14

“SAVES TIME—LOTS OF IT”

This plan worked so well that is has been made a standard
practice in the office where it originated. Based on an
idea that is widely used, it goes a step further in its appli-
cation.

For several years multi-leaved “blackboards” have been conspicuous features in the offices of one company, where they have become an integral part of the system of executive supervision because of their value in economizing time that can be used with more valuable results on more important tasks.

These “blackboards” are elaborations of the simple blackboard familiar in schools. One of them was originally hung near the desk of each department head, where- on he recorded his daily tasks and appointments after the manner of a desk calendar pad. As the plan developed, the blackboards were expanded to include several “leaves,” as shown in Figure 3. Some of these leaves are reserved for notations; others are used for posting notices, rules, charts, and other data which may have a bearing upon the work of the department.

“It saves time — lots of it,” says one of the several men in the office who use the boards constantly. ” It is like a book with the advantages that it is always there— never gets lost. It is easy to handle and shows its contents on such a scale that they are easy to see.”

PLAN 15

A TIME-TABLE PLAN

Getting engagements worked out on a sort of time-table
basis seems to help a number of men save time. Here’s
one variation of this idea.

Unlike some men, a business man located in the East finds it impracticable to date ahead conferences with his assistants. So he permits them to come to his desk the first thing each morning for definite appointments later in the day. In this way he feels a more satisfactory schedule is arranged with least loss of time. Of course, in an emergency the interview is granted immediately. In the case of important conferences, where several men are to gather, he endeavors to make a balanced distribution of dates over the week or month. For instance, if one conference is scheduled for Monday he dates the next one for Thursday. Thus he saves his time arranging it to avoid undue congestion and delay at any period.

PLAN 16

A PLAN WHICH SAVES TIME WHILE
WATCHING PROGRESS

Time cannot be lengthened, but a whole lot of it can be
saved by curtailing routine detail—and that’s what two
New York partners did. Their plan may be just what
you’re looking for.

Two partners in New York City have worked out a plan of “progress charts” for saving their time in supervising the work. These charts are attached to the office wall and are enclosed in a frame with a glass door to protect them. Each one is divided into perpendicular sections to indicate months so that every step in any large task may be closely watched without spending time on a lot of details. Thus the partners keep an accurate running record of all work under way or in immediate prospect.

One chart covers contracts which have been signed and on which work has been started. It deals with tasks actually in progress in the office, and follows them until the final plans are approved. The other chart has to do with work that is under way in the field, until it is finally accepted and turned over to the customer. In the column at the left of each sheet is written the name of each customer and the job number. By means of tacks with heads of various colors, the status of each contract is shown according to the following schedule:

1. A plaid tack records the date the order was placed.

2. A yellow tack records the date the preliminary drawings passed from the drafting to the estimating department.

3. A white tack shows when the preliminary drawings were submitted to the owner.

4. A black and white tack indicates that the final drawings have been passed to the estimating department.

5. A red and white tack indicates when the final drawings were approved by the owner.

6. A green tack shows the time the field work started.

7. A red tack indicates when the job should be finished.

The charts have been found of unusual value in watching special orders requiring close individual attention.

PLAN 17
THIS PLAN SAVED MANY HOURS

And it keeps this man’s business “up to snuff,” too. He
does not try to estimate all the time he saves, but he’s
amazed at what he does accomplish. No matter whether
your business is small or large the chances are you’ll find
some way to apply his idea profitably.

“I get a summarized daily report of the previous day’s work in every section of my business,” says an eastern man, “and in half an hour I know what progress is being made without moving from my desk.

“But that is not all. In addition to this method of quickly glimpsing important details, I have a practical plan for saving time. I call the department heads into a short conference every day right after reading the report. At this meeting I take up any question arising from my survey of the previous day’s work. Perhaps some danger sign is in evidence and the conference enables me to get the suggestions of my assistants immediately. Often a remedy is found at once and applied to some weak point that may have developed unexpectedly. Thus I am saved the loss of time that often accompanies worry over details and through a year it saves me thousands of dollars.”

PLAN 18

A PLAN FOR QUICKLY ANSWERING: “WHERE’S
THAT INFORMATION?”

A simple rule developed a valuable method for keeping up
with the clock ticks in this office.

“Put everything on paper”—from a telephone conversation to a selling talk—is a general rule that cuts time losses for executives in one concern. All important facts so recorded are promptly put away in this firm’s subject file, which is made up of large envelops, 12 by 18 inches. In each envelop will be found all the information available on any one subject. One general follow- up file is used by the whole force, so that if the man who has left the notation is away, someone else can handle the situation.

When either the president or the vice-president is busy on a special proposition, the envelop with the informa- tion on the subject in hand, and the later information which is especially gathered all over the office, are quickly brought together. In going after an exclusive agency for the million-dollar output of a factory recently, the vice-president found in the proper envelop records of conversations and sales arguments other men had used on the same effort years before.

Strict observance of the rule and accurate filing of the information has eliminated for this firm the haphazard “hurry and scurry” in finding facts, which prevails in many offices all over the country.

PLAN 19

“THIS PLAN IMPROVED MY MEMORY 50%”

Nearly all of us can remember wasting time searching
far information which we “knew we had seen somewhere.”
Here’s a plan to make”somewhere” right beside your desk.

A Los Angeles merchant whose duties require him to meet a large number of business men realized that he wasted considerable time simply because he could not remember names and faces. Frequently he found himself in extremely embarrassing situations. He sought a remedy and ultimately worked out a practical plan which is helpful in two ways. It enables him to recall men he had met and at the same time it has added many valuable names to his mailing list.

He uses a small card file with an alphabetical index. The cards are 21/4 by 4 inches in size and he always carries a supply of them in his pocket. “Whenever he meets a person whose name it is important for him to remember, whether in or out of the office, he takes the first opportunity to enter it on one of these blanks. “When possible, he adds the address, business, or profession, and any other information he can get. If an exchange of cards takes place he writes the details on the back of the one given him.

Each night, before leaving the office, he goes over each card carefully, visualizing the person, spelling out the name, and reviewing the other information he has jotted down. He then files each one under its proper letter.

Every week or so, as he has time, he goes over once more all the new cards in his file in order to fully impress the names on his memory. At the same time, he passes judgment on their value. Now and then he throws out an entry which he feels unnecessarily takes up space. In this way he keeps the file fresh and prevents useless over- crowding. Studying over these items, however, has helped him overcome his weakness for remembering, so they have been worth collecting.

Some names are of special value to him in his work, and, where in the usual routine they would have been lost sight of or treated in a purely mechanical way, this method makes them of permanent record. The list thus secured is the most important one he has because, in writing or interviewing these men, he knows the line of attack which will be most effective with each individual.

This executive states also: ” The plan not only enables me to call practically everyone by name at the second meeting, but it has also improved my memory about 50%.”

PLAN 20
A BUZZER PLAN

This plan is surely simple enough—and, since it accom-
plishes its task, what more could we ask f

One man who has many office callers, has, in the first place, set aside two hours in the forenoon to see salesmen and tries his best to see all who come. He will not see them at any other hours, however.

His next measure he adapted from his physician’s office and it consists of a buzzer under a rug at the outer door of his office. The salesman in conversation with him heard the buzzer when he himself entered—he knows that stepping on the rug caused it. He knows also that it is the hour for salesmen; and, as a rule, a caller will hurry along when he hears the buzzer two or three times as people enter or leave the office. If he fails to show such consideration, the fact that the buzzer has indicated an accumulating number of salesmen in waiting offers an excuse for the architect to suggest to the caller that others are waiting.

PLAN 21

A SHORT CUT PLAN FOR COMPARING FIGURES

The simplest arrangement of data often is invaluable in
saving time in business. Here’s a plan that has helped
one man on this tery point.

Grouping important facts for comparison is the plan developed by one executive for saving time in making and checking his decisions. His contracts for material often run into considerable sums and he usually asks for prices from as many as 12 bidders. In letting the contracts he considers price, the f. o. b. point, and date of delivery. In. addition he often splits an order among bidders when the low firm cannot furnish the entire quantity.

He quickly visualizes all this information by having data comprising each proposal placed before him on one sheet. This form is called the “tabulation of bids” and is illustrated in Figure 4. It covers all the essential requirements for any kind of material he may have to buy. When the facts as indicated have been entered it takes him but a moment to analyze the proposition and make his decision.

PLAN 22

HERE’S AN EFFECTIVE “ONE-MAN BUSINESS”
TIME SAVER

But just because it was originated for a one-man business
is no reason why any man, no matter how large his con-
cern, can’t adapt at least some of it to save his individual
time.

“I keep a complete set of books—but I never spend much time at them,” said one business man. He drew from one of the upper drawers of his desk an ordinary page-a-day diary and a small file box containing a number of 3 by 5 cards.

“Here are my ‘books’,” he continued, displaying these two items. “This diary is what I call my day book. The box contains my time sheets and ledger. When I started out several years ago I found that every minute a man takes for bookkeeping usually cuts into his income, for it reduces his productive hours. But I always have wanted to know just where my affairs stand at any time. So as a result I began to experiment, and finally worked out this method.”

The engineer happens to have an office comprising in all perhaps not more than two hundred square feet. His only employee is a stenographer. His time is valuable because he draws his profit from the work he personally turns out.

There are hundreds of offices of about this size and character, and for that reason the unusually interesting and helpful set of records which this business man has developed for his work will probably prove of general interest.

“I inherited the diary-day-book idea from my father, who was a lawyer,” he says. “It affords, in my opinion, a much easier way to put down entries than the formally ruled day book, and what’s more to the point, it encourages me to make more complete comments, for I have an entire page of the book to use daily. This completeness of my book of original entry has been of value to me in court on several occasions.”

He opened it, displaying a page with several entries showing receipts and disbursements. On the margin he had printed with a rubber stamp all the hours from eight in the morning to six at night.

“I seldom get down before 8 o’clock or stay after 6, you see,” he continued. “When I start on a job I scratch my pen through the hour of starting—that’s what these rubber-stamp figures are for. Then I write in, alongside, the name of the job. By keeping this upon every job I tackle I have a complete record on my time. I even mark the time I take for lunch. That isn’t essential, of course, but I do it because it gives me an absolute itemized account of my working day.”

In this man’s card index, which is alphabetically arranged, the individual-job time cards are filed with the ledger cards—the ledger account first, and the time card whose entries are charged under that account behind it.

He posts his time from the day book to a time card- He totals these cards weekly, and multiplies the totals by the hour rate which he charges. This charge he places against the customer on the ledger card. This gives him an accurate charge against each job.

Ledger entries have to be made only at the first of each month. Statements go out at the same time. Since the time cards are already in the file box behind the ledger cards, it is a simple job to make the entries. This man keeps one ledger account here for general expense, and his experience shows that most of the day-book entries go into it, unless these entries can be charged to specific jobs. He says that his system has been worth hundreds of dollars to him.

PLAN 23

HERE A SIMPLE INDEX REDUCED THE DAILY
ROUTINE ONE HALF

The day’s routine cut in half and sales greatly increased
is the proud record of the simple idea which is here de-
scribed by the man who uses it.

Just a little index, so simple as to miss casual observation, has reduced by half the time spent by the manager of one company in transacting necessary business over the telephone.

One of his duties is to keep in touch with and follow up the pending deals of his street salesmen. While the salesmen are out of the office, prospects often call over the telephone and the manager is expected to talk to them. At first he lost some possible sales because he did not know what kind of stock the salesmen had offered or the prices quoted. While he tried to get the facts over the wire the buyer has sometimes lost interest and patience and once in a while even declined to order.

When that had happened several times the manager did some figuring and worked out a plan not only to save time but actual orders as well. On his desk, near the telephone, he has placed a small card index of every customer and prospect called on by his salesmen. In it is a record of every proposal made up to quitting time the day before. The cards are arranged alphabetically.

When a prospect or buyer calls on the telephone now, the manager reaches for his card. With all necessary information obtainable at a glance, he is ready to close the sale, without fumbling over the scattered or imperfect reports and without sparring for time until he can coax the buyer to tell him what proposition the sales- man has made. By the use of this little index, he not only has reduced the time spent on telephone orders by half, but has doubled his working time and closed a greater percentage of orders.

PLAN 24
A PLAN WHICH STRETCHES THE MINUTES

Expensive experience pointed out to this man a new way
to speed vp his work—and these days of “high pressure”
in business make his plan well worth while.

“In saving the minutes,” relates an executive, “I have discovered that I cannot let the pendulum swing too far toward the side of constant effort. In my case, there was reaction and I lost valuable minutes through tiring quickly. In other words, I proved by results that my time actually went farther when I took momentary relaxations during the day.

“This plan came to me at a time when I thought the work was ‘getting me.’ Trifles irritated me. I put in long hours and hard work. Under the strain I began taking a few minutes to relax whenever I felt the need. I get up and walk about the office; talk with some of the men; raise a window, straighten up, breathe the fresh air, and rest my eyes on distant objects; or go and get a drink of water. It is surprising how much more I accomplish than formerly.”

PLAN 25

FOR USE WHEN DESPERATE MEASURES ARE
NECESSARY

Saving moments which someone is trying to take away
without good reason is at times rather difficult. Here’s
a plan that may help when desperate measures are needed.

This plan is used by an executive with a manufacturing company. He sees an unusual number of callers, yet does a surprising amount of other work, too. His chief plan for bringing an unprofitable interview to a close is first to change the subject abruptly. For example, if the weather is blustering, he will say, as if not in the least moved by the enthusiasm of the salesman for his goods, “It is pretty cold out, isn’t it? Is it getting colder?”

For a moment, the salesman is off his guard. He answers the question, of course, and in doing so, brings the conversation about his goods to an end, for the executive arises immediately and asks him for his card, suggesting that if at any time his company becomes interested, he will communicate with the house the salesman represents.

While the plan amounts to a flat dismissal, this executive has found it affords a pleasanter parting than if he were forced to insist on being disinterested and too busy to talk to the salesman.

PLAN 26

THIS PLAN CONVERTED WASTED TIME
INTO MONEY

The man who uses this plan admits that he transferred the
idea from another office to his own, which but goes to illus-
trote one of the reasons for publishing this book: the prac-
ticability of using the other man’s tested methods.

How to keep track of ever-increasing detail was the question which recently confronted the secretary of a commercial association. There are 6 trade departments, 11 standing committees, as well as 15 dealers’ associations with which his own association works. In addition, there are three other national organizations of which the association is a member; the secretary himself has many meetings to attend, conferences to arrange, and details to watch. From this it is apparent that accurate records must be kept.

Several different methods had formerly been used for this purpose, but all had the fault of burying the records so that they were accessible as a rule to only one person, and they were seldom up to date.

The planning board used in various establishments at last gave the secretary an idea: a wall calendar would be simple and easily read; it would not be so large as to take up too much space; and it would provide for meetings several months in advance.

A board 33 inches by 38 inches in size (see Figure 5) was finally adopted — a size just right to fit into the sash of an opaque glass window of an office partition. Mounted on this board was heavy “detail” drawing paper. The available space, after leaving a narrow margin all round, was ruled vertically into 7 columns, and horizontally into 16 spaces.

The columns represent months. The first three on the left represent the current month, the next two, the following month, and the sixth, the second month ahead.
The last column is used for the remaining months of the twelve.

The spaces represent divisions of each month. Each group of four represents approximately a quarter of a month, the division being 1-7, 8-15, 16-23, 24-31. The month is so divided as to direct attention quickly to the portion of it in which any meeting is held.

The meetings are shown by means of removable cards of different colors. These cards are 4 inches by 2 inches in size. They are made of heavy cardboard with a glazed surface, so that they are not easily soiled.

The color scheme is as follows:

Trade Departments .
Executive Committee
Standing Committees

Orange
…Red
…Blue