Sunday 27 March 2011

Accuracy, speed and innovation


When people ask me what I did for work I usually struggle to think of an appropriate reply. If I say that I work in finance, people tend to assume I'm an accountant. Or if I say I work for a bank they frequently perceive me sitting behind the counter in their local branch. Neither of which are true. One of the things I would like to think that I'm quite good at - in my abstract job - is building processes, putting controls around them, automation and then trying to improve those processes. (More so in my old job in London than the one I have now.)

I have a bit of a geeky interest in courier delivery. Animatedly using online tracking whenever I receive an international parcel. The big international couriers really do seem to be the experts in building processes for accuracy and speed. This week I received a parcel from Wisconsin, which took a mere seventeen hours to travel to Sydney airport. The fastest scheduled flights I could find was twenty three hours to Milwaukee. (And this still left you with a three hour drive to the warehouse that dispatched my parcel.)

All this is a roundabout way of telling you that I took advantage of the strong AUD and rebelled against Australia's ridiculously high retail prices to order myself a pair of trainers online from the US. They cost approximately one third of the price that they do here in Oz.

5 comments:

  1. So you are a project manager? Or possibly a process manager? Or a process consultant? Or just a good manager? Either way, valuable in many industries outside banking!

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  2. You are too funny Richie - "I have a geeky interest in courier delivery" = NERD ALERT! Love it.

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  3. mate, UPS tried to deliver mine today. so should have them tomorrow. will let you know.

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  4. thanks for the tip mate, shoes are great. now all I need is some motivation to get running again.

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  5. @Clint - pleased to hear they arrived and everything is ok. I'msure wanting to escape th house to do some exercise will be good motivation!

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