When searching online for production management notes, you probably get the “joy” of finding nothing but introductory class notes for MBAs that tells you stuff you already know about the history of production management and industry in general.
What you were really looking for were notes and tips for general improved production management. Well, you’ve finally found what you’re looking for, because I’m going to give you some good production management notes and tips here that’ll set you on the right path.
But, before I begin, I want to point out that I’m kind of biased to the agile strategy for this field, because it works the best and removes most of the headaches and tension that comes with this leadership role traditionally. Most of my colleagues agree with this, as does most of the business world, given the wide adoption of agile strategies for a lot of these kinds of fields.
#1 – Customer Focus
This should be obvious, but well, it seems it isn’t always such. Customer focus must be priority one. This means that you must know who your customer is, where they come from, and what they expect. Test and retest t make sure you effectively meet their needs within other parameters.
Do focus groups, conduct surveys, read case studies, consult with R&D and CRM personnel and find out who you’re producing for, and establish a good set of guidelines for what does and doesn’t meet expectations for this target set of groups. This thing do above all others, or severe problems will arise.
#2 – Team Leadership
This is where the crux of agile management comes to light, and since it’s the most popular approach to production management, it’s going to be a big one here. Teams need to govern themselves. Let them set up how they test, how they prioritize and how their protocols are handled.
Don’t micro manage these teams, but be darn sure that you pick good solid leadership for the teams so that this self-governance is handled competently. Also instill, before they’re left to their devices, a sense of importance for testing to meet customer satisfaction within the restrictions of time allotted and resources permitted for consumption.
#3 – Parallel Communication
In production management, sticking to the old hierarchical communications theme will cause slow down, bottlenecks and cause one of the prime directives (meeting deadlines with projected quality) to not be obtained.
Allow these independent team and project managers to communicate freely among themselves and with you, without any real totem pole for ideas and issues to climb.
You can see where the agile mentality is really good for production management, seeing as the main objectives are efficient production of a service or product within time constraints while ensuring a level of quality that meets target demographic expectations within a budget and resource limitation. In retrospect, how can you not use this methodology?
Given limited time to provide you with the most hard hitting production management notes to build on your existing skills, I think these serve well to add to your effectiveness and should serve to alleviate some hurdles in bottlenecks and hierarchical issues that most people are unable to truly overcome in production management.