UnLtd Blogs - muda

And the frustration continues...

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:10:28 +0000

So, the grant writing is continuing and my whinge-level is escalating. Even yesterday morning, I had potential partners pull out because they sat on the material for months and notified me yesterday that they couldn't see a way in which they could co-operate, because of a re-organisation. Yesterday. The bids are due in tomorrow. I'd pretty much guessed that they weren't going ahead but as recently as Monday they were still telling me that they were interested and wanted to be involved.

We are having a re-org is fast becoming as popular (and as truthful) as 'The cheque's in the post'.

Perhaps I ought to be cheered that the Voluntary Sector is managed no better nor worse than commercial industry. And that the people in them are no more reliable or unreliable.

Laugh-a-thon for British Heart Foundation, May 28th And More Muda

Fri, 26 May 2006 17:27:02 +0000

The next big event on the laughter calendar is the national Laugh-a-thon on Sunday, May 28th which is being run in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation.

The Laugh-a-thon is sponsored in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is also an exploration of the health benefits of laughter. After some local difficulty, I managed to chat with my local BHF co-ordinators and organise an event for Spurriers Cafe, Harlow Park, this Sunday 28th at 1pm..

So, unless it is contra-indicated, and you have been warned off laughing - have a look at what is available in your local area and go along to a Laugh-a-thon event. Laughter really is good for you!

Never one to pass up the opportunity for a whinge, the local difficulty was that I went to my local BHF shop to find out more about the event, only to be told that the shops aren't allowed to participate in local fund-raising. I was told some probably-defensible but ludicrous-sounding story about how two local men had raised �1500 at an event and wanted to donate the money for use in the local area: anyway, you aren't allowed to make a directed donation for local use, so the shop couldn't accept the money. This whole area was obviously the source of ill-feeling but I am glad to say that the shop did accept some advertising material for the event once everything was sorted. I shall whinge about that in a separate paragraph.

Enhanced Disclosure Arrived Without A Fanfare

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:20:39 +0000

I have whinged at length about the muda involved in applying for an enhanced disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau. Well, today, I finally received my enhanced disclosure, having started the process in November and finally put the paperwork in in January. After such a palaver, I can't believe that it arrived so quietly in the post, without the merest screed or iota of a fanfare.

I can not believe that these checks have any substantive value when more than 9.5 million adults are currently required to get them in the UK. I can only be confirmed in this opinion by this week's report about those appalling instances of elder abuse that are perpetrated by paid carers from local authorities or those working in care homes.

I am pleased that I have jumped this administrative hurdle. I am pleased if it makes anybody feel safer in my presence although to date, nobody has asked for more than the standard disclosure that I already have. I'm appalled at the cumulative waste of time (mine, the designated people who checked the application, those who ran the check), money and resources.

With A Sense of Inevitability...

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:51:34 +0000

It is with a sickening sense of inevitability that I can reveal that, contrary to my previous optimism, the enhanced disclosure process is not out of my life.

Oddly enough, we have not failed on filling in the forms which is the most common error (my wife is also going through this procedure). We have simply been caught up in a change of policy (I think) and an administrative error.

When we were filling in the forms and supplementary forms about the supporting documentation, it stated that we had to show the original documents to the designated person who had to sign a form declaring that she had seen and checked the originals. The originals were to be returned to us, and the forms sent on to the Disclosure Unit. Today, we received a phone call to tell us that the forms must now be accompanied by photocopies of the documents. With various diary conflicts, we don’t have an opportunity to hand in the photocopies to the designated person until Thursday. We started this process in November. It took us until two weeks ago to obtain the correct forms and appropriate guidance on the process.

On the day that we handed in our forms and showed our ID documentation, our designated person phoned up Essex County Council to check how much our administration fee should be, so that we could make out the cheque. She was told that the amount was sixteen pounds each, so we made out the cheque accordingly. It seems that we were misinformed, and that Essex County Council wants another twenty-five pence each. Well, if they say so...But it doesn’t seem that there is much one can do when one takes the time to check with the Disclosure Unit and is misinformed by them.

Drowning in Muda

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:51:41 +0000

I had my anticipated fruitless conversation about an enhanced disclosure with the person to whom I’d been referred in Essex County Council. She had no idea why I had been told to speak with her as she can not help me at this stage.

As I thought, in order to make progress with my application for an enhanced disclosure, I need a registered body number from a local charity, or umbrella body, such as my local Voluntary Services Council. But, of course, it was my perplexed VSC that told me that they couldn’t help me with this and to go elsewhere and talk to Essex County Council.

As an individual, I can not apply for an enhanced disclosure, I have to apply through a company or a body such as a charity. It doesn’t seem as if any of my local charities thought that it was worth the administrative hassle or expense of setting themselves up as an appropriately registered body. Which is why the government’s website claims that you should be able to apply through your local VSC...

There is a lot discussion in the news about these background checks and their usefulness or not. But I do know that obtaining a disclosure should not be such a frustrating process. I want to get on with booking my workshops, not waste what is now seven weeks, even trying to begin the process of applying for my enhanced disclosure.

David McBride has done a lot to popularise Lean Engineering and the concept of muda. He writes that “[p]rocesses either add value or waste to the production of a good or service”: this process is nowhere near adding value for me, it is drowning me in muda and sapping my energy in dealing with it.