NU6 Idea 7 by PC AGSB LPC

For the first time after a long time, I took the bus going to Manila so I can catch my flight to Dumaguete that will fly out of NAIA Terminal 2. It was such a big hassle! I boarded the bus in Balagtas Terminal in Batangas City and got of in Magallanes. Of course there were a bunch of taxicabs waiting to take their prey. They were charging me 350 pesos to bring me to the airport! Since I was not willing to pay for such a sum of money, I hoisted the three big bags that I was bringing and walked up the overpass to go to the other side of Magallanes where there was more automobile traffic. The best deal I got was 200 pesos. Since I was already running late, I took the bait.
This got me thinking again (and airports/airport services are my favorite topics of late), why don't buses (both provincial and metro Manila lines) have a "Biyaheng Airport"? I think the general public will greatly benefit from the convenience that will be brought about by this. Of course the trips will be rationalized because it doesn't make sense to have Airport bound buses plying the roads by the hour. This is a great substitute for a train going ton the airport which is what most countries have (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia). And because buses are not available at all hours, people can plan to arrive in the airport earlier than usual which is great for airport-based businesses (restaurants, coffee shops, massage parlors) because people will spend longer times in NAIA, they are bound to get hungry,grow thirsty or become stressed while there hence they will head to the establishments around NAIA. Needless to say, the said establishments will have to be improved but this is another topic on its own.
The bus can be privately or government-operated - it doesn't really matter, as long as the convenience is there! Maybe as a dry run, the trips will just be inbound trips to the airport. If the scheme proves to be logistically manageable and financially feasible, the operator can then expand to include outbound trips to certain city centers (e.g. Ayala Avenue, San Miguel Avenue, Malate etc.).

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You are correct.  How I wish that could be done.  But there are buses that pass at EDSA that pass through NAIA 2 via MOA (it takes about an hour?)  You could be a DOTC consultant on airports.

NU6 Idea 6 by PC AGSB LPC, the photographer as Event Mnager

An industry that is reaping a lot of cash nowadays is the wedding industry: photographers, videographers, florists, caterers, couturiers and a whole throng more. People love to spend and plan for weddings because these are joyous affairs and bring together friends and family. At the center of this all is the wedding planner, tasked to bring together the aforementioned industry players as well as the church, the venue and whatnot. Wedding planners charge generous fees for their services and make a good living out of putting things together.
It struck me, would people actually spend for someone to plan a somber and sad affair such as a funeral or memorial service? Will people actually see the benefit of having somebody who is not wrought with grief to be able to put things together during a time of bereavement? Hence comes the idea of a bereavement/interment/ memorial planner (I think calling it a "funeral planner is too morbid). Here are a couple of services that this kind of planner can offer:
-Arrangement with florist
-Arrangement of wake (i.e. Chapel, at home) and making the venue ready
-Arrangement with caterers (for the wake and for the funeral itself)
-Arrangement with funeral parlor (choosing, picking up of casket, hearse, etc.) or crematorium (choosing urns)
-Arrangement for church, memorial park, services of priest/minister
-Liaise with memorial plan provider if applicable
-Sending out of thank you notes
All of these, the bereavement planner can mobilize...all the client has to do is pay.
At first, I felt a bit off with this idea but after much thought, I think that not having to worry about logistics and details during a time of sadness is something that people may actually pay a premium for, once the general market can get over the morbidity of the said services. Like everything else, it can be done in good taste. Who knows, this may be an industry that will take off sometime in the future.

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PC no grade yet.  I published it while in BKK

NU6 5 Assignment PC of AGSB LPC "The Daily Grind (How Productive Am I...Really?)"

LEAN has been the by-word of most industries nowadays (and of the people managing these enterprises).  In fact, some organizations have even gone to the extent of training in-house experts  to become greenbelts and blackbelts.  Shell Tabangao Refinery has hired a LEAN coach in 2011 and soon after, a slew of LEAN-related work has ensued.  Apparently, in order to reduce waste, one has to spend time (extra time) to understand the processes that he does on a daily basis and try to see if there are areas for improvement (eliminate waste, make more efficient, combine, etc.).

I spent a considerable amount of time in the outsourcing industry – about 3 ½ years and what I hated the most was when we are asked to time ourselves when we are doing our daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly tasks.  At that point in time, I thought that the exercise was really just for FTE measurement and nothing more.  Fast forward to almost five years later, here I am again, being faced with the daunting work of tracking my time via LSW or Leader Standard Work.  What is new this time, though, was we were asked to map out our typical month in terms of Weeks 1 to 4.

Leader Standard Work or LSW is defined as:

•A list of the normal tasks that must be done to sustain the lean management system

•Tasks typically include audits, meetings (daily accountability) and continuous improvement projects

•Focuses on the production process

•Directs the leader to check on the visual controls

•Expected to be continually improved

•Time each task should be completed (frequency)

Apparently, the reason why a LEAN organization's Leaders do LSW is for them to a.) document the current state of the best practices in LEAN management (if any), b.) use the results as a baseline for further improvement and c.) defines the expected behavior for leaders and staff.

I must admit, it was both a  refreshing yet intimidating experience to actually map out what you do for an entire month because it can clearly show which part of the day, week or month that one has substantial slack.  Slack does not necessarily mean it will be filled with more work, it is also a note to supervisors what times of the week or month staff can take a leave without disrupting normal operations.  This is the first time that I did this, and here's what my typical month looks like.

			Week 1
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7:00	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting
8:00	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting
					SVMS
9:00	Monthly Forex Report	Energy/Additive Cost			Validation
			Weekly S&D		for
10:00	Team Meeting		East Telecon	SVMS	PD
				Validation	GRM
11:00				for Tabangao
				GRM
12:00
13:00	Preparation of				Weekly E&S Meeting
	MJE (Regularization)		Weekly 1-2-1 with
14:00	Weekly P2S		PD Economist	Weekly	Weekly East
				Stocks	IMA/COA Sharing
15:00	Preparation of			Meeting	Preparation of BPS
	MJE (Regularization)			Telecon	entries for the month
16:00			Weekly	SVMS Validation for Tabangao GRM	Learning and
			1-2-1		Bonding Session
17:00			with		Preparation of BPS
			RMO East FM		entries for the month
18:00

			Week 2
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7:00	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting
8:00	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting
9:00
			Weekly S&D
10:00	Team Meeting		East Telecon	Tabangao
				Refinery
11:00		PD Monthly C2		Loss
		Validation Meeting		Meeting
12:00
13:00					Weekly E&S Meeting
			Weekly 1-2-1 with
14:00	Weekly P2S		PD Economist	Weekly	Weekly East
				Stocks	IMA/COA Sharing
15:00		PD		Meeting	Preparation of BPS
		Refinery		Telecon	entries for the month
16:00		Loss	Weekly	PSPC Monthly C2	Learning and
		Meeting	1-2-1	Validation Meeting	Bonding Session
17:00			with
			RMO East FM
18:00			Communications
			Network call

			Week 3
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7:00	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting
8:00	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting
9:00		Monthly Margin		Tabangao MVA	Port Dickson
			Weekly S&D	Meeting	Monthly
10:00	Team Meeting	Leakage Report Tab	East Telecon	Tabangao ROP	RPM
		Monthly Margin		Meeting	Meeting
11:00		Leakage Report
		PD
12:00
13:00	RMO East Monthly				Weekly E&S Meeting
	Team Meeting		Weekly 1-2-1 with
14:00	Weekly P2S		PD Economist	Weekly	Weekly East
		RMO KPI		Stocks	IMA/COA Sharing
15:00	Monthly Mtg with PD	Slide Pack		Meeting
	E&S Manager	(Monthly)		Telecon
16:00		Tabangao & PD	Weekly	E&S Opex	Learning and
			1-2-1	Reports	Bonding Session
17:00			with	(PD  & Tabangao)
			RMO East FM
18:00			Monthly Global
			IMA/COA  Call

	Week 4
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7:00	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting	Daily Ops Meeting
8:00	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting	Daily PQ Meeting
9:00		SAP TMS Completion
			Weekly S&D
10:00	Team Meeting	Monthly SAA	East Telecon
11:00				Tabangao C2
				Pre-close meeting
12:00
13:00					Weekly E&S Meeting
			Weekly 1-2-1 with
14:00	Weekly P2S	Ocean Loss Discussion	PD Economist	Weekly	Weekly East
				Stocks	IMA/COA Sharing
15:00	Monthly ROP			Meeting
	Tabangao			Telecon
16:00			Weekly		Learning and
			1-2-1		Bonding Session
17:00			with
			RMO East FM
18:00

Looking at my calendar, I have a couple of new realizations.

1.)    I have a lot of meetings – but since my role is virtual and advisory, this is expected.  I need to rationalize which meetings are really important and which venues I can add/get value so I can prioritize other desk work/analysis over them.

2.)    Some of my meetings are just too long.  I need to work with some of my stakeholders on how to shorten them but still retain their value.

3.)    Some of my report preparation times are too long.  Since I will be one year on the job in April, I need to figure out how to make them shorter by a.) determining which ones I can outsource to the service centers, b.) which ones I can run macros for and c.) which reports are duplicate of other reports and are hence not needed separately.

4.)    I have a lot of time to learn the skills of my other department-mates.  Hence, if these will not be filled by additional tasks, I can schedule deep dive sessions with them so that I can act as their back-up in case they are on leave or are indisposed of.

After 4 years of working in Shell, this is the first time I actually did this and I can immediately see that there are a lot of new realizations when doing this.  This is the first time I tried to gauge how productive am I (or not).  When confronted with your LSW, you will get a confirmation (sometimes  a stark one) of how much work do you really do and how much more you can actually accommodate.  All of these is with the end of increasing productivity, which in turn, will increase profits.  This begs the question – as entrepreneurs, have we really tried to map out our daily activities? Which ones are necessary and which ones are not? Which meetings/lunches really generate revenues for your business and which ones are just additional costs? Unless your daily schedule is put in front of you, you might not really know!