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some things you can't plan

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-05-08T17:27:15+01:00

On Saturday evening I was dining with my family at the City Merchant Restaurant in Glasgow. At the end of our meal, during coffee, the fire alarm sounded, resulting in a 10-minute inconvenience when we all had to leave the premises (it’s May and it shouldn’t be this cold).

The restaurant’s manager was in control at all times. She apologised and politely hurried us out, and allowed us to return to our tables just as quickly. Upon entry, she clearly and concisely briefed waiting staff. She handled a stressful situation efficiently and without panic.

As a manager in a quite different profession, I really sympathised with her. It’s not what you would want to happen on a Saturday night if you managed a restaurant. But she coped brilliantly, and afterwards there was no customer dissatisfaction. Perhaps she already had the emergency procedures in place; maybe she just had that rare commodity: common sense.

Planning is one of the best tools a manager can have – but sometimes it’s not to hand. One of my favourite quotes, attributed to Harold Macmillan when he was asked what a prime minister fears most, is: Events, dear boy, events. Since I became a manager, that quote has come to mind a lot.

I have found that one of the hardest things about being responsible for other people is providing leadership during stressful times; giving the impression that you are in control when really you may be as stressed as everyone else. Perception matters, and perception is reality.

My advice is this: have a similar visual cue of a leader you admire – it could be a public figure or someone you looked up to in the past or even now. By bringing this to mind, you will quickly realise that you are not alone in having to deal with such situations – and if he or she can do it, so can you.

My visual to picture whenever the pressure is on will be the restaurant manager and the scene of us standing outside. She was exactly the kind of manager I aspire to be: calm, in control and efficient. She doesn’t know it, but she is helping me along the way.

about Thursday 3 May

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-05-01T21:23:34+01:00

Our staff will be unavailable from 10 am to c. 1.30 pm. Please don't expect an answer to phone calls or a speedy answer to emails during this time.

Everyone will be attending one of our twice-yearly business update meetings to review recent performance and our outlook for the future.

are you sitting comfortably?

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-04-30T19:00:37+01:00

If not, it's worth checking to see what can be done to improve matters.

Ever since I moved into my new office, I had been returning home from work with a sore back. I raised this with my colleagues on management team and, as luck would have it, Jane Duffy, from Healthy Working Lives, would be visiting us within the next week on her annual routine visit. I was eager to speak to her: could she figure out what the problem was? Was it just me getting older or was there something else to blame?

The problem was immediately obvious to Jane: my chair was unsuitable for me. My back was unsupported and it was no wonder I had a sore back. Jane took some pictures, shown here, to demonstrate the point.

I've got a new chair now and, although it looks basic, it feels so comfortable. To me, Jane was a miracle worker; in reality, she just had the specialist occupational health expertise that none of us here has.

That's precisely why Healthy Working Lives exists in Scotland: to provide free information on workplace health and safety, particularly to small companies. Our company has already benefited greatly from the service in many ways.

Their free telephone advice line (0800 019 2211) is especially useful because it is very helpful to be able to speak to a specialist advisor and discuss the nuances of each issue.

Health and safety can have a real effect on staff performance and satisfaction – if, like us, you are based in Scotland, it's worth having that phone number handy.

a lesson in customer care

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-02-24T18:04:53+00:00

Two weeks ago I phoned my doctor’s surgery to make a non-urgent appointment. I was spoken to abruptly by the receptionist, who said that I had to phone at 8 am on the day I wanted an appointment. On my second phone call to them the following day, thinking that I had misunderstood, another unhelpful receptionist explained that this was the new system in place: you could not book an appointment in advance, only on the day.

The only appointments that would really suit me would be early morning or early evening. Yesterday I got round to a day where I could have finished work sharply and make an appointment after work. I phoned just after 8.30 am (as I was driving to work at 8 am) and the only appointment I could have was at 4.20 pm. ‘That’s too early,’ I explained, ‘I would need to leave work at 3.15.’ (I currently have a 1-hour commute.) Bad day for leaving as early as that, so I couldn’t take the appointment.

Lucky for us, at Prepress Projects we have the real benefit of a flexible working system in place, but what if I worked in another workplace where this was not the norm? ‘What accommodations are you making for working people with this new system?’, I asked. ‘If you want to talk about this you have to speak to the doctors,’ I was told very rudely. Problem: I can’t actually see a doctor in the first place.

And so, this week I have been left slightly (very) stressed and agitated by it all. I still don’t have a doctor’s appointment and I still don’t know when I will, and, if I ever get one, I will only be able to give my team 6 hours’ notice that I will be leaving early that day.

Having been informed of my dilemma (almost every evening), this morning my flatmate emailed me the following:

Just phoned up and spoke to a delightful and very helpful receptionist at my doctor’s and asked for an appointment for Thursday. She replied, any particular time that suits you? I said, it was not an emergency but earlier the better would suit and was given a 9 am appointment. A friendly chat then ensued about whether or not I needed to see the doctor or just speak on the phone. There seemed to be some flexibility but she said it would probably best if I came in and saw my doctor (the one I always see). We then had a giggle about me forgetting to give her my name.

Looks like I will be changing my surgery; in a sense, taking my money elsewhere.

It just shows that customer care is imperative at all times.

It is so important to treat your customers as you wish to be treated yourself. And your customers are all around you: not just those who are paying for a service from you, but your employees, other organisations, the people reading your Facebook posts; everyone you ever deal with in your business or organisation, no matter what industry you belong to. Be helpful and communicate well with them always. Otherwise, even with just one bad experience, they may simply go elsewhere.

music to my ears

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-02-07T17:29:47+00:00

Last week, with the help of a friend, I restrung my guitar.

I hadn't been playing it for months, even years – in fact, I reckoned the last time it had been restrung was four years ago. Shocking and unacceptable, but somewhere along the way I had lost the passion for playing.

But now my 12-year-old guitar is like a brand-new instrument. It sounds amazing and, more importantly, it makes me sound amazing! I actually sound like I can really play guitar. I knew all along that I could, but it just didn't sound like that was the case.

And now all I want to do is play guitar. Here at my desk, right now, during lunchtime, all I want is my guitar. And, of course, the more I play it the more I improve – it just gets better and better.

So how does this relate to proofreading?

It struck me how important it is to treat things with the respect they deserve. The quality is there, it just needs care and attention. For years my guitar sat in the corner of my room; wasted. I'd pick it up and play it every now and then, but it led to so much frustration because I (it?) never sounded any good.

All it took to completely turn things around was a friend to help me out with restringing – no new instrument, no lessons, no great expense required. Just a little bit of fine tuning, so to speak. My guitar just needed a little bit of care to once again become a quality instrument.

I believe the same principle applies to text. If you are going to have text published – or have it anywhere in the public eye, such as on a website – treat it with the respect it deserves.

Having text professionally edited and proofread could have the same effect as restringing a guitar: it gives it a professional edge, dramatically improves the quality without necessarily being completely rewritten. And you'll find that it's so much more enjoyable to read – but, more importantly, so will your readers. To put it simply, you will be more in tune with them, and who knows where that might lead.

a textbook solution

enquiries@prepress-projects.co.uk — 2012-01-23T13:39:52+00:00

Last week Apple announced iBooks Author, free software aimed at making textbooks for the iPad. Here are my first thoughts on Apple's announcement, which has created a fair amount of debate in the few days since it was made.

First, to set the scene, iBooks Author is a one-trick pony: it can't do anything else but create iBooks for iPad, but it seems to do that rather well (better than, for example, InDesign does at present). It isn't a generic eBook solution and isn't meant to be.

iBooks Author is aimed first at increasing Apple's market share and second at furthering the interests of authors. Having said that, it looks like it could be successful in both of these aims. We can't ignore it.

Any iBooks created using iBooks Author can be distributed freely. That has to be a plus. But some folk are not too keen on being locked in to Apple if they want to sell files created by iBooks Author, which they will be if they aim use it for commercial publishing. But there is an answer to that view (just don't use it!)… and another but in response, and so on...

Apple has chosen to recover its costs by iBook sales rather than charge for the software used to create them. A recipe for differing world views to surface. The business model isn't all that different, I suppose, from how iPhone apps are created (the Apple software to develop them is free to developers, but any apps constructed using it must be sold through the App Store). Software developers are used to working with several cost models, including this one; the general public isn't, and hence the debate.

As far as I can see, all that Apple wants is control over sale of files created by its software, not over the content of the files, which remains with their authors. Anyone can choose not to use iBooks Author (or create an ePub in parallel with something else, such as InDesign, for sale through another channel).

It is more sophisticated than I expected would be the case for a version 1 release (it even has MathType integration). It has been influenced by, at least, Keynote, Pages and iWeb. It will be interesting to see what versions 2 and 3 bring. It isn't InDesign, with all its bells and whistles and flexibility, but it isn't trying to be.

Anyone involved in digital production will definitely have to watch this carefully. Apple has just enabled millions of people to become digital publishers. For free (if their iBook is free). Or for 70% of sales income (if their iBook is for sale). Apple takes 30%. Publishers, take note.

There may be a great number of poor-quality iBooks, or attempts at such, by authors who don't understand the copy-editing, layout and proofreading processes. But I think there will also be publishers (Apple already has Pearson on board) who see the opportunity for this software to be used as a professional assembly platform for digital publications, and as an alternative to conventional typesetting. We are preparing to offer this service as well.

The price of digital textbooks will fall, with many more copies being sold than in the past. iBooks Author is just another part of the jigsaw.