Notes
Short notes from the workbench.
New tools, lessons from the field, the occasional teardown. One post every weekday.
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10 Jul 2026
Top 10 Claude skill packs for solo operators in 2026
A side-by-side review of the skill packs, plugins and marketplaces solo operators actually install when they want Claude Code doing real business work, from free open-source libraries to a £99 one-off. Scored on whether they save real hours in the first week without an engineering background.
#claude code#claude skills#ai tools#solo operator#review -
10 Jul 2026
Top 10 RCA and CAPA tools for SME manufacturers in 2026
A fair review of the root cause analysis and corrective action tools UK SME manufacturers actually keep using, from free ASQ templates through $799-a-year RCA software to the $25,000 enterprise systems that are honestly out of reach. Scored on whether a stretched ops manager can run a proper five-why on Monday and still be closing actions in month three.
#rca#capa#quality tools#manufacturing#review#sme -
24 May 2026
Pick your battles: the ops manager rule that fixes the right thing first
Most ops managers try to fix everything in the first quarter. The ones who keep their jobs fix the right one thing and let the rest wait. Here's how to choose.
#lean#prioritisation#ops-manager -
24 May 2026
Five months on Mounjaro: an ops manager's debrief
20kg in five months. I ran the whole thing like a lean project: baseline, dose progression, side-effect register, control plan. Here's what worked, what hurt, and what I'd tell a 40-year-old man on the fence.
#glp-1#mounjaro#personal#ops-discipline -
24 May 2026
The trust equation for ops leaders: why most fail the self-orientation test
Credibility plus reliability plus intimacy, divided by self-orientation. The maths is simple. The reason most ops managers blow up the denominator isn't.
#leadership#trust#lean -
24 May 2026
Top 10 5S audit tools in 2026
A side-by-side review of the ten 5S audit tools UK ops leaders actually buy. Free PDFs to £15k workshops, scored on whether the score holds at the next quarterly walk.
#5s#audit#lean#review#playbook -
24 May 2026
Top 10 custom GPTs for local services in 2026
A side-by-side review of the AI tools UK makers, food businesses and home-service traders actually buy when they want to stop staring at a blank listing. Free trial to £99 a month, scored on whether it survives a busy Saturday.
#custom gpt#ai tools#etsy#review#local business -
24 May 2026
The 8 wastes in companies nobody calls a business
DOWNTIME wasn't built for factories. It was built for any system that turns inputs into outputs. Here's what it looks like in a single-parent household, a one-van trades operator, and a Sunday-league kit-buy.
#lean#eight-wastes#methodology -
24 May 2026
Top 10 family operating system templates in 2026
A side-by-side review of the ten kits, books, apps and screens UK families actually buy when they want to share the mental load. Free apps to £700 hardware, scored on whether the second Sunday still uses them.
#family ops#household#templates#review#cadence home -
24 May 2026
Top 10 manufacturing changeover methods in 2026
A side-by-side review of the ten methods and tools UK manufacturers actually buy when they want to cut changeover time. £10 paperback to £15k workshop, scored on whether the saving holds at the six-month mark.
#smed#changeover#manufacturing#review#playbook -
23 May 2026
Top 10 Lean toolkits for UK SME manufacturers in 2026
A side-by-side review of the ten things people actually buy when they want to bring Lean into a mid-market manufacturer. Tested against one question: does it survive Monday morning?
#lean#toolkits#sme manufacturing#review#playbook -
23 May 2026
Top 10 SME workplace friction audits in 2026
Ten ways to find the leaks in your operation, from £0 self-serve PDFs to £5k paid audits. Tested on real shop floors. Honest about what works, what's theatre, and what to start with this week.
#friction audit#operations#sme manufacturing#review#diagnostics -
17 May 2026
DMAIC template: 5 questions that filter out the junk
Most DMAIC templates fail the same five tests. Here's what to check before you download, and what to do if your current one fails them.
#dmaic#lean six sigma#templates#method -
16 May 2026
The 22-minute changeover that takes 95
A worked example of SMED on a real bottling line, and the cadence trap that almost killed the savings before they landed.
#smed#changeover#case-study -
15 May 2026
Why 5S dies in month two, and the single rule that keeps it alive
Every 5S programme I've inherited died at the same point for the same reason. The fix is a one-page rule on the noticeboard.
#5s#standards#cadence -
14 May 2026
Finding your losses: the 5-box framework that beats a Pareto chart
A 15-minute exercise that gets you closer to the real number than a week of analytics, and a working tool that fixes it.
#losses#diagnostics#method