This week, I had the opportunity to talk with one of the most efficient managers I’ve ever met. I was interested in learning how he and his team keep everything organized and on track as they head into the busiest time of the year. In his world, nothing - NOTHING - can fall through the cracks. Delays in product delivery simply can’t happen. Some would say he’s a magician for getting 100% satisfaction ratings; I think he’s a master of manufacturing on demand.
Here’s a bit of our conversation.
Me: What challenges were you having managing your work and manufacturing processes?
Santa: Ho Ho HO! Merry Christmas to you, young lady! Tis the season for all good little boys and girls to write to me and make a request for a special toy or two. You can imagine the mail I get from all over the world! The Missus, she works hard helping me sort through all the requests, but we can’t enter them fast enough into our “Naughty or Nice” system and not make mistakes. You see dear, there’s a big difference between Billy from Ottawa or Bilwi from Zambia.
And when the pressure’s on during those crunch months, I didn’t really know if Buddy and his crew were on track with building and assembling the toys, wrapping and labeling, and loading them on the sleigh. See, we’ve had to expand our operations so much over the years - from product planning to manufacturing, shipping and logistics - and it’s now spread across our large campus here at the North Pole. There were just too many opportunities for error to be left to my ol’ manual spreadsheet and stacks of letters and papers on my desk. It’s 2013, for jolly ol’ sakes…
You’re not going to believe this, but there was this one year there was almost no Christmas. Could you imagine? <shaking his head> We had horrible weather when Heat Miser lost a bet to Snow Miser, elves called in sick after drinking too much so-called "egg nog," deliveries were delayed by Rudolph and his thrilling Hide the Sleigh Reigns game. Hilarious, that one. Bottom line, I didn’t think we could pull it off. If we didn’t have our plans in Smartsheet, it would’ve been a sad, sad day for many little boys and girls...and that breaks my heart. <sigh>
Me: Sad indeed. So tell me how Smartsheet helped your organization become more efficient.
Santa: To tell you the truth, this whole operation turned around when my friend Tiffy, the Tooth Fairy, turned me on to Smartsheet a couple years ago. She shared a sheet with me as she was pretty proud of how she was tracking the boys and girls who lost teeth this year. (She’s a good gal and all, just a bit pretentious with her on-demand gifting.)
Once I saw that super sheet, I knew Santa could use it. Ho Ho Ho! I’m not very technical you see, but this looked easy...easy enough for good ol’ Saint Nick.
You see, I’ve long been a fan of the cloud. In fact, I’ve been working in the clouds for years... every single Christmas during my 30-hour delivery window, the deers and I zip through the clouds at 650 miles per second while lugging roughly 350,000 tons of toys. That requires some magical cloud technology... not unlike Smartsheet.
Me: Tell me how Smartsheet helps you manage Christmas, Santa.
Santa: Twas the weeks before Christmas and the children fill out a simple web form, with their name, what special present they’d like from Santa this year, and if they’ve been Naughty or Nice. That’s key you see...because that’s the trigger I need to determine what present they get this year.
Once they submit the form, it goes straight into the big internet cloud, and into my Smartsheet. Line by line the requests flow in. I’m alerted on my iPhone when they come in so I don’t miss a one. (The Misses, she calls me iSanta. Isn’t that sweeter than honey on a candy cane? Ho Ho Ho!)
I then review their requests and determine if they’ve been Naughty or Nice. If it’s Naughty, the poor little dears are destined for a lump of coal. Better not pout, you’d better not cry. Just sayin little ones, there are consequences.
If Nice (and boy do I like it when they’re nice!), I make a simple check mark in the column, and then magic happens! Elf manager Buddy gets alerted of the order and assigns resources on his teams to manage it. He can see who has the time and availability on his/her schedule. Maybe it’s Clarence, maybe it’s Nipper. Heck, maybe they’re all busy, and he has to bring in backups like Elvis and Elfie to handle the extra load. The point is, Buddy knows the elfin’ capacity. I get alerted along the way if there are issues so I’m in the know know know. Ha ha ha - get it? Know know know - Ho ho ho?
Then, Buddy simply tracks each order through to completion. Then, it’s off to Donner and Blitzen for logistics and delivery scheduling. No surprises. No excuses. No missed deliveries.
Me: What about during the off season?
Santa: Oh, Christmas is just the tip of the iceberg – or as we often say at the North Pole, it’s the tippy top of the iceberg. Ho Ho HO! The rest of the year is when we’re busy planning and managing our work in Smartsheet -- production goals, inventory levels, naughty/nice tracking, new-elf onboarding, reindeer performance reviews, and so on. It’s the glue holding our enterprise together.
I even use Smartsheet extensively to track my post-holiday fitness goals. There’s nothing like writing down my workout schedule and progress, and sharing it with the Missus and the elves to keep me honest and focused. Not that Santa would ever lie, No No NO. But when you think about having to burn off about 20 billion calories worth of cookies come January, it’s truly mission critical part of the Santa enterprise.
Me: What difference has using Smartsheet made for you?
Santa: It’s a team effort here at the North Pole. I think you folks call it ‘collaboration.’ Without Smartsheet, I was a nervous mess, afraid we’d disappoint some dear, sweet child. Afraid we wouldn’t have the inventory on hand to fulfill orders. Afraid the elves couldn’t take a day off to go to the dentist without setting us back.
Now the big fella sleeps like a baby! Ho Ho HO. And the elves are happy again, in control and organized. Trust me, no one likes a grumpy elf. Christmas is once again magic. And if that’s not enough, because I’m more relaxed, the Missus lets me have a few extra cookies. There’s nothing sweeter in the whole world.