- I don't blog frequently, but when I do, it's appreciative.
​I missed an important anniversary earlier this year; Paintrock Consulting Services, LLC, had its 5th year anniversary!  And it wouldn't be possible without each of the people and businesses I've had the opportunity to work with, and one business who offloaded a job to me (Thanks, Tiffany!).  

I think my favorite thing about being a consultant (besides being self-employed) is that I'm able to work across a great variety of client industries.  Most of them face similar challenges or solution needs, but I've learned so much about the what those challenges are, and the innovative and interesting way companies manage them.    The most beneficial habit that I've gained during this time is that I think about business processes, and efficiency opportunities, anytime I have an interaction with another business - as a passerby, customer, client or collaborator.  

Now I find myself thinking about every step through a transaction or touch point with a business. This one runs a very lean organization; how do they plan and manage inventory so tightly? How can this operation which requires so much labor be automated in other ways to save expenses?  How does that organization manage collaboration across an entirely remote team spread around the globe?  If I'm lucky those lines of thought tend to lead to others.  Such as:  automating these processes more robustly and in collaboration with suppliers would allow the company with tight inventory turnaround to do more accurate forecasting and avoid waste, or wait times for products.  Or, if this entity could coordinate with economic development teams they could participate in fast-track trials for manufacturing evaluation and improvement.  

In short, working across a variety of industries and solutions has resulted in me thinking through things much more thoroughly. Veritically - what are all the components that could relate to this scenario, and how are they related? Sequentially - what is the trigger to kick off this process? How is it resolved? What can be learned by looking at all of them collectively; statistically?  Collaboratively:  how could that entity be unaware of the conflict they have with this other entity if they don't communicate, but are expected to share and collaborate on regulatory information?

I consider this 360˚ Thinking.  And I am a better person for using it.