Tips for Increasing Design Speed

[Biscotti]

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Good thread! The above posts make great points - especially being under-staffed, or "under the gun"...

A couple more ideas for increasing design speed:

Hold on to your knife! When designing an arrangement, from start to finish, imagine that your knife is glued to the palm of your hand, and never put it down!

Time yourself. Try this for a day or two: As soon as you grab an order, jot down your "start time" - (i.e. 10:09). When you're done, write down your "finish" time. (I worked at a shop where this was a requirement, and it made me aware and more effecient!)

Val

This is so funny, I always hold on to my knife. Yesterday, I was observing the designer who is my replacement at the shop I'm leaving,
she put her knife down after every cut.
As for timing, I've written my time on the orders for the past 10 years. Shop owners appreciate that. And it does make you very aware of the time you put into a piece.

 

[SpringCity]

I'm going to use some of these tips next week at my freelance gig. Thanks!

 

[bloomz]

I thought JB and I were the only ones roaming around here at 2-4 am.

Joe

Not always

That's the truth - nearly every single night Erlene messages me with a good morning just as I send her a good night.

Seriously, the best way to increase design speed is to be severely understaffed.

YOu will be forced into improving design time.

this afternoon, at 3:30 I had about 6 or 7 arrangemtns - $600 worth - of arrangements to do, and I kept getting interupted.

We stuck 1500 unrooted poinsettia cuttings this afternoon. For the life of me I don't know why I kept screwing around with issues out there, phone calls, etc and I just couldn't get my self moving on these orders.

Well, that casket spray took 30 minutes with interuptions, easel took 20, the others took about 15 minutes apiece. I got done by 5:30 with lots of interuptions.

In the old days, I would have been really concerned but now, its nothing. All this and about 15 more pieces have to be delivered by 8:30 am tomorrown.

I still have a $185 fresh wreath to do.

There is no better teaching aid, than being understaffed or being pressured to perform more than you thing your capable of perfroming for over a year.

jeo

Jeo who?

I have a good friend in Portland that works like that on a daily basis.

Friday nite I called him to invite him to ride his motorcycle to eastern Oregon - he said he had 2 weddings he hadn't started yet.

On VD I've talked to him in the afternoon and he'll still have like 75 arrangement orders that haven't even been filled yet!

Dunno how he does it, but it's the way he rolls.