Collaborating with Fire Protection Contractors via the iPad

When we inspect a new construction site for fire alarms and sprinklers, we are a tool in the fire protection contractor’s arsenal. Our comments help insure the fire alarm and sprinkler contractors produce a fire safe, code…

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Using iPad’s Bluebeam App for Fire Protection Inspections

The iPad can be an incredibly useful tool for fire inspections and fire testing, but it requires some customization first. Through experimentation, collaboration, and experience with the iPad, we have unlocked more of the…

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Touting the iPad for Fire Alarm and Fire Suppression Testing and Inspections – Part 2

We rolled out iPads to key staff-members in 2012, and Jim Tuten received one of them. Jim opted to use the mobile device for his on-premise fire alarm and fire suppression inspections. The mobile device saves time and…

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Touting the iPad for Fire Alarm and Fire Suppression Testing and Inspections – Part I

About one year ago, I made a conscious decision to apply new information technology to fire protection engineering. That decision has transformed, and continues to transform, our processes in ways we weren’t even expecting.…

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Recognizing The Challenges Of Open-Book Management

Open-book management can be fun, but the flip-side to any game is that sometimes, you will lose. Many employees will take the ball and run with it. But some people don’t want the responsibility of managing a business’ bottom…

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Games For Business Results

Open-book management requires consensus and planning, but implementation isn’t just grit; it can be a fun game. To encourage participation and make the financial statements meaningful, Harrington Group employees played games.…

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Open-Book Management in Motion

When employees have access to all relevant financial information and critical data, they have a better understanding of how the company is doing as a whole and are more likely to make better decisions and perform their jobs…

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Open-Book Management In Harrington Group

In early 1998, I was browsing through the bookstore, looking at the shelves in the business section. Something always jumps off the shelf when I do this and, mysteriously, the subject matter always seems to be just what I need…

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Introduction To Open-Book Management

What if there was a business process that could motivate your best employees to do better and help to weed out the employees that are causing problems? Open-book management is a process that doesn’t involve firing or aggressive…

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Think Win/Win

In recent events, we’ve seen an emergence of winner-takes-all strategies come into fashion. A winner-takes-all approach to business turns relationships into a competition. Dog-eat-dog business strategies are unsustainable, and…

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The 7 Habits Of Harrington Group

The economic recession in the early 1990s hit the real estate markets hard between 1990 and 1992. Architects suffered because new commercial and industrial construction dried up during this period.  As a small fire protection…

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