Business Plan
#Transition2Glasgow

Main Plan (Tenets -- Time -- Resource -- Finance -- Self)
Roadmap (Transition -- Setup -- Adjustment -- Expansion)
Administrative To-Do-List (for self-reference)
Bottom of page

Site Index

Business Tenets

Our current goal at PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD is to provide a rounded and wholesome experience during the first year of university. This incorporates the following sub-goals ("the Business Tenets"):

which must be balanced among each other. This will take careful time and resource management as well as a certain degree of prudence and maturity, all of which are known to be physically, emotionally and mentally taxing in the long term. In this way, certain measures will be employed to ensure the forward direction of success. In the short term, the following will need to be done:

The following mid-term measures are also vital to be kept:

This list is non-exhaustive and will be expanded on in the relevant sections. The following mid-long-term measures are also to be considered:

Similarly, this is non-exhaustive and only surface-level. It is important that the Tenets of the University Experience are kept at the forefront of planning for all timeframes.

Time Management

A revitalisation of O'Brien is a priority. Using the O'Brien framework to track resources has proven highly useful to the business in the past and will continue to do so. A three-phase plan will be implemented:

Planning is also key in all timeframes for the survival of the business and for the maintenance of the Business Tenets. During the Setup and Adjustment Phases (refer to the Roadmap), long-term plans are forgone. However, short-medium- and medium-term planning are of the essence, not just for Time Management but for all Business Management. Towards the end of the Transition Period, long-term planning is also important.

Time must be carefully allocated. The biggest avoidable root cause of loss for PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD historically has been lack of planning. A dedicated weekly rota with hourly planned breakdowns will be a useful tool, as will a monthly rota with daily plans. The first stage is to R&D the material processes to facilitate this, by identifying suitable media that allow for the right balance of flexibility and routine. Such examples include Post-it Notes and whiteboard. As will be outlined in the Finance section, an larger initial ad hoc budget will be asided to invest in such management systems.

The day-to-day running of time-planning systems need to consider important factors. "Padding" between events, both in the medium- and short-term will help reduce burnout and spread the burden of recuperation. This must be done on an atomic level, for the sake of the entire organism at PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD. Additionally, it is important that an Open Feedback Loop between O'Brien ("the Past") and time-planning systems ("the Future") is fostered. Where periods of burnout, lower energy, sociability, activity, mental health detriment, or any other such internal factors are predicted by the Past, it is vital that the Future adapts to meet these requirements. This means that a lower level of rigidity to historical time-planning is required. It is thus a major consideration in the day-to-day runnings of PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD to maintain a minimum degree of flexibility: no "night before" planning, or over-full planning, or unlikely promises; for example.

Between the absolute necessities of reaching the primary Business Tenets (fixed lectures, assignments, rehearsals, etc), time will be allocated on a "bin" basis. Time in the short- and medium-term will be allocated into the following bins:

Time blocks will be allocated as one of the above bins, and although blocks may be further labelled with intents or short-term goals, it must be accepted that that block may be utilised to any ends within the bin. This has multiple benefits: it incentivises a wider range of activities to be done, without forcing staff into a single activity, which can be demoralising; in this way, morale among the business is upheld and alternatives that are still useful are given to workers. However, in order to function, the aforementioned flexibility is required, so as not to limit time expenditure any more than the bins do, ie. to allow freedom of in situ rearrangement within each bin.

To elaborate on the bins specifically: Academic speaks for itself, although it's worth mentioning that this may not be necessarily directly pertinent to the University course. Chores and Miscellanea refer to any housekeeping, literal or figurative, and also to "Scary Hour" which will be touched on momentarily. Business Time is better known as investment: time spent to improve the business, indirectly or directly. Such allocations could be as trivial as texting people, or as important as setting up management systems. A larger allocation is to be expected during the early phases of transition, but it is important not to completely neglect this section, as time for "touching base with HR" and time for time-planning itself are important investments whose neglect could lead to total business failure. It is important to note how "Free Time" is in practice divided into two separate bins: better thought of as active and passive, respectively. More detail will be gone into in Self Management. The remaining time, the negative time subtended by allocated blocks, is "Buffer Time". By its nature it will come small and often, but it may still be left en bloc. This is the only time that cannot be mis-spent: ten minutes of doomscrolling between two outside events is more than warranted.

Resource Management

It is important that stocks are kept high, as the inverse fact forces a level of rigidity into the business. A Lean or JIT supply chain would be ineffective with the business ethic of PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD and thus we need to take a back-supplying warehousing attitude, akin to an Agile, Efficient or Flexible Supply Chain Strategy. This can help reduce costs, but it can also lead to spiralling messiness and similar. Thus, careful spatial management is also required. Initial storage solutions are thusly ad hoc supplied in the business's setup budget. To exemplify, this includes a tray or pot to store toiletries when in use, for ergonomic reasons, and a second location to store a backup, such that staff are never forced to go shopping at any single time. The attitude of a safety engineer is to be adopted: "twice is once and once is nonce".

Similar processes are to be fulfilled in food stocks: Gredient Prepping (A.K.A. Meal-Prepping) is an investment to be carried out in the medium term, and also in the long term in that it's an area demanding investment and experience. The business must plan around an experiential knowledge of how much Gredient will be made, stored, and eaten in certain sessions. To fulfil the Business Tenets, at least twenty-one fulfilling meals a week is a guideline minimum, while two fulfilling meals a day is also an absolute minimum. Thus, one "last resort" meal in the freezer is a sensible backup, but it must also be concurrently taken care of that this meal doesn't expire or grow distasteful in the long-term, and thus a meal-prep rota should be instituted. This can be worked into the medium-term schedule according to experiential evidence: for example, cooking en masse on Saturday mornings. It's also to be borne in mind that such plans can be subject to other people who share kitchen space and similar factors.

To optimally fulfil the Business Tenets and the pragmatics of Expense Austerity (which will be detailed later), the system of "Mission-Oriented Procurement" (MOP) will be developed. This UCL-developed economic theory pioneered by Prof. Mariana Mazzucato et al. has seen success in Camden Borough Council. In essence, MOP dictates that all procurement (and Resource Management) decisions must be made with respect to "Missions": the Business Tenets. Any purchase must be traceable to its contribution to one of these Missions. For example, the procurement of an ink pen contributes to the fulfilment of not just Academic but Economic and Hobbyist goals. If the investment in a more expensive pen is deemed worthwhile with respect to these Missions specifically, only then may it be procured. Similar thought processes must be made with respect to Resource Management.

It is to be noted, as will be detailed later, that self-care falls under the Business Tenets, and in this way certain "unnecessary" or "hedonistic" procurements can be justified. It is important not to let this diminish the strength of MOP.

Finance Management

Similar to time management, the upholding of the Business Tenets best demands a Three-Pot System:

The key distinction is in the Short- and Long-Term Savings. Unexpected but necessary costs, as well as down-payments, hobbying and long-distance travel, among other things, will have to come out of the Short-Term Savings. This is the most difficult pot to manage as it is the least predictable by far, and the most nebulous in its deployment-cases. No detailed plans can be made about the management of the Short-Term Savings at this stage: after the Setup Phase (refer to the Roadmap), further observations are to be made before settling down into a "Dynamic Equilibrium". Such a state involves the careful tracking of the inflow and outflow of this pot and adjustments to methodology, allocation and distribution as time passes in the medium- and long-term.

In order to maximise the "wiggle-room" available in the Short-Term Savings, PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD has taken a difficult decision to adopt a system of Austerity of Expenses. A strict regime of efficient spending will be demanded: this includes taking advantage of Economies of Scale, which needs to be done in conjunction with prudent Resource and Space Management; history-based adjustment of spending habits, through means of noting and improving on the choice of brands, products, etc in the supply chain, to maximise for the Business Tenets and for finances.

The pragmatics of organising the Three-Pot System is currently unforseeable. Current business plans indicate doing it through means of "Virtual Pots", stored on spreadsheets, which would require regular comparison with the certainly very real pot of The Bank Account. This may contribute to the everyday burden of micro-spreadsheeting which can quickly escalate, so prudence is again required and quick-moving changes shouldn't be feared.

To detail on the Business Tenet to which Finance Management most pertains: Austerity will deal with "being economical"; "being outgoing" refers to a pro-active attitude to personal income; "being wise" can be helped by proper and optimal usage of the Three-Pot System.

Self Management

The allocation of time and activities among the Time Bins is key to maintaining the health of the business. This must be done in a positive-feedback system, not just (as previously outlined) between Time Management and O'Brien, but also between Time Management and Self Management. Time taken for R&R is key to the baseline functioning of other arms of the business. It's important that this time is not mis-spent, ie. "squandered" in O'Brien terminology, but equally not over-spent on high-demand activities that undermine the primary purpose of R&R. The success of R&R Time hinges not off any tangible goal, but rather a lack of squanderage. The parameters on this Time Bin must be kept as loose as possible in order for it to fulfil its purpose. Also a factor is Hobby Time, which works against R&R Time in its nature: this fact must be borne in mind. Buffer Time, on the other hand, is an amount of "gegönnt" squanderage. This must be accounted for in planning, lest it resolve itself at unopportune moments. The right amount of Buffer Time granted is one of the biggest in flux changes of positive feedback, and a closed-loop system is recommended: the business must never aim to explicitly reduce (or increase) Buffer Time, instead working towards goals by means of fostering.

It is important that the business "muss sich etwas gönnen" (in Dürrenmatt's ironic words; "one has to grant oneself a little"), ie. grant hedonism. This is not just a matter of permission, but a matter of allocation: Time, Resource and Financial Management must all give room for Self Management, possibly going out of their way to do so, to incentivise Self Management.

Hobby Time must be allocated prudently: a baseline level throughout is in demand. This Time Bin must be carefully planned in the medium- and long-term, moreso than any other Time Bin, in that speicfic goals and project maps must be provided by the staff in all mid- and long-term planning. For example, the primary project for the first three to four months of the Glaswegian residence is this very document: the Business Transition. Other projects may be added to this, too many projects running concurrently (in general) would result in any one project becoming infeasible. However, having too few projects is also a detriment instigated by the baseline Hobby Time allocation. These must be kept explicit, by pragmatic materials which are to be investigated during the early Phases of Transition.

The Transition2Glasgow is one of the most important Transitions in the Year of Transition, and one of the few epynomous transitions. It's important for the success of the business that it's done optimally, which also means utilising it to the advantage of other Transitions. This includes another of the Self's important Transitions, oriented around gender and presentation. Introducing components of this transition into the routine of the Transition2Glasgow is advisable: during the Setup of the wardrobe, which will of course be a primarily "ground-up" procedure, taking the advantage of this arduous and expensive process to work towards other business goals, such as flexibility of presentation, will thusly also be an intent. This also furthers the progress towards some Business Tenets. Further example implementations include the involvement of Voice Training into the daily and weekly routine.

Another such Transition, albeit more tenuous, is the linguistic one. Diversifying the languages in which business is conducted has been identified as a primary goal of the Year of Transition. The process of introducing this is however arduous and taxing in all time-frames. An "Hour of Language" has been previously identified as a powerful short- and medium-term tool by the Self Management Team. However, whether this can be allocated on a regular basis is unforseeable at this stage. Furthermore, it's unforseeable what such an allocation would entail, which can also only be done in situ by Self Management. Tools previously identified as useful, such as Anki Flashcards, should very well be considered, and explicit plans should be drawn up in the medium-term (for example entailing lists of approved activities for certain purposes, and then ensuring an appropriate distribution between such purposes, based on proficiency, ease, availability and means). All of this can only be done after the initial Setup Phase, and during the Adjustment Phase it is not expected that they be concrete in any respect.

One important aspect of Language Transition is "Spaced Repetition". This can foster a higher return-on-investment on time. However, it can also reduce the efficacy of Buffer Time. "Micro-Flashcarding" has previously had little success in this business due to the nature of the staff body, and alternative "Micro-Learning" techniques should be experimentally invested in in the medium-term. Ideally, Micro-Learning should be less taxing, but still an active process: for example, watching Target Language children's Television during mealtimes. Such techniques will need heavy R&D during the Adjustment Phase.

During the Transition2Glasgow, one important activity that works towards several of the Business Tenets is musical practice. Personal goals for the remainder of the academic year will be set after the end of the Transition Phase, whose scope will base itself on how much was achieved during the Transition Phase. Thus, the weight usually placed on music practice should not be diminished, perhaps even raised, in the face of the ambitious Transition Project. It is important to investigate practice facilities (eg. the pragmatics of practising in the department or in accoms) early on during the Transition Phase, ideally during the Setup Phase to allow a smooth Transition.

The lack of a home piano will mean that some efficiency of practice will be lost due to lower Spaced Repetition. Thus, more efficate use of time that is given would be helped by a structure. Such a structure needs to be trialled and developed around what regularity can be supplied by the circumstances: this needs to happen as early as possible, most probably during the Adjustment Phase. This structure needs to include facilities for all aspects of musical practice (non-exhaustively: scales, sight-reading, passage-work, studies, fundamentals, and most importantly "playing through"). This needs to be balanced in the medium-term as there are too many different skills, especially across two instruments, to divide the short-term between. However, some playing through should be scheduled into all practice sessions, ideally at the end, as this acts as a reward and incentive for harder work.

Roadmap

The Transition Phase

The first Semester at University is designated a Transition Phase. This means that the primary Project, at least for the majority of the remainder of the calendar year, is designated this very Transition Project. The Transition Phase is subdivided into further Phases, which cannot be as neatly defined:

The Setup Phase

This Phase begins upon geographic relocation and is estimated to last two weeks or so. During this Phase, intense programmes to fulfil a smooth transition are undertaken. During this Phase and this Phase only, the Business Tenets need not be at the forefront of all activity. However, Mission-Oriented Procurement is still to be carried out where possible, albeit on a slightly more lax regime to that which will be ultimately implemented. This Phase is designated for the intent of setting up subsequent Phases, but it is not expected to fulfil anything itself: for example, the Three-Bin Finance Solution outlined previously must be implemented during this Phase, but doesn't have to be practised until the very end of the Phase. Thus, focus during this Phase is entirely on setting up systems and only at the end of the Phase does the focus shift more concretely towards the Business Tenets. The exception is O'Brien, which is expected to be operational A.S.A.P..

This Phase coincides with the Observation and Trial periods: all that which is out of the business's control (for example that which is dictated by the University Of Glasgow, or Unite Students LTD) is to be observed closely to begin with and subsequently trial-and-improvement-ed around, by the end of the Setup Phase.

This Phase demands that nothing remain fixed until the end of the Phase. Staff should not fear quick-moving or wide-sweeping changes during this Phase, nor dissatisfaction of systems being un- or semi-operational.

Here is a checklist of systems to be set up during this Phase, in no particular order:

The Adjustment Phase

This Phase proceeds the Setup Phase and conducts itself regarding a full operation of all systems under temporary conditions: all parameters, however large, are subject to flux. The business must not hesitate to make changes to any system based on success levels and results from the current functioning of all systems. However, all systems must be underway. It may be found that a System Overload exists: that is, too many Systems are in place to administrate effectively from a middle-management perspective. In such a case, special reduction measures may be implemented to make the systems more manageable. This must be done with haste and reactive speed, to disallow any down-time and resultant administrative backlog as has affected the business before.

The switch between the Setup and Adjustment Phases must be clearly explied by a specific date. However, the switch between the Adjustment and Expansion Phases will happen gradually over a long span of time, many weeks, as the Systems "settle in". The Adjustment Phase will never truly disappear, as the business will remain in flux throughout and will constantly be faced with a changing market.

The Expansion (and Observation) Phase

This is the final Sub-Phase of the Transition Phase, proceeding the Adjustment Phase, overlapping with it also, and transcending the Transition Phase. Under this Phase, Projects may be added in addition to, and eventually in replacement of, the Transition Projects. Under this Phase, new Systems may rise and old Systems may fall in the long-term, as with many grand businesses, and such an attitude will follow with PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD forevermore.

We at PENGUIN INDUSTRIES LTD thank you for your ongoing support, and we will deliver the future together.

Administrative To-Do-List

A miscellaneous list at the bottom of the document to which I will add as I think of things.

Top of page