Operator or Operations Person - Where does time go?
The 30/30/30/10 Observation
Most people in operating positions tend to spend most of their time putting out fires. That does not make them "Operators." It just makes them operations people. A good operator spends his or her time "walking around" the operation. I always found that good operators spend 30% of their time doing "the job", 30% of their time "leading and managing their people", 30% of their time with "the customers" whether they are internal or external, and 10% of their time "sharpening the saw" either by reading or taking classes.