I needed to consult my GP, and I wasn’t looking forward to spending hours on the phone to get an appointment.

Imagine how pleased I was that in response to the pandemic the surgery have introduced an asynchronous communication process.

I filled in a simple online questionnaire, submitted it and got a response within seconds to tell me my problem would be looked at the following week.

Sure enough it was.   A doctor called me, we chatted about my symptoms and agreed the next steps to a diagnosis.

This simple bit of self-service has saved me loads of time, and probably made the surgery’s job much easier too.   Of course it won’t cope with every case, but it doesn’t have to.  80% is good enough to make a real difference.

If you can solve 80% (or 70% or 50%, or even less) of the problem with something really simple, just do that.

Then use the space you’ve created to do it again.