TMI A/S, the Danish management training company, has put its manual and methodology for making the best use of time into a software package called Key Results. Based on TMI’s original Time Manager manual, Key Results is described as a de luxe personal organiser that, according to the company, also helps you to prioritise tasks and increase your success rate in achieving them. Since it was set up in 1975, TMI has trained 1.6m people worldwide in its method of identifying key tasks and getting them done quickly and in order of priority by organising schedules right down to a daily basis. Those trained include the 14,000 staff of the European Commission and the entire staff of British Airways Plc. On screen, the system works in the same way and using a similar layout to the manual. A networked version for two or more users is also available. One example of its application would be in a sales department, enabling users to call up common goals on screen and see how they are contributing to achieving them. TMI Ltd Technology, based in Colchester, Essex was set up in 1988 to handle Key Results. Its managing director, Ron Young, claims that the system stops employees falling into the activity trap of very busily doing the wrong things. In the UK, Key Results has been endorsed by Toshiba and there is a joint marketing agreement between the two companies. There are plans to introduce an element of expert systems into the programme, TMI Technology is currently working with Intelligent Environments to build its Crystal product into the system. Key Results runs under MS-DOS and is UKP360.
