Guilt is a bit like emotional hangover. New Year’s euphoria is fading and you are left with the scraps of yesterday’s overstated intentions.

I came to the office today and realized, that it is almost the last day of January. And the online radio DJ’s just won’t stop reminding that, too. Feels like they are doing it on purpose. And that does not help with not feeling guilty.

Why is it bad? Because one of my promises to myself was to write more. One month is gone and I did not write anything. Outrageous! But hey… I am ready and willing to rehabilitate and get back to the rhythm of keeping my promises.

There are loads of “Tips how to…” out there on the vastness of the internet. One of them suggests to announce publicly about your intentions. Then the pressure of peers, expectations from others will motivate to stick to the promises just a little bit more.

So here it goes… This year main subjects I would like to write about and share with you all are:

• To consolidate or not to consolidate the supplier base? What is the right answer to this question?
• How do you switch from supplier-centric to category-centric category management? Sounds quite simple, but it is not always like that.
• Spend analysis DIY: where do you start and what are you looking for (at)? A list of tips of how not to get lost when you are looking into a spreadsheet with data in 30 000 lines and 50 columns.
• Once again about rebates, prebates, strike ratios and recovery audit. How much does your money cost you?
• Procurement project progress monitoring and control: borrowing some indicators from project management. How to apply earned value management to procurement – schedule variance, budget variance, and earned value.
• Recognizing sales’ BS and not buying things you do not need or do not exist: story about contactless car wash.
• Strategy evaluation and selection tools.
• Budgeting and business plan creation for procurement function. Some guidelines and templates to ease up CPO’s and category managers’ life.
• Cost Of Doing Nothing Different – revisiting the subject of total cost of ownership and it’s hidden factors – processes, procedures. Can you put a price tag on them?
• A lesson which I learned at school in Year 8: price of money.
• Critical Success Factors for Procurement. Are they (and how) different from KPI? Which ones are more important?
• Good quality raw data: you have everything, if you have that!
• Can lean six sigma be a helpful tool for procurement?
• Slide deck from a procurement leader’s conference, where I will be talking about strategic procurement management.

The list is not finite, surely. Many of them will come with sample tools and templates. If any of the subjects seems urgent or important – drop me a line – I will prioritize them.

So here it goes… No turning back now, right? February, bring it on!