The Kanban method started out as a just in time manufacturing process developed by Toyota. Inspiration come from an unlikely source. They looked at Supermarkets and how they stock inventory. Today, the method is a valuable project management tool – and not just for car manufactures or software developers. It is also know as an agile project management tool.
The physical or virtual board shows most commonly three sections:

• To Do
• In Progress
• Done

The method (Japanese: kanban = visual sign) provides full visibility for each team member on the project progress.

Kanban board benefits

Kanban boards are transparent and communicate team capacity in real time. Every team member is supposed to have access to the board to see and track the progress. This improves collaboration, efficiency and helps to meet the team goals. The board itself can be adapted to better fit the requirements for any team. Especially a physical board is very adaptable. All you need is a white board, a pen and index cards. Virtual boards are great for teams that do not work in the same location. Most tools offer solutions to adapt the board to your needs.

For example adding the responsible team member makes it easier to allocate tasks. Also new sections can easily be added to the workflow. Other ideas that might work for you:

• Add a brief description of the job
• Indicate how long the job will take
• Show various deadlines
• Include expected or upcoming tasks in the workflow
• Allocate tasks for new jobs
• Highlight urgent tasks
• Use different shapes and colours for your cards

Do you need help with project management?

Prisma is your guide for tackling challenging financial communication projects. Our dedicated Prisma Project Manager provides you with regular status update on your annual report or shareholder mailing. Just ask and contact us.

What do Donkeys, Jude Law, not being important and the 10×6 Female founders event (by Paperjam + Delano Business Club) have in common? 10 female founders had six minutes each to share their stories. Among them was Prisma’s CEO Carole Miltgen!

I can relate to the previous German chancellor, Mrs Merkel, who once said in an interview -I draw a distinction between those who fought all their life for women’s rights and people like me who merely had to find their way to contribute. My importance to women came automatically by simply being a woman and being powerful.- This is exactly how I feel. 

Carole Miltgen

Did you miss the event?

Carole Miltgen talked about her thoughts on company culture and creating a company of trust where everyone is their own entrepreneur. Don’t worry if you have missed it.

Watch her speech here.

When you found a company in 2006 and your client is Lehman Brothers, you have sleepless nights in 2008, worrying how to pay your team..

Carole Miltgen

Read the interview with Carole Miltgen: It is my job to create a culture of trust

Hola, ¿cómo estás? Hallo, wie geht es Ihnen? Prisma translates financial documents into: Spanish, German and Hungarian. It is time to learn some facts about these popular languages.

Spanish

Spanish is a truly global language. Did you know?:

• In 2023, our most common documents to be translated into the language were: PRIIP KIDs, financial reports and shareholder letters.
• The language has more than 500 million speakers and is an official language in 20 countries.
• The first grammar book was written in 1492.
• Have you enjoyed “sobremesa” lately? It is the joyful time spent after dinner to talk and relax.

German

I believe my pig whistles (meaning: This is unbelievable). Can you believe these facts?:

• Did you know that our biggest financial report translated into German has more than 1100 pages?
• German is an official language in 6 European countries.
• Fernweh (literal “far-longing”) is the opposite of homesick. Other languages use it as well (maybe it is time to travel again?) Other German words used internationally are Autobahn, Leitmotiv, Wunderkind and Zeitgeist.
• The most used letter in German is the “E”.

Hungarian

Hungarian is supposedly a difficult language to learn for English-speakers (category IV language according to the Foreign Service Institute). Alternatively, here are some some Hungarian language facts to learn instead:

• It is the largest language by speakers in the Uralic family. 
• The language has 14 vowels.
• Regional language status in Austria, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. 
• There are 13 million Hungarian native speakers. 
• PRIIP KIDs and many other financial documents: We can handle your translation needs for Hungarian and many other languages. 

Are you looking for a financial translation into German and many other languages? Contact us.

It feels like it’s been donkey’s years since we’ve been in touch. Instead of offering individual gifts, Prisma is donating 4,000 EUR to Asbl Solidarité Jeunes “Op de Patten” who offers educational and therapeutic interventions assisted by animals to children and adolescents.

The “Zoo-Therapy” focuses on verbal and non-verbal communication to improve empathy. It aims to complete traditional therapy methods. For more information about the association, please visit: https://www.solina.lu/fr/facilities/op-de-patten/

We are convinced that you will agree this is a cause worth supporting because a world without hope is unimaginable.

Merry Prismas and a very Happy New Year. The Prisma Team wishes you all the best for 2024.

Get your thinking cap on, it’s World Idea Day! As project managers, advisors and chaos detanglers, we need to quickly find ideas in stressful situations.

• Here are our tips on how to generate new ideas:
• Practice makes perfect – exercise your creative muscle daily.
• Try to have as many dumb, unpractical, expensive and dangerous ideas as possible. You might find a good one by accident along the way.
• Take a walk during lunch break.
• Always challenge your first idea.
• Design a workspace that will inspire you every day.

Ask a stupid question day

On 28 September was Ask a stupid question day:

It is the day to be curious. Spoiler Alert: There are no stupid questions! There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is just asking to understand the world a bit better.

Would you like to know more about financial document production or investor communication? Ask us.

The new balls for the Rugby Club de Luxembourg have arrived! Prisma is a proud sponsor of RCL especially in the year of its 50th anniversary. What an achievement!

What do you think is the most important value in sport and how does it relate to our working life?

• developing more motivation to managing mistakes
• knowing your core values will lead you to be a better player
• fairness, teambuilding, discipline, inclusion, perseverance, respect
• providing a universal framework for learning values, thus contributing to the development of soft skills needed for responsible citizenship

Would you agree that the values of a sports team are similar to those in a company team?

Team action will be provided by the Rugby World Cup 2023 which will take place from 8 September – 28 October 2023. Enjoy!

We support our community where we can. Explore more CSR activities from Prisma.

FAQ to Prisma: What is the difference between proof-reading and proof-checking/quality checking?

Proof-reading is done by a professional translator who understands the language in which the text is drafted. The proofreader reads line by line and ensures that there is no mistake in the wording. He/she examines the final text carefully to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.

Proof-checking/quality checking is done by a person (project manager) who does not necessarily have to understand the language into which a document has been translated to. The person checks for instance that all the headers, paragraphs are in the target document.

Two similar jobs and yet very different.

Both play a very important part for our translation and typesetting services. Check out our services here.

In Luxembourg, it’s time for Schueberfouer when the summer holidays are nearly at the end.

The first known Schueberfouer (Schuebi) took place in 1298 under Heinrich VII, father of Jean de Luxembourg (John the Blind). At this time it was a market where people from all over the country came to buy and sell cloth. This fair was however not very successful and stopped again a few years later.

The Schueberfouer as we know it today, eventually took place on 20 October 1340 under the famous John the Blind, count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia (Böhmen). The fair went on for 8 days and its main goal was for farmers to come into town and buy/sell cattle.

The Schueberfouer trough the ages

The origin of the name is from the place where the Fouer took place, which was the “Schuedbuerg” nowadays known as Plateau du Saint-Esprit. Over the years the fair become more and more successful so the Holy Ghost Square was soon too small. It therefore moved to Limpertsberg in 1610 where the forest had just been cut down. In the 18th century the market developed and live concerts became part of it only to be succeeded in 1844 with cabarets. Although it still remained a cattle-market, you could now also buy bone china, comestibles and stationary. When, in the 20th century, the big wheel and the roller coaster arrived, there was no more stopping its development into the fair that we know today.

The big fun fair this year is on from 23 August until 11 September. Are you excited to go?

We, at Prisma, love to share our traditions with you. Learn more about Brezelsonndeg here.

Investor communication made easy. Contact us.

Our day-to-day is full of decision making. As experienced project managers, we need to concentrate on tasks that have the biggest impact on the project outcome. This is when time-management tools come in handy. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States with a good sense for time management. His well-known matrix (or Eisenhower method) gives you a clear overview of important/ urgent tasks.

How does the Eisenhower method work?

The Eisenhower matrix has 4 categories, and you will need to determine how urgent or important each task is:

1. urgent and important:

These tasks require immediate action and have a direct impact on short-term goals.

2. important – not urgent:

Do not neglect your long-term goals in this category. These tasks may become urgent in the future.

3. urgent – not important:

Don’t get easily distracted by minor tasks that seem urgent. Especially, if they do not contribute directly to your goals. Minimise your time spent on these tasks or delegate them.

4. not urgent – not important:

Ask yourself: Are these tasks worth your time or can they be ignored? Whatever the answer, don’t spend so much thought and time on minor to-dos.

What does this mean?

The Eisenhower method helps you to efficiently rank your tasks. Concentrate first on category 1 tasks (urgent and important) and check in regularly with category 2 tasks (important – not urgent).

Short-term and long-term goals sorted out: The Eisenhower matrix helps you keep an overview of all your key objectives. By using the method, you will learn how to prioritise your time.

Just one more tip: Be honest on what “important” means. Urgent is usually easy to determine. However, perfectionists tend to classify everything as important and forget to delegate.

Trust us! We know a thing or two (and probably more) about scheduling large projects (Financial reports, prospectus updates, etc.). Explore our services here.

The Prisma team collected their favourite idioms from Iceland, Northern Germany, Luxembourg, Scotland and Mauritius. These idioms are rarely used in financial translation. Anyway, we still like them a lot and would like to share our favourites with you.

Iceland

Áfram með smjörið.

On with the butter. Meaning – get back to work.

Rúsínan í pylsuendanum.

The raisin at the end of the hot dog. Meaning – the cherry on top.

Blindur er Bóklaus Maður.

Blind is a bookless man. Meaning suggests – those who don’t read are ignorant to the world around them.

Leggja Höfuðið Í Bleyti.

Lay Your Head in Water. Meaning – you need to think about something a bit longer.

Bonus fun fact: When you are lost in an Icelandic forest all you need to do is stand up. (Psssst it’s a joke: There are barely any trees in Iceland and the ones that grow in these so-called “forests” are so young that you can easily see over them).

Luxembourg

Wien Karotten esst, dee kritt schéin Aan.

Eating carrots will get you beautiful eyes.

Duerch d’Fale léieren d’Kanner goen.

Children learn to walk by falling. Meaning – you should not give up when you fail at something but rather stand up and try again.

Do fënnt keng Katz hir Jong méi erem.

No cat will find her kittens. Meaning – it is so messy, that nobody can find anything.

Wien op d’Kiermes geet, dee verléiert seng Plaz.

Whoever goes to the fair, loses his place. Meaning – if you leave your seat, you will lose it.

Deen huet d’Klibbersuen nach an der Täsch.

He still has the money earned from “Klibberen” (a Luxembourgish Easter tradition) in his pocket. Meaning – he does not like to spend his money.

Northern Germany

Besser ein Spatz in der Hand als eine Taube auf dem Dach

A sparrow in the hand is better than a pigeon on your roof (A bird in the hand is worth two in a bush). Meaning – you should be content with what you have.

Nu ma Butter bei die Fische!

Now put the butter to the fish. Meaning – speak clearly!

Wat de Buur nich kennt, dat frett he nich.

What the farmer doesn’t know he will not eat. Meaning – that someone is not open for new ideas.

Schieß den Döspaddel in Wind!

Shoot the idiot into the wind. Meaning – it’s time for a new beginning.

Scotland

Yer aff yer heid

You’re off your head. Meaning – you’re crazy.

Haud yer wheesht

Hold your tongue. Meaning – to be quiet.

Dinnae teach yer Grunny tae suck eggs

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs. Meaning – do not teach or tell someone how to do something they already know.

Bonus carrot fact: Britain has a similar saying to the one from Luxembourg above: ‘Eating carrots helps you see better at night’. The rumour started in WWII when the Royal Air Force had developed a new Radar technology. To hide their success, a big campaign claimed that they just ate a lot of carrots. Nowadays, the saying is used to get children to eat their vegetables.

Mauritius

Dife dans lanka.

Problems are cropping up.

Ti kouto koup gro ziromon.

A small knife cuts a big pumpkin. Meaning – a small action can have a big consequence.

Prisma translates

Financial reports, PRIIP KIDs, SFDR documents, prospectuses, shareholder documents and many more documents are in our service offering. Contact us for more information.