drum-buffer-rope
Not Accountable, Not Responsible
Team size can make a big difference in the success of your service or product. What is counterintuitive for most people is that the larger the team size, the lower the likelihood of success for your service or product. Why? Entropy can set in and large teams are inherently bad vehicles for communication. More insipid, however, is that the larger the team, there is a higher likelihood of accountability and responsibility being diffused across the team.
Team size can make a big difference in the success of your service or product. What is counterintuitive for most people is that the larger the team size, the lower the likelihood of success for your service or product. Why? Entropy can set in and large teams are inherently bad vehicles for communication. More insipid, however, is that the larger the team, there is a higher likelihood of accountability and responsibility being diffused across the team.
Maintain Forward Tension
One principle in Wing Chun is the maintaining of forward tension. To explain, I’ll draw the distinction between Tension and Energy and show how this principle in Wing Chun can be applied to Change Management.
Tension is a type of Energy
A Wing Chun maxim goes as follows:
soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy
One principle in Wing Chun is the maintaining of forward tension. To explain, I’ll draw the distinction between Tension and Energy and show how this principle in Wing Chun can be applied to Change Management.
Tension is a type of Energy
A Wing Chun maxim goes as follows:
soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy
Fast Food Congestion
Every system has constraints — sometimes several — minor bottlenecks and major bottlenecks. What makes managing constraints even more challenging is that bottlenecks move: up-and-down the process paths.
I saw this phenomenon recently during a visit to a fast food restaurant, which I discuss in this post — but, my application of the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma as applied to a Restaurant can be applied to any Dynamic System.
Every system has constraints — sometimes several — minor bottlenecks and major bottlenecks. What makes managing constraints even more challenging is that bottlenecks move: up-and-down the process paths.
I saw this phenomenon recently during a visit to a fast food restaurant, which I discuss in this post — but, my application of the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma as applied to a Restaurant can be applied to any Dynamic System.
Attitude and the Pyschology of Queueing
I took the kids to see a movie at a nearby dollar theater many weeks ago. We saw Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and some parts of that movie has stayed with me. I thought that the movie was actually very good: it was an overall very good feel-good movie, with a very good message. One key take-away for me was the role of a good attitude and how that can make a big, big difference in life.
I took the kids to see a movie at a nearby dollar theater many weeks ago. We saw Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and some parts of that movie has stayed with me. I thought that the movie was actually very good: it was an overall very good feel-good movie, with a very good message. One key take-away for me was the role of a good attitude and how that can make a big, big difference in life.
Takt Time and Dumber-by-the-Minute
I remember a very humbling experience of thinking that I knew how to solve problems and being shown just the opposite by an hourly associate. That was during my internship while I was in graduate school; I was haughty, boasting that I came from a top university and demonstrating in my thoughts and body language other prideful nonsense. I’ve learned that you can learn something from anybody. I’d like to think that I’ve become wiser since then and have changed my behavior to reflect that experience.
I remember a very humbling experience of thinking that I knew how to solve problems and being shown just the opposite by an hourly associate. That was during my internship while I was in graduate school; I was haughty, boasting that I came from a top university and demonstrating in my thoughts and body language other prideful nonsense. I’ve learned that you can learn something from anybody. I’d like to think that I’ve become wiser since then and have changed my behavior to reflect that experience.
The Hidden Factory: Would the Customer Pay for That?
The Hidden Factory is a term that refers to activities in an operation or standard operating procedure (SOP). A few examples of Hidden Factories are workarounds, rework, or any of the 7 wastes, which I will describe below. Most organizations have some form of a Hidden Factory and being able to "see" these hidden factories in an organization requires learning to see what waste is and understanding that waste in any operation — service or manufacturing — can be a substantial drain on the bottom line, top line, on employee morale, shareholders and, most importantly, the customer.
The Hidden Factory is a term that refers to activities in an operation or standard operating procedure (SOP). A few examples of Hidden Factories are workarounds, rework, or any of the 7 wastes, which I will describe below. Most organizations have some form of a Hidden Factory and being able to "see" these hidden factories in an organization requires learning to see what waste is and understanding that waste in any operation — service or manufacturing — can be a substantial drain on the bottom line, top line, on employee morale, shareholders and, most importantly, the customer.
Featuritis and the Customer Experience
The more I learn and practice ethnography and design-thinking, the more I notice subtle but incredibly frustrating experiences. For example, I had a frustrating experience with a faucet that was in the hospital room where our adopted baby girl, Mylie, was born. This faucet is an automated one — with a sensor. So, whenever an object passes the sensor, the faucet would turn on even if the intention of the human was not to use the faucet.
The more I learn and practice ethnography and design-thinking, the more I notice subtle but incredibly frustrating experiences. For example, I had a frustrating experience with a faucet that was in the hospital room where our adopted baby girl, Mylie, was born. This faucet is an automated one — with a sensor. So, whenever an object passes the sensor, the faucet would turn on even if the intention of the human was not to use the faucet.
Bottlenecks and Fast Food
One of the key lessons in The Theory of Constraints is that the contraint or the bottleneck determines the throughput for the entire system. This means, then, that if we optimize and improve a non-bottleneck, then those efforts have almost zero impact on the overall throughput of the system. It is only when we improve and optimize the contraint that we will see improvement in the throughput of the entire system. Every system has a constraint — that is neither good nor bad — but just a fact of dynamic systems. Once you’ve identified the constraints in your system, then the next step is to manage it.
One of the key lessons in The Theory of Constraints is that the contraint or the bottleneck determines the throughput for the entire system. This means, then, that if we optimize and improve a non-bottleneck, then those efforts have almost zero impact on the overall throughput of the system. It is only when we improve and optimize the contraint that we will see improvement in the throughput of the entire system. Every system has a constraint — that is neither good nor bad — but just a fact of dynamic systems. Once you’ve identified the constraints in your system, then the next step is to manage it.
Ask Mary Poppendieck Anything!
In August 2006, Mary Poppendieck was nice enough to entertain questions from my readers on the topic of Lean for Software. Some great questions were submitted and Mary answered them.
Well, she’s willing to do that again, so please submit your questions for Mary and she will answer some of those questions. I will then post her responses on future posts. Here’s the process:
In August 2006, Mary Poppendieck was nice enough to entertain questions from my readers on the topic of Lean for Software. Some great questions were submitted and Mary answered them.
Well, she’s willing to do that again, so please submit your questions for Mary and she will answer some of those questions. I will then post her responses on future posts. Here’s the process:
Raising Dust, Vision, and Business Problems
In the Treatise on Principles Concerning Human Knowledge, published in 1685, George Berkeley said: We have first raised the dust, and then we complain that we cannot see. Berkeley was describing something entirely different, but his comment is, I believe, an accurate indictment of most, or all, business problems that we face.
Readers — thoughts? Agree or Disagree? What is your story?
In the Treatise on Principles Concerning Human Knowledge, published in 1685, George Berkeley said: We have first raised the dust, and then we complain that we cannot see. Berkeley was describing something entirely different, but his comment is, I believe, an accurate indictment of most, or all, business problems that we face.
Readers — thoughts? Agree or Disagree? What is your story?
