Spurious accuracy Thirty years ago I sat in a factory office with my head bowed low, looking at the dirty grey lino floor. My boss, a middle-aged, overweight man wearing a white coat smeared with ice-cream was berating me in a broad west country accent. Apparently I was wasting both my time and his. I […]
Scapegoating and the Black Magic of Work Creation
An imaginary tale… Picture a high pressure environment. Resources are stretched and the work keeps on coming. Jobs are routinely prioritised so that staff can focus on what is important. That isn’t an uncommon scenario, maybe it is ringing bells, so let me make it a little more dramatic by upping the stakes. Imagine it was […]
Stupid and Painful
Process improvement is about taking stupid stuff out I might just have said this before… It is not about adding more controls It is not about adding handoffs to specialist groups It is not about adding measures, checks and balances Process improvement is about taking out the stupid stuff. Stupid stuff that gets in the […]
Do You Need Lean Thinking?
The term “Lean Thinking” first came into use in 1996 when James Womack and Daniel Jones published their book of the same name. The book distilled their thoughts after studying the Toyota manufacturing business. A lean, waste free organisation. Since then, those first lean ideas have come on a long way. They are no longer […]
Please Don’t Add Any More Process
I was talking to somebody the other day who wanted to “add some process” to what they were doing. The thing is, I don’t think you can add some process. Processes produce things, the fact that things were being produced showed that he already had a process. You can add some checks You can add […]