Lean Means Don’t Be a Dumb-Ass

By Pascal Dennis

I owe this gem to our friends & colleagues in the great state of Alabama.

Our partners there have a way with words, and a fine appreciation of Lean fundamentals.

Lean is ‘simple’, is it not?

1. Define Purpose clearly
2. Make problems visible at all levels
3. Treat people with respect – team members, customers, suppliers and the community
4. Involve everybody In problem solving

Lean methods like visual management, standardized work, Help Chains and the like are about making problems visible, so we can fix them.

Once the problem is visible, the countermeasure is often obvious, no?

To be sure, some problems (e.g. Strategic, Design, Supply Chain, machine, information flow etc.) are complex and have multiple causes.

Countermeasures reveal themselves only after much reflection and experimentation. Lean methods enable this process. (Without them we often jump to a dumb-ass ‘countermeasure’)

An old Henny Youngman joke goes like this:

Henny, flapping his arms like wings. “I went to my doctor and told him it hurts when I do this!” Henny makes a face. “The doctor told me, don’t do that!”

Lean methods help us understand what ‘that’ is, so we can fix it.

Our challenge is that we often learn dumb-ass things in college and in dysfunctional organizations. Things like, let’s hide our problems, let’s brutalize our team members, let’s try to hoodwink our customers, and the like.

The truth will out.

Don’t be a dumb-ass.

Best regards,

Pascal

PS Andy & Me and the Hospital, describes how not to be a dumb-ass in healthcare.




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Scatter - Our Nemesis
The Biggest Weakness is Contemporary Business Culture?
What Makes a Great Sensei?
Beware Prizes, Belts & Self-appointed Experts

Lean/TPS in the Public Service – Part 3 – Obstacles & Countermeasures?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

In my last blog, I noted that morale in the US and Canadian federal governments is at all-time lows, and that the growing gap between performance in the private and public sector fuels a corrosive cynicism and disengagement.

I noted three major obstacles to Lean/TPS in government. What are the possible countermeasures?

Obstacle 1: Government is culturally predisposed to making decisions for political reasons

In Lean/TPS terms, governing parties frequently jump to countermeasures to ill-defined problem, and make a mess.

Possible Countermeasure: I’m stumped. Is this an endemic failure mode in democracy?

The skills required to win an election are very different from those required to govern wisely (see the ending to old Robert Redford movie, The Candidate).

New governments and leaders bring with them an army of new staff who are bright, ambitious, inexperienced and too often, arrogant. Pity the poor government engineer, manager or executive working to develop rationale countermeasures to clearly define problems!

Obstacle 2: Absence of customer or client feedback

Possible Countermeasure: Another tough one. Government agencies are usually monopolies isolated from, and too often, indifferent to the customer. (Where you gonna go?)

How to amplify the voice of the customer? Could independent performance rating organizations, like J.D. Power, provide annual, widely publicized ratings of government agencies based on detailed customer feedback, as they do for other industries?

Obstacle 3: No Continuity of Leadership

Possible Countermeasure: This one would require a wholesale change in government Human Resources practices – not dissimilar to the changes enlightened companies have implemented the past decade.

Senior government leaders and bureaucrats would be rewarded and promoted based on the footprint they left – i.e. the management systems they built, and the capable successors they’ve groomed – rather than on the tired old ‘get your ticket punched’ routine.

(The current practice of shifting senior managers every few years actively discourages the development of the management systems and culture required to sustain Lean/TPS.)

None of these countermeasures are easy, reflecting the scale of the challenge.

Are there others? No doubt – I’d love to hear from senior leaders in the public service. What do you all think?

The stakes are high for public service members, and for the public.

Best regards,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Lean/TPS in the Public Service – Part 2 – What are the Obstacles?
Is Lean/TPS Possible in the Public Service? – Part 1
Henry & Edsel Ford – the Pride & the Sorrow
Ethics Enables Leadership

Lean Means Don’t Be a Dumb-Ass

By Pascal Dennis

I owe this gem to our friends & colleagues in the great state of Alabama.

Our partners there have a way with words, and a fine appreciation of Lean fundamentals.

Lean is ‘simple’, is it not?

1. Define Purpose clearly
2. Make problems visible at all levels
3. Treat people with respect – team members, customers, suppliers and the community
4. Involve everybody In problem solving

Lean methods like visual management, standardized work, Help Chains and the like are about making problems visible, so we can fix them.

Once the problem is visible, the countermeasure is often obvious, no?

To be sure, some problems (e.g. Strategic, Design, Supply Chain, machine, information flow etc.) are complex and have multiple causes.

Countermeasures reveal themselves only after much reflection and experimentation. Lean methods enable this process. (Without them we often jump to a dumb-ass ‘countermeasure’)

An old Henny Youngman joke goes like this:

Henny, flapping his arms like wings. “I went to my doctor and told him it hurts when I do this!” Henny makes a face. “The doctor told me, don’t do that!”

Lean methods help us understand what ‘that’ is, so we can fix it.

Our challenge is that we often learn dumb-ass things in college and in dysfunctional organizations. Things like, let’s hide our problems, let’s brutalize our team members, let’s try to hoodwink our customers, and the like.

The truth will out.

Don’t be a dumb-ass.

Best regards,

Pascal

PS Andy & Me and the Hospital, describes how not to be a dumb-ass in healthcare.




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Lean – So ‘Easy’, It’s Hard
“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail”
Building Quality into the Process
Standardized Work for Knowledge Workers

Lean Means Don’t Be a Dumb-Ass

By Pascal Dennis

I owe this gem to our friends & colleagues in the great state of Alabama.

Our partners there have a way with words, and a fine appreciation of Lean fundamentals.

Lean is ‘simple’, is it not?

1. Define Purpose clearly
2. Make problems visible at all levels
3. Treat people with respect – team members, customers, suppliers and the community
4. Involve everybody In problem solving

Lean methods like visual management, standardized work, Help Chains and the like are about making problems visible, so we can fix them.

Once the problem is visible, the countermeasure is often obvious, no?

To be sure, some problems (e.g. Strategic, Design, Supply Chain, machine, information flow etc.) are complex and have multiple causes.

Countermeasures reveal themselves only after much reflection and experimentation. Lean methods enable this process. (Without them we often jump to a dumb-ass ‘countermeasure’)

An old Henny Youngman joke goes like this:

Henny, flapping his arms like wings. “I went to my doctor and told him it hurts when I do this!” Henny makes a face. “The doctor told me, don’t do that!”

Lean methods help us understand what ‘that’ is, so we can fix it.

Our challenge is that we often learn dumb-ass things in college and in dysfunctional organizations. Things like, let’s hide our problems, let’s brutalize our team members, let’s try to hoodwink our customers, and the like.

The truth will out.

Don’t be a dumb-ass.

Best regards,

Pascal

PS Andy & Me and the Hospital, my latest, describes how not to be a dumb-ass in healthcare.

Get a copy today & tell me what you think!

Pascal Dennis Bio

Lean/TPS in the Public Service, Part 3 – Obstacles & Countermeasures?

By Pascal Dennis

In my last blog, I noted that morale in the US and Canadian federal governments is at all-time lows, and that the growing gap between performance in the private and public sector fuels a corrosive cynicism and disengagement.

I noted three major obstacles to Lean/TPS in government. What are the possible countermeasures?

Obstacle 1: Government is culturally predisposed to making decisions for political reasons

In Lean/TPS terms, governing parties frequently jump to countermeasures to ill-defined problem, and make a mess.

Possible Countermeasure: I’m stumped. Is this an endemic failure mode in democracy?

The skills required to win an election are very different from those required to govern wisely (see the ending to old Robert Redford movie, The Candidate).

New governments and leaders bring with them an army of new staff who are bright, ambitious, inexperienced and too often, arrogant. Pity the poor government engineer, manager or executive working to develop rationale countermeasures to clearly define problems!

Obstacle 2: Absence of customer or client feedback

Possible Countermeasure: Another tough one. Government agencies are usually monopolies isolated from, and too often, indifferent to the customer. (Where you gonna go?)

How to amplify the voice of the customer? Could independent performance rating organizations, like J.D. Power, provide annual, widely publicized ratings of government agencies based on detailed customer feedback, as they do for other industries?

Obstacle 3: No Continuity of Leadership

Possible Countermeasure: This one would require a wholesale change in government Human Resources practices – not dissimilar to the changes enlightened companies have implemented the past decade.

Senior government leaders and bureaucrats would be rewarded and promoted based on the footprint they left – i.e. the management systems they built, and the capable successors they’ve groomed – rather than on the tired old ‘get your ticket punched’ routine.

(The current practice of shifting senior managers every few years actively discourages the development of the management systems and culture required to sustain Lean/TPS.)

None of these countermeasures are easy, reflecting the scale of the challenge.

Are there others? No doubt – I’d love to hear from senior leaders in the public service. What do you all think?

The stakes are high for public service members, and for the public.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio