Year-End: Why Is Reflection So Difficult?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.'
Flatt & Scruggs

End of year – daylight dwindles, leaves spiral down, creatures big & small prepare for Winter.

Time to hit the PAUSE button and reflect.

What were our goals this year? What was our plan?

What worked? What did not work & why?

What have we learned? How do we apply what we’ve learned?

Difficult questions, all.

Reflection is hard, certainly for me. It’s much easier to pretend, deny, deflect.

It’s much easier to jump to conclusions, and false ‘countermeasures’.

The smarter a management team, the more prone it is to such behavior.

Our attitude seems to be, "I'm so smart & successful, the basics no longer apply..."

The great country music duo, Flatt & Scruggs, put it well:

"Everybody wants the answer, but nobody wants to ask why.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die"

Why are we like this? Hard-wiring, in my view.

What to do?

1) Recognize & accept it, as a color-blind person accepts she can't see certain colors, and adjusts accordingly.

Let’s admit, "You know, I'm not very good at reflection, or at looking at things objectively. I see what I want to see. I jump to conclusions & half-baked countermeasures."

Such humility usually blunts the worst of our excesses.

2) Build reflection into your routines.

After every major project, launch, strategy, cycle -- hit the PAUSE button.

Our old TMMC plant was especially good at this, and over time it became muscle memory.

So here’s a challenge to all of us. Pull in your team and reflect on the questions above. Answer them honestly and share what you’ve learned. Then apply them.

Here's to a safe & prosperous 2025.

Best,

Pascal




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

What is a Good Life?
All Systems Must Support Humanity – Including Lean
To Learn Corporate Strategy, Study the Military Masters
Reflections on Deploying Improvement Strategies

Reflections on Deploying Improvement Strategies

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

"Every day a little up…” an esteemed sensei taught me.

Doing so entails focusing your energy of the critical few improvement areas.

What will we emphasize in 2025?

What's holding us back? What's the root cause of each obstacle? What are the countermeasures?

Strategy is all about emphasis.

Failure modes are daunting. Here are some:

1. Not understanding our current condition - hence, our remedies are ineffectual
2. Not understanding root causes & jumping to countermeasures
3. Not confirming cause & effect, before embarking on a difficult set of countermeasures
4. Trying to do too much - not focusing

In my experience, if we "go see", get our hands dirty, and grasp our current condition, we have a chance to answer the above questions honestly.

And thus, we'll have a chance to improve.

Strategy is a never-ending game. Perfect execution is unlikely and, in any event, not the point.

The point is to continually deepen our grasp of our business, deploy improvement strategies each year, learn from what happens - so we keep getting better.

Keeps us young, keeps us relevant.

We learn from where we've been, and look to where we're going.

Cheers,

Pascal




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

Hubris and Ethics
TPS and Agile
Lean Means Don’t Be a Dumb-Ass
Scatter - Our Nemesis

Problem Solving and the Worlds of Reflection & Experience

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of Reflection & Experience.

Go See (genchi genbutsu) is central to the latter. Analytical tools like the famous Q7 Quality Tools are abstractions that exist in the world of Reflection.

Problem solving begins in the world of Experience.

What is actually happening right now? Go See the defect the moment you hear about it.

Or stand in a circle, as Taiichi Ohno suggested, until you see it in real time.

We then move to the world of Reflection to define What Is Actually Happening & What Should Be Happening.

Problem solving, of course, concludes in the world of Experience - otherwise it's just 'academic'.

This pattern -- experience - reflection - experience is central to practical problem solving and to Lean as a whole.

Lean thinkers are comfortable in both worlds.

My mental image: a person with one hand deeply embedded in the ground, and the other reaching for the sky.

Reflect, then get your butt to the gemba.

Reflection without action is lifeless. Action without reflection is aimless.

Best,

Pascal




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

Learning How to Manage
Bozos and HR
Strategy and the Worlds of Thought & Experience
PDCA in the Trades

Do We Manage Our ‘Screens’ - Or Do Our Screens Manage Us? - Part 3

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Last time I asked how to manage our screens, so as to avoid a dreadful dumbing down of society?

As always, countermeasures depend on a

1. Clear objective and understanding of the gap, and
2. Good grasp of the situation gained through experience, as well as, reflection

Let me build on my musical example.

What should be happening?

1. Pascal wants to make music that’s enjoyable for both himself and others (forced) to listen to it
2. Pascal wants to build his capability to play the piano

What’s actually happening?

1. Yamaha’s splendid keyboards allow Pascal to create enjoyable music – without the slog of daily practice
2. Pascal’s capability does not grow

Clearly, to meet both objectives – enjoyable music, and greater musical skills – I need more than splendid technology.

I need to find a capable teacher/sensei who will guide me to greater competence through the old, old way, (well described by Dan Coyle in The Talent Code):

Our Learning Recipe (Talent Code):

1. Go slow,
2. Stop and fix (mentor), and
3. Repeat

Which is exactly, what I’ve done. The past year, Jay and I have worked through piano fundamentals & I’m way more capable than I was.

In summary, anchored in the eternal learning paradigm, the talent code, if you will, our screens are a blessing.

They can accelerate our progress in any skill. (For example, I can watch Nat Cole on Youtube performing a tune I’m learning.)

Disconnected from the talent code, they can make us stupid.

Caveat emptor.

Best,

Pascal




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

Do We Manage Our ‘Screens’ - Or Do Our Screens Manage Us? - Part 2
Do We Manage Our ‘Screens’ - Or Do Our Screens Manage Us? - Part 1
In Praise of Depth
The Fog of Big Company Disease

Year-End: Why Is Reflection So Difficult?

By Pascal Dennis

'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.'
Flatt & Scruggs

End of year – daylight dwindles, leaves spiral down, creatures big & small prepare for Winter.

Time to hit the PAUSE button and reflect.

What were our goals this year? What was our plan?

What worked? What did not work & why?

What have we learned? How do we apply what we’ve learned?

Difficult questions, all.

Reflection is hard, certainly for me. It’s much easier to pretend, deny, deflect.

It’s much easier to jump to conclusions, and false ‘countermeasures’.

The smarter a management team, the more prone it is to such behavior.

Our attitude seems to be, "I'm so smart & successful, the basics no longer apply..."

The great country music duo, Flatt & Scruggs, put it well:

"Everybody wants the answer, but nobody wants to ask why.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die"

Why are we like this? Hard-wiring, in my view.

What to do?

1) Recognize & accept it, as a color-blind person accepts she can't see certain colors, and adjusts accordingly.

Let’s admit, "You know, I'm not very good at reflection, or at looking at things objectively. I see what I want to see. I jump to conclusions & half-baked countermeasures."

Such humility usually blunts the worst of our excesses.

2) Build reflection into your routines.

After every major project, launch, strategy, cycle -- hit the PAUSE button.

Our old TMMC plant was especially good at this, and over time it became muscle memory.

So here’s a challenge to all of us. Pull in your team and reflect on the questions above. Answer them honestly and share what you’ve learned. Then apply them.

Here's to a safe & prosperous 2017.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Problem Solving and the Worlds of Reflection & Experience

By Pascal Dennis

Good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of Reflection & Experience.

Go See (genchi genbutsu) is central to the latter. Analytical tools like the famous Q7 Quality Tools are abstractions that exist in the world of Reflection.

Problem solving begins in the world of Experience.

What is actually happening right now? Go See the defect the moment you hear about it.

Or stand in a circle, as Taiichi Ohno suggested, until you see it in real time.

We then move to the world of Reflection to define What Is Actually Happening & What Should Be Happening.

Problem solving, of course, concludes in the world of Experience - otherwise it's just 'academic'.

This pattern -- experience - reflection - experience is central to practical problem solving and to Lean as a whole.

Lean thinkers are comfortable in both worlds.

My mental image: a person with one hand deeply embedded in the ground, and the other reaching for the sky.

Reflect, then get your butt to the gemba.

Reflection without action is lifeless. Action without reflection is aimless.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Reflection - the Breakfast of Champions

By Pascal Dennis

Reflection entails. honest, humble acceptance of successes & failures, strengths & weaknesses.

Hansei, as the Japanese call it.

Reflection is the countermeasure to hubris, overweening pride & arrogance, that destroyer of people and organization.

Reflection is central to all great religions, in the form of prayer, meditation, and rumination.

In some traditions the acolyte leaves civilization and seeks reflection in solitude.

In my experience, reflection requires both solitude, as well as, the camaraderie of one's team.

Thus, questions like 'What have I learned?’ naturally lead to 'What did we learn?'

Reflection, of course, reflects the Adjust phase of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle.

We close of the loop thereby, and lay the foundation for next year's PDCA loop.

A couple of points here:

To close the loop, we need to observe each PDCA phase.

Otherwise, we suffer the debilitating ailment I call Scatter - one group does the Plan, another Deploys the Plan, yet a third Checks the Plan.

Result: lousy results and little learning.

Scatter is at epidemic proportions, especially in large organizations.

So important activities need a deployment leader, ‘key thinker’, ‘chief engineer’ or equivalent to ‘wrap their arms around the problem’, observe each PDCA phase, and thereby harvest & share the learning.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Reflections on Deploying Improvement Strategies

By Pascal Dennis

The new year is unfolding - time to deploy our improvement plans!

"Every day a little up…” an esteemed sensei taught me.

Doing so entails focusing your energy of the critical few improvement areas.

What will we emphasize in 2015?

What's holding us back? What's the root cause of each obstacle? What are the countermeasures?

Strategy is all about emphasis.

Failure modes are daunting. Here are some:

1. Not understanding our current condition - hence, our remedies are ineffectual
2. Not understanding root causes & jumping to countermeasures
3. Not confirming cause & effect, before embarking on a difficult set of countermeasures
4. Trying to do too much - not focusing

In my experience, if we "go see", get our hands dirty, and grasp our current condition, we have a chance to answer the above questions honestly.

And thus, we'll have a chance to improve.

Strategy is a never-ending game. Perfect execution is unlikely and, in any event, not the point.

The point is to continually deepen our grasp of our business, deploy improvement strategies each year, learn from what happens - so we keep getting better.

Keeps us young, keeps us relevant.

We learn from where we've been, and look to where we're going.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Why Is Reflection So Difficult?

By Pascal Dennis

'Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.'

Flatt & Scruggs

Happy New Year y'all!

Trust 2014 finds you relaxed, happy and full of proverbial beans.

Good time to reflect on last year & plan for tomorrow.

Reflection is hard, certainly for me, and possible for you too.

Talented, energetic people around the world find it difficult to reflect, and to learn from the past.

Instead, we jump to conclusions, and countermeasures, often at great cost.

Pascal's Paradox 143B: The smarter a management team, the more likely it is to jump to countermeasures.

Our attitude seems to be, "I'm so smart & successful, the basics no longer apply..."

(Politicians seems especially prone, Exhibit A being the Obamacare fiasco.)

The great Flatt & Scruggs tune song puts it well:

"Everybody wants the answer, but nobody wants to ask why.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die"

(Tip of the hat to my friend & colleague, Boyd Rice, for this.)

Why are we like this? Hard-wiring, in my view.

What to do?

1) Recognize & accept it, as a color-blind person accepts she can't see certain colors, and adjusts accordingly.

This takes the courage & humility to say to one's self, "You know, I'm not very good at reflection. I tend to jump to half-baked countermeasures."

2) Build reflection into your routines.

After every major project, launch, strategy, cycle -- hit the PAUSE button.

Our old TMMC plant was especially good at this, and over time it became muscle memory.

Here's to a safe & prosperous 2014.

Best,

Pascal

Reflection - the Breakfast of Champions

By Pascal Dennis

Reflection entails. honest, humble acceptance of successes & failures, strengths & weaknesses.

Hansei, as the Japanese call it.

Reflection is the countermeasure to hubris, overweening pride & arrogance, that destroyer of people and organization.

Reflection is central to all great religions, in the form of prayer, meditation, and rumination.

In some traditions the acolyte leaves civilization and seeks reflection in solitude.

In my experience, reflection requires both solitude, as well as, the camaraderie of one's team.

Thus, questions like 'What have I learned?’ naturally lead to 'What did we learn?'

Reflection, of course, reflects the Adjust phase of Plan-Do-Check-Adjust cycle.

We close of the loop thereby, and lay the foundation for next year's PDCA loop.

A couple of points here:

To close the loop, we need to have been there for all phases of PDCA.

Otherwise, we suffer the debilitating ailment I call Scatter - one group does the Plan, another Deploys the Plan, yet a third Checks the Plan.

Result: lousy results and little learning.

Scatter is at epidemic proportions in large organizations - because they're so large & complex.

More to come.