I was at a medical convention years ago, listening to a surgeon ask his fellow sugeons in the audiance, Socratically, how they would handle a particular case he was describing. One suggested a specific lab test.
"What do you do differently if the test is below normal?" asked the speaker.
Nothing.
"So, what would you do differently if the test is above normal?" he queried.
Nothing.
"So why measure it if you aren't going to do anything about it?" was the indignant retort.
An important moment, which I've thought about a lot over the years.
We have many metrics. But do we use them? Do we plot the trends and take actions? Do we even state, explicitly, what we expect a metric to be? A range within which we will be happy?
Why get on the bathroom scale to weigh yourself if you don't a) have a target weight range and b) a plan to modify your diet/excercise if you go above the range and c) a plan to increase your caloric intake if you are below that range?
If you don't have those three, be honest and just tell yourself stepping on the scales is for entertainment purposes only.
If you are not going to act on your business metrics, be honest and tell yourself they are for enternatinment purposes only.
Keep learning.
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2 comments:
At its core, Lean is centered on the preservation of value with less work—by focusing on reducing waste and wasteful practices to improve overall customer value. In practice, Lean considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than creating value for customers to be wasteful, and as such a target for elimination. There are varying theories and perspectives on how to best achieve these targets. Several commonly used sets of tools exist to enable companies to implement Lean Manufacturing principles.
That IS pretty amazing how the specific intent is only to measure. The goal should be resolution, not the act of measurement itself. Kaizen teaches us to identify a process, then measure that the process is running smoothly and remove all "muda" (time wasters). Simply measuring with no intent to resolve is obviously just a time waster.
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