Thursday, January 12, 2006

The Good, the Bad and the (your eyes are) Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the (your eyes are) Ugly

 

Got an email earlier this week from Kevin Rutherford who writes the blog silk and spinach (what a great name, why can't I think up picturesque words like that??!).  Picking up on practical applications of lean principles, Kevin writes here on the British Post Office's efforts to standardize passport photos:  your eyes are too high, sir.

 

What's intriguing here was that the BPO's initial efforts at mistake-proofing were well conceived; they told the user precisely how to position the head in the photo.  They botched the effort with subsequent requirements, invisible to the user.  In short, they did not achieve rapid error detection and correction, also known as Jidoka (with thanks to Mark Rosenthal for this terrific article which I've used for years). 

 

Kevin's brief and funny write up explains this better than any sleepy PowerPoint presentation; enjoy it.

 

Upon further review, we are also pleased to report that Kevin's eyes are fine and he's on schedule for his holiday. 

 

You're looking good, sir. 

 

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