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Posts selected fromManagement Blog - Engineering Blog - Investing Blog and other blogs

• Doing the Wrong Things Righter

  Most of our current problems are, he [Russell Ackoff] says, the result of policymakers and managers busting a gut to do the wrong thing right.

  I agree with the very big problem of ignoring the overall system and seeking to improve what really should be completely rethought and changed.  However, I am a bit skeptical of the idea of it being better to do the right thing poorly than it is to do the wrong thing well. 

  I realize "It is far better to do the right thing wrong than to do the wrong thing right." as Russell Ackoff has said, is a catchy quote.  But certainly the truth is that it depends on the system and how wrong or right a thing is and the action is.  Sometimes it is far better to do the wrong thing fairly well (to increase the overall benefit to the system) than to do the right thing poorly (and create huge problems in the rest of the system).  So sure pay attention to the concept of thinking about whether the best course of action is to completely change what you are doing instead of improving how you are doing it.  But don't pretend it is really is better to do the right things wrong - it depends.  Sometimes sure that is true, other times it isn't.

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• Hiring the Right People

  The job market is an inefficient market. There are many reasons for this including relying on specification (this job requires a BS in Computer Science – no Bill Gates you don’t meet the spec) instead of understanding the system. Insisting on managing by the numbers even when the most important figures are unknown and maybe unknowable. Using HR to find the right person to work in a process they don’t understand (which reinforces the desire to focus on specifications instead of a more nuanced approach). The inflexibility of companies: so if a great person wants to work 32 hours a week – too bad we can’t hire them. And on and on.

  ...

  it seems to me that the visible waste (time and money spent on the hiring process) is seen as the only waste and the much more difficult to see waste of hiring the wrong people is ignored.

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• Not Innovation but Still Interesting

  There is an obsession with claiming ideas as innovation in order to sell to those that seek new magic bullets.  Often there is not only no magic bullet but no innovation involved.  But examples of using long neglected management ideas well is valuable as these examples show...

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• More on Overpaid CEO’s

  As Drucker, Buffet and many others have said CEO overpayment is bad for companies, workers and shareholders. Even when they are fired they often take away tens of millions of dollars. Absolutely ridiculous. I sure hope the bubble of CEO pay bursts soon – the only suitable comparison this century is the internet stock bubble. But every year it just gets worse. I would add overpaying CEO’s to Deming’s seven deadly diseases of western management.

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• Evidence-based Management

  It is not easy to get people to change their habits. You often need creativity to give power to the data...

  this story, to me, is another sign that focusing on managing the system is more important than devoting excessive energy to bringing in star talent

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• The State of Lean Implementation

  Interesting survey by the Lean Enterprise Institute notes the following as the major obstacles to transforming to a lean organization.

  1. Lack of implementation know-how: 48%
  2. Backsliding to the old ways of working: 48%
  3. Middle management resistance: 40%
  4. Traditional cost accounting system doesn’t recognize the value of lean: 38%

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• Why Pay Taxes or be Honest

  We keep getting these continuing examples that are so distressing: Enron, Worldom, Tyco, Accenture, HP… It is so disappointing that such behavior is mainly excused (until finally the evidence presented is so damning that most stop defending the specific case in question).
  

  Yet so much of what is unethical is barely questioned. If we don’t question things that are this bad, then those who insist on being as devious as they can without being called on it will just practice worse and worse behavior. We have to do a much better job of not tolerating such unethical behavior.

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• Lean is Harmony

  The tools are useful, but they are not the end. Just using the tools can help move an organization to the point where they are ready to truly examine how to improve. Most often the attempts (just like previous attempts with quality management, six sigma… did) stop short of more than superficial change where a few new tools are used in the same old system. 

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• Lean is Harmony

  The tools are useful, but they are not the end. Just using the tools can help move an organization to the point where they are ready to truly examine how to improve. Most often the attempts (just like previous attempts with quality management, six sigma… did) stop short of more than superficial change where a few new tools are used in the same old system. 

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• Excessive CEO Pay

  CEO’s that take such unethical large pay today are the robber barons of today and will deserve the judgement of history for the actions they take (I would imagine they are perfectly happy to take the money now and worry about opinions later). And those that approve such pay also deserve sharp criticism.

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• Improving on Previous Attempts to Adopt Management Improvement Methods

  There is a big difference between needing to improve on previous attempts to adopt management improvement methods and needing to find new methods. Most of what is needed it to actually apply the good ideas that have been around for decades. And yes, sure try and find some new great ideas but where the focus should really be is on the hard work of execution not looking for some magic pill to solve the difficult task of managing well.

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• South Carolina Photos

  Photos from my visit to South Carolina: Huntington Beach State Park, Charleston and Cypress Gardens.

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• Manufacturing Jobs

  Focusing on manufacturing output and jobs and their importance to the economy makes sense. However, I think people need to update the model they use to set expectations of manufacturing job levels. And given a world in which no countries seem able to do gain manufacturing jobs, it seems more reasonable to expect a continuation of decreased jobs and increased output until that worldwide trend changes.

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• Management Improvement History and Health Care

  I think it is wise to think about what improvement methods were tried in the past and try to understand why they failed in order to improve the chances of success today. I think the many of the things which tripped up TQM, Six Sigma, re-engineering… efforts in the past are waiting to do the same to those efforts today, including lean thinking efforts.

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• Deming in the New Economy

  Innovation rarely comes as the result of an apple falling from a tree and hitting you in the head.
  Innovation is more of a process – sometimes simple and buried deep within the psyche of the individual, and sometimes methodically sewn into the practices of a team – that is put in motion by the desire to improve the status quo.

  continue reading: Deming in the New Economy