The goal isn't efficiency. The goal is getting the right things done.
The goal isn't efficiency. The goal is getting the right things done.
Eli Schragenheim did a nice TOC ICO webinar the other day on the topic of buffers, "Time Buffers, Stock Buffers and Buffer Management – The Key Insights and Their Universal Use."
Evgeny Zislis has a great piece on DevOps Transformation using Theory of Constraints, where he takes us through the 4 Questions for Technology. The short version of the discussion is that it is far too easy for people to apply the tools and outward signs of <pick your poison> without fully taking the change on board. And as a result, the power behind that change is never fully released.
When bringing a new way of doing things to organizations, we often get enamored with the physical or technical changes that support the new way of working. Surely if we have this THING, then we must be doing THAT.
But does this really mean that we have changed?
Best practices often get a bad name. But if they ossify into "the way we do things around here" then it becomes very difficult to install new ways of thinking operating and working. Even with all the cool tehcnology we have at our fingertips, the way we work can block many things.
Organizational change requires some of the obvious checklist items, but lasting organizational change requires that the operation and way of doing things. It's a shift from ticking checkboxes to doing things in a new way.
Digital tools (and other humans) can interrupt the flow of work. But are they necessarily bad? Can I allow disruptions in such a way that I can still work and get stuff done?
Change management is always an entertaining topic. It usually starts with some version of "they don't want to change" and then variations on how to make it work. Thinking about it a little more, it's not that people always resist, but there is something about the change that doesn't work for them or maybe they don't understand. Maybe it's time to step back and take a look at their perspective.
Andrey Salomatin has started a nice series on Theory of Constraints in software startups: "Systems thinking in management" and "Work hard enough and you won’t finish anything" and "I bet you look good on the plant floor." I'm wondering if there will be more in the series.
Marshall Goldsmith's "Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts - Becoming the Person You Want to Be" is a great, quick read. I couldn't help but think of "wear the world as a loose garment" as I thought further about the book.
"The Incredible Transformation of Gregory Todd" by AJ Sheppard is an interesting take on the business novel with the guru character played by a young upstart, rather than a grizzled veteran or external consultant. There are a lot of good nuggets, but I missed an overall picture of how the transformation was accomplished.
Paraphrasing a quote: As soon as we stop losing sleep over the success of our business, and start losing sleep over the success of our customers' business, then we will find success.
The Ministry of Ideas podcast has a recent episode of the idea of "(In)Efficiency." It was also excerpted in yesterday's Boston Globe, "Long Before Uber, Efficiency Was Divine." It was informative, but there is a big element that is missing for me: why is the concept so strongly embedded in the way we think - so much that it actually damages individuals and organizations.
Any time you get a response different from what you expect, it is an opportunity to learn. The big question is whether you take advantage of it. Another take on this idea thanks to the Leanblog Podcast, "I consider resistance as additional information (albeit in an unpleasant form).
I've had "Stop Letting Email Control Your Work Day" by Paul A. Argenti flagged for follow-up since it was posted a month ago. The title is pretty obvious: so many people let email control their work day. This doesn't make sense - it is a tool like any other and should be controlled by the wielder, not the other way around.
Trust has always come up for me in knowledge management conversations, but as this blog from Social in silico post discusses, it is really the center of being able to work together successfully.
"Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box" by The Arbinger Institute was a good and challenging read. I found it engaging with connections to ideas from Theory of Constraints that I have been exploring and using in my work. I also finished the book on Yom Kippur - a day of reflections - so I was thinking about my own assumptions around how I operate in the world.
When I don't take control of those requests, I can become slave to every interruption (or request every request that comes through on my calendar). Poppy Harlow (CNN anchor) had a great piece in yesterday's USA Today on "Finding Happiness in 'No'," where she described her journey in learning how to set limits.