> further sting in the tail of the Improvement Paradox is that as
> manufacturing improvement is seen to be successful in its own limited
> terms and therefore in a Success to the Successful archetype generates
> more manufacturing improvement, it takes resources away from areas where
> improvement cycles are longer and less visible, but where they are
> needed to absorb the capacity generated by the improvements in
> manufacturing.
A description that every student of Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (vid:
"The Goal," The Race") will recognize quickly.
Our processes can be likened to a chain. So what do we do? Often, we focus
on "efficiency" - in other words, making the chain lighter. Or we focus on
strengthening one link, because that's easier. The problem is that this
thinking is nonsense. The goal is to create the STRONGEST chain possible.
And how is this done? By fixing the weakest link. Anything else is a waste
of time.
This is ridiculously simple, but it describes very few organizations. I
strongly recommend either of the above-mentioned books to anyone who reads
Malcolm's posts and experiences a sense of deja vu.
----------------------------------------------------
Joe Katzman kat@pathcom.com
"The more you know, the more you can imagine."
http://www.pathcom.com/~kat/
----------------------------------------------------
--Joe Katzman <kat@pathcom.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>