I’ve been reading Chasing the Rabbit by Steven Spear, and highly recommend it. The basic premise of the book is that highly complex systems are too complex to design and build perfectly. The best organizations continually learn about their systems by listening to feedback and spread that knowledge across the organization. Meanwhile, their less nimble competitors don’t listen to feedback, or do not learn from it, and are left behind the leader in an hopeless attempt to catch up.
Dying One J-Clip at a Time
“Here was a powerful company, not crashing or blowing up, but letting itself be overtaken and subdued one J-clip at a time” (Chasing the Rabbit page 77).
In the book, Mr. Spears tells the story of the time he worked on the assembly line of an US automaker. He worked on the assembly line as part of research for his book, and his job was to bolt seats to the car. He repeatedly had to perform a workaround to align a J-clip before he could install the bolt. This reduced his efficiency and was an annoyance. Worse, there was no mechanism for him to provide feedback to the system so that it might be corrected.
This was just one of dozens or more workarounds that employees faced on the assembly line. How much more engaged would these employees feel if they could improve their work flow and efficiency by not only having a feedback mechanism, but being expected to provide that feedback?
Your system is talking – are you listening?
I think this methodology has applications for the IT and IA (security) world, and will be writing more about that in the future. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so please comment, Tweet me (@true62), or go to the good2great Twibe to discuss. I’ll start the conversation, what is your J-clip?
Fight! Win!
Here’s a bit of silliness, but I do get inspiration from many sources. Edna Mode is my Twitter avatar, and I think the character of Edna lives this methodology. She’s no nonsense, a high performer, constantly evolving and does not suffer fools. Here is a sound clip that I thought of while reading this book. Edna would council any person or company to stop whining and to “… confront the problem. Fight! Win!” Good advice that we all should follow.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Becki,
Reading this post felt just like when I read most Sunday Dilbert cartoons — like you had obviously been to my job site too many times.
I think that it is an unfortunate hallmark of the information technology profession today to try to serve so many masters that we sub-optimize ourselves to failure. I have seen this happen so many times that it is ludicrous.
Thanks, also, for the book recommendation. I plan to pick it up off of amazon soonest.
Another great, thought provoking, post. Keep it up!
-Scott
IT Thought of The Day Website
http://www.ITThoughtOfTheDay.com
Thanks Scott. I think too many of us accept the daily noise and pains that we have to deal with in the workplace. We float along going wherever the current takes us instead of setting our own course.
I think one of the best things we can do is to constantly ask ourselves if this is the best use of our time and if there is a better way.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book and I hope it helps you make a positive impact on your organization. The US Navy is actually one of the case studies in the book.