A Lean Journey 
Businesses
love numbers and every good business manager loves metrics. After all, the old
adage, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” still holds true in most
management circles. However, a singular
focus on metrics and worse, concentration on wrong metrics, keeps getting
executives in trouble.
love numbers and every good business manager loves metrics. After all, the old
adage, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” still holds true in most
management circles. However, a singular
focus on metrics and worse, concentration on wrong metrics, keeps getting
executives in trouble.
But
here’s the key thing about numbers: they tell a story. They represent the
culmination of the work you are doing. The story is a business need. And this
is where managing the business and managing by numbers starts to get very
important for those of us working in cubes.
here’s the key thing about numbers: they tell a story. They represent the
culmination of the work you are doing. The story is a business need. And this
is where managing the business and managing by numbers starts to get very
important for those of us working in cubes.
People
need to measure all types of work so as to be able to tell when things are
working right and when things need to be corrected. We need to be able to
measure our work for review and update as necessary. Meeting those numbers is
critically important.
need to measure all types of work so as to be able to tell when things are
working right and when things need to be corrected. We need to be able to
measure our work for review and update as necessary. Meeting those numbers is
critically important.
When
managers use numbers to run the business, they are all involved in the story
behind the numbers. They want to understand what the numbers are telling them
about the state of the business. They want to know so they can change what is
being done with the business to make it better.
managers use numbers to run the business, they are all involved in the story
behind the numbers. They want to understand what the numbers are telling them
about the state of the business. They want to know so they can change what is
being done with the business to make it better.
But
when a manager runs the business according to numbers, the world changes. No
longer does the story matter. No longer does your input count as to what can
make the business better. No longer, even, do logical and rational reasoning
make a difference. No longer do innovative ideas on improving the business
matter. No, what matters is the number. Not the story.
when a manager runs the business according to numbers, the world changes. No
longer does the story matter. No longer does your input count as to what can
make the business better. No longer, even, do logical and rational reasoning
make a difference. No longer do innovative ideas on improving the business
matter. No, what matters is the number. Not the story.
But
there is measuring performance and then there is managing to a number to the
exclusion of good business sense. There is a world of difference.
there is measuring performance and then there is managing to a number to the
exclusion of good business sense. There is a world of difference.
The
effort to go “beyond the numbers” by using direct observation has the potential
to help manage business efficiently and effectively. If we invest more in
understanding people and less in understanding numbers, we’ll start to see the
root causes behind performance problems.
effort to go “beyond the numbers” by using direct observation has the potential
to help manage business efficiently and effectively. If we invest more in
understanding people and less in understanding numbers, we’ll start to see the
root causes behind performance problems.
Today’s
lean management favor more holistic, less quantitative, and presumably more
“dynamic” approaches. Know what to measure, and manage the numbers; don’t let the
numbers do the managing for you, or of you. Organizations should be flexible, Lean,
and focused on people and processes, not numbers.
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