| LIKE RUNNING WHILE WEARING COMBAT | | | | and investors or to improve current investments. |
| BOOTS: Bureaucracy-Officialism, Red Tape, and | | | | I Love the Sound of Feet Leaving the Meeting |
| Proliferation | | | | In the early 1990s, Sears hired the former chief |
| Organizations usually see themselves as smoothly | | | | of logistics for the U.S. military effort following |
| coordinated operations, even when they are not. | | | | Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, William G. Pagonis. He |
| A baseball analogy can help us see the point. Early | | | | quickly halved the time it took to ship apparel |
| in the 20th century, the Chicago Cubs team | | | | from suppliers to Sears' stores. Suppliers who |
| members Joe Tinkers, Johnny Evers, and Frank | | | | missed deadlines were fined. |
| Chance were baseball's most celebrated | | | | Another improvement focused on cutting back on |
| double-play combination. Joe Tinkers would scoop | | | | time executives spent in meetings. In a simple |
| up the ball at shortstop and wing it to Evers | | | | expedient (reminiscent of those stand-up desks), |
| covering second base. Evers would touch the bag | | | | Pagonis removed the chairs from meeting rooms. |
| or tag the runner sliding towards him, then snap | | | | Those in attendance got to the point quickly or |
| the ball to Frank Chance on first before the | | | | shut up entirely. His meetings rarely exceeded 15 |
| batter arrived at the bag. "Tinkers to Evers to | | | | minutes. In the past, managers felt that they had |
| Chance" became part of American folk idiom. | | | | to speak up to earn their keep. Now they knew |
| I Like Company | | | | better and stopped wasting valuable time. |
| Most organizations start off in Tinkers to Evers to | | | | STALLBUSTERS |
| Chance mode. But soon, more jobs are added to | | | | Spot Checking |
| perform the same amount of work. It's like | | | | A high percentage of bureaucracy involves having |
| having all nine baseball players handle the baseball | | | | checkers checking on checkers, a direction usually |
| after it's hit. Runners will be safe at second and | | | | chosen for the laudatory purpose of effectively |
| first when that happens. | | | | controlling the organization. Spot checking works |
| Why does this needless proliferation happen? | | | | almost as well and is a lot less expensive. To spot |
| Managers enjoy the prestige of having more | | | | check correctly, ask a statistician to help you |
| people reporting to them. Insecure managers will | | | | design a process to spot check. Rarely will you |
| use the bloated staff to cross-check for errors | | | | need to check more than a couple of thousand |
| so that the manager looks good in the monthly | | | | incidents, even if you want to get a handle on |
| reports. Also, a manager's compensation usually | | | | millions of occasions. |
| reflects the size of the reporting staff. Building a | | | | Streamline Processes |
| bureaucracy is just another way for managers to | | | | In lengthy processes, orders and offerings sit |
| reward themselves at the expense of the | | | | around 99 percent of the time waiting for people |
| organization and its stakeholders. Of course, | | | | to do the next little bit. If you reduce how many |
| incompetent managers will also foolishly hire more | | | | people are involved, the process duration |
| people when tasks are left uncompleted due to | | | | dramatically shortens. Cross-train people to do all |
| illness or temporary spikes in demand. But adding | | | | of the tasks that are needed at each important |
| excess people to a process is often about as | | | | stage, and you may take weeks out of the |
| helpful as having a marathon runner wear combat | | | | process. |
| boots. | | | | Map out how long each part of the process lasts |
| Hands Off! | | | | now and who does what. Alongside that lengthy |
| Many people in bureaucracies find job security in | | | | list, lay out a way to reduce the steps, shorten |
| "owning" a piece of an important process. Let's | | | | elapsed time, and limit the number of people |
| say that this person has to check incoming orders | | | | involved. If your organization is like most, you can |
| for errors. Well, all organizations depend on | | | | probably create a 96 percent reduction in elapsed |
| incoming orders. Grab a piece of that process, | | | | time during the process. |
| and you'll be one of the last to see your job | | | | Today, the elapsed time standard for processes |
| eliminated. Yet most of these order processes | | | | is very short ... often as little as a few minutes. In |
| can be automated. Customers can place orders | | | | industries where parts suppliers provide the goods |
| that are immediately sent to shipping. | | | | to their manufacturing customers "just in time" |
| Error-checking programs can prompt customers | | | | (just before the part is used), suppliers usually |
| to make corrections before the order is finalized. | | | | determine what and how to ship to the customer |
| If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again | | | | rather than waiting for an order. Billing and |
| Left unchecked, bureaucracies create | | | | payment are usually tied to scanning incoming |
| redundancies that double or triple the workload ... | | | | packages. |
| and still fail. In part, failure results because | | | | Go for Massive Continuous Improvement of Your |
| eliminating the last scintilla of errors may cost as | | | | Most Important Tasks |
| much as eliminating the first 99.9 percent of | | | | For decades the mantra of many management |
| errors. More likely, however, is that the | | | | experts has been "continuous improvement." But |
| bureaucracy is built up to make the bureaucrats | | | | those experts were usually thinking about making |
| feel safer. New process designs rarely reflect | | | | 1 percent improvements. We recommend instead |
| sophisticated knowledge of error-reduction | | | | that you continuously seek 2,000 percent |
| methods. Rather, the designs allow senior | | | | solutions. You'll run rings about the usual continuous |
| bureaucrats to assign blame for errors to others. | | | | improvement people. The more frequently you |
| STALL ERASERS | | | | set goals and the higher those goals are, the |
| Standing Room Only | | | | more you'll learn and achieve. Get going at getting |
| At times, unorthodox methods are needed to | | | | better at your most important tasks! |
| help workers break out of their bad habits. A | | | | Here are questions to help you succeed with |
| venture capitalist noticed that his colleagues were | | | | massive continuous improvement: |
| happy to sit at their desks drinking coffee and | | | | 1. What should you be measuring? |
| filling out administrative reports. But money in | | | | 2. How can you measure those areas? |
| venture capital comes from working with | | | | 3. How often should improvement goals be set? |
| entrepreneurs. The venture capitalist's solution: | | | | Next, get on with eliminating bureaucracy . . . even |
| Buy stand-up desks. None of his colleagues were | | | | if the source is your own irrational connection to |
| psychologically or physically able to stand at those | | | | approving every detail personally! |
| desks all day. Usually, they headed for the field by | | | | Copyright 2007 Donald W. |
| mid-morning to round up prospective investments | | | | |