Being efficient....

Dan -

> What does this have to do with efficiency
> and effectiveness? Take a process (pattern
> of actions) - then start eliminating the
> unneccessary actions (ineffective and
> inefficient parts). Automate as much as
> possible the places where errors creep in.
> Be happy with the result.

I'm going introduce a little bit of thread drift here. *g* This is what started the craze of "business process re-engineering" in the late 80's and early 90's. I think this might have some foundation on Deming's work as well. Unfortunately, I think a lot of companies used this as an excuse to flatten organizations which was often used as a smokescreen to eliminate positions. While they said they were committed to the concepts, it was mostly lip service. This was certainly the case at the power company where I worked until 1994.

Beyond all that, there has since been discussion that these changes often did not bring the hoped for changes in efficiency or effectiveness. Part of the problem was the fact that *everybody* was jumping on the bandwagon. Companies didn't bother to look to see if the model would apply to their situations or not. For example; manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, industries like this usually saw the greatest gains because their processes were so antiquated in many cases. But if you're writing custom software, how much more efficient can you make that? I mean there's only so much you can do with code re-use, libraries, etc. The trick there was usually to make sure the ladder was against the right wall.

Believe it or not, we had one manager back then who thought if you weren't writing X lines of code per day, you weren't being productive. Well, there's a huge whole in that theory. What if it was your week to work on testing and bug fixes? (We had a group that did that. The developers rotated weeks.) Not ones to be outdone, the developers created a code meter and stuck it on the wall! *g* Depending on how they felt productivity-wise, they moved the needle to high, medium, low, or off the scale. *g*

BTW, I got a chuckle out of your last line - "be happy with the result." *g*

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"