When Less Is More
On the Same Page
Robert W. “Doc” Hall
Caricature drawings omit a lot of detail, simplifying to exaggerate features that identify an individual, as with the caricature of the author. Every artist doing a caricature will sketch the same subject’s identifying features differently, but all observers can readily identify each artist’s rendition of a person they know. Readers can draw on this analogy to help simplify any complex process. Less is more in many contexts, but one offbeat example may be interesting.
It’s from our friend Dick Morley whose latest innovation is sensory instrumentation based on investigating when his dogs stop barking when he arrives home. Strangers driving up practically have to be extricated from their vehicles and escorted in. But when Dick arrives, the dogs quickly stop barking. What sensory signals “call off the dogs?”
Careful observation, including videos, reveals the dogs adjusting their attitudes the instant they sense three bits of information that they associate with Morley. Any combination of three signals does it — drawn from gestures, smells, footsteps, his cane, his voice, etc. Because dogs are not statisticians seeking confirmatory evidence, they keep it simple.
That finding set Morley thinking. Could it improve measurement messes? Many of us drown in data, starting with system passwords, and like the barking dogs, mentally sift out most of it. We look for changes in patterns that cue us to pay more attention — or not. Morley tried this out on an automation system, in software monitoring a big electric motor. It triggered trouble alerts just as well as processing all data from sensory signals.
This process is looking for caricatures instead of detailed photos. Not only might it create superior software, it also seems to model how we process information. If you work in a plant, ask yourself what you look for on a quick gemba walk. What do you look for in other work areas? What do you look for in reports or data that you review?
A complex system overwhelms any individual trying to grasp it all at once, so people working each area of an organization have to monitor details there. Increasing process visibility lets them personally “observe a caricature” over a bigger area, and thus better coordinate their work. The simpler the caricatures become, the easier this should be. Perhaps the same insight can help improve software too.
Progress improving processes should alter the patterns that we monitor. They should shift from flagging impending crises toward signs of process improvement, which is itself a people process. If you are an operations leader, do you focus on patterns indicative of process crises, or seek patterns indicative of people improving processes? Such a shift suggests leadership transformation; less monitoring of “things” and more monitoring of human development, as individuals and as groups.
Less can be more to customers too, or to the public. Saving their time and money seems to be obvious ways to do more with less, and many value propositions have been based on them. For example, services such as TurboTax became big hits, but when you see more time-saving apps than you have time to sort through, saving time begins to confound itself.
Reducing waste and lifetime resource footprints are routes to using less. However, improving the effectiveness of process outcomes is an adventure in innovation and customer acceptance. A couple of examples from the public sector may help illustrate this point.
A revolution is stirring in education from kindergarten through university. Popular online courses are only one of many innovations delivering education at the university level. Online courses began in the 1990s and proliferated rapidly, amid debates of their effectiveness. Major brick-and-mortar institutions now offer extensive online coursework, for on-campus and remote students. Some services such as Straighterline (www.straighterline.com) propose that freshmen complete their entire first year online before going to a campus. Others argue that for a student straight out of high school, living away from home is an important part of his or her transition.
Course content and student needs vary considerably. One system will probably never fit all. At issue is what represents a resource effective education for a given college student and how to access it.
Kindergarten is a simpler example of the issues determining effectiveness. Much of the resource footprint of a kindergarten is incurred transporting students. However, high efficiency of any kind in kindergarten classrooms strains credulity.You might as well train the family cat.
Ah, but could kindergartners learn just as well by computer? Some children that age become pretty adept with computers at home — but not all. Disparity among students can be high. Is learning social skills at that age (things like saying please and thank you, waiting your turn, putting things away, a few rules of civility using phones and computers, and maybe even learning to turn out lights and turn off computers) important?
Learning social skills assumes that we want a community kindergarten to start teaching children how to get along with each other. If a community opts for this, adults probably won’t agree on the most effective kindergarten lessons for the purpose, but they can at least be civil about it.
Another example comes from U.S. police departments. Many are having to slash their budgets by 40 to 50 percent. Delivering the same level of service at street level to those communities looks hopeless with budget games, even after leaning out clerical, supply, and support processes. They have to rethink how they can maintain effective public safety and security with fewer officers. Only one route looks feasible; better crime and accident prevention. Better strategic deployment of a reduced street force may help, but to be effective, the police need better community participation in neighborhood crime watching, manning school crossings, and so on. In some cases, that calls for a different “philosophy” of police work — a bit of a culture change in the departments.
Most operations people are not experienced in developing more effective outcomes for customers. As the examples show, to get into it, we need to expand our “skill sets” dealing with the needs of customers.
Robert W. “Doc” Hall is a founding member of AME, former editor of Target, and more recently, the author of Compression.
