Our Common Sense Betrays Us
December 21st, 2005 by HalWe can't see what we can't see.
I've been in a number of project conversations recently that raise the issue that successful people don't see why we need to take a lean approach. First, these people have been successful according to current standards for project success. Second, the basic precepts of lean are contradictory to current best practice. For instance, good project superintendents will act early to bring equipment and materials on site to avoid the possibility that when that equipment and material is needed it won't be available. That sounds like a good strategy, but do this over and over and the jobsite will be crowded with items that aren't needed.
The big issue is confronting our own common sense. There might be nothing wrong with that common sense. On the other hand, our accepted ways of doing things might just be the obstacle to improvement. What are we to do? I only wish I had a ready answer. I know one thing: we need friends when we are making change. People who have our concerns and best interests in mind. We need them because we can't see what we can't see. We need our friends to show us where we are blind and to remind us what we have set out to accomplish. Without our friends we can't succeed adopting lean nor can we succeed in making big change.
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December 21st, 2005 at 10:41 pm
The problem with common sense is that it’s “common”, lol. It’s hard to wend people over when so much of lean is counterintuitive. I think that’s one problem we find difficult to surmount.
Frankly, over the past several months when I wrote about lean on my blog, it was usually reluctantly. Reluctantly because I knew that my site stats dropped precipitously when I did. My readers didn’t want it. Still, I kept up with it because I knew lean to be a true thing. Unlike other industries, apparel people do not have the luxury of choosing to ignore lean; call our industry a harbinger of what’s to come for others but our very survival in the immediate future depends on it. Perhaps I’ve become more successful in getting that idea across because lately, things seem to have changed. Now when I write about lean, my readers seem excited, they get involved. Comments become lengthy, thought provoking and insightful. They’re actually reading the books now.
The counterintuitive concepts of lean will continue to be a barrier. Perhaps next year -when Toyota overtakes GM for first place in the automotive market- people will be receptive to learning more. ATC/NPR’s been running a series this week and I note they’ve yet to mention lean either
December 30th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Lets call common sense an assumption or a mental model (after Senge).
We all develop assumption of how the world works in your case the people you spoke to perhaps don’t have a model to focus on either positive or negative.
If they have tried a lean approach and seen failure - you can imagine what their assumption will be - and then they’ll interpret that as common sense - avoid failure