Measurement

What’s This ‘Cost Of Quality’ Thing?

Now that you’re getting ready for Virtual Audits, it’s time to look into the ‘Cost of Quality’ concept. All the ideas apply to Environmental, Health and Safety and all other management systems. How are we making sure our systems are giving us value? What kind of resource allocation should we make to this activity? To […]

What’s This ‘Cost Of Quality’ Thing? Read More »

The Process Approach – What’s In It For Me?

John Seddon has been promoting Systems Thinking for years – I’ve been following him for nearly 30 years now and I’ve used the Vanguard Method approach to management system design since the early 2000s. A number of Federal Departments in Ottawa still have them in place. This post is based on the last part of

The Process Approach – What’s In It For Me? Read More »

Are Our Measurements Helping Us Understand Customers?

John Seddon (vanguard-method.net Tactics for Getting Started) has been helping companies improve processes for decades. He has improved organizations with ‘Systems Thinking’ based on Deming’s work and the Toyota Production System that Taiichi Ohno created in post WWII Japan. He is laser-beam focused on the customer and it shows. In this instalment, we’re going to

Are Our Measurements Helping Us Understand Customers? Read More »

Are Your Measurements Killing Performance?

Clause 9 requires that we monitor and measure the effectiveness of our management systems. For many, this becomes a chore with little or no valuable information to show for all their work. So if we’re measuring, let’s make sure it’s giving us great info and helping us determine if our system is working. John Seddon

Are Your Measurements Killing Performance? Read More »

What’s your ‘Purpose’?

John Seddon has been a Systems builder since the 80s. He bases his work on the genius of Taiichi Ohno – The Toyota Production System – Beyond Large-Scale Production. Seddon has been successful adapting Ohno’s TPS approach but using it in services. There’s always a temptation to set targets and try to convince people to

What’s your ‘Purpose’? Read More »

Why ‘Management by the Numbers’ Doesn’t Work…

Daniel Markovitz posted a blog called ‘The Folly of Stretch Goals’ in the Harvard Business Review. He outlined the dangers of using ‘stretch goals’ and gives some examples of unwanted behaviours that can result. He identifies three areas where ‘stretch goals’ can result in ‘off the rails’ behaviours. Stretch Goals Can be Demotivating When an

Why ‘Management by the Numbers’ Doesn’t Work… Read More »

A New Twist on PDCA

John Seddon, Vanguard Consulting, released a great book called ‘Freedom From Command and Control’. There are plenty of great ideas in there, and I enjoy sharing them with you! Seddon started applying the ‘Toyota Production System’ to the service industry back in the 90s. You’ll find his insights very helpful. Systems Thinking is what he

A New Twist on PDCA Read More »