EFFECTING PROCESS PROFICIENCY AND IMPROVEMENT

As noted in the Preface, the maturing process of going from unconsciousness to consciousness implies that measurement is not a goal. Rather, it is a means of achieving the goal of competence, however that might be expressed. This relationship is also important to consider when the organization is looking to cut costs. If cutting costs merely meant spending less money, it would not matter what was cut. However, what it really means is that costs need to be cut by something less than the impact of those cost cuts on revenues.

A good analogy would be to liken cost cutting to a surgical operation. If the goal is to cut out waste and the first thing identified as waste is the lighting in the operating room, there cannot be much hope for successful surgery. In fact, not only is the patient (process) in grave danger because the operation will be performed in darkness, but there is also a risk to the surgical team (unintended staff loss). While this analogy sounds ridiculous, it is the equivalent of organizations embarking on cost cutting by eliminating or substantially reducing measurement and other activities aimed at improving processes, which almost always results in faster, better, and cheaper performance.