Better and Different
Posted on May 24, 2006 Comments (8)
Toyota: Better or Different?,Lean Blog commenting on Seth Godin’s post
The answer, as I see it, is to be better and different (when necessary). In Seth’s post he talks about challenging people to find not just better solutions but different solutions. That is fine, as long as people don’t lose focus on being better. Neither one alone is adequate (at least not always). To achieve great success you must be both better and different. That is what Toyota does.
Frankly, if you have to choose one, just being better will work most of the time. The problem is (using an example from Deming, page 9 New Economics) when, for example, carburetors are eliminated by innovation (fuel injectors) no matter how well you make them you are out of business.
Often people mistake Deming’s ideas as only about being better. He stressed not only continual improvement (Kaizen, incremental improvement, SPC) but also innovation. He stressed innovation both in the normal sense of innovating new products for customers and also innovation in managing the organization.
If innovation will be poorly executed (because your organization doesn’t do things better – just differently) you can buy some time until others can adapt to the innovation, but that is all. Unless you also do things better you will not succeed for long.
I see so many examples of failing to practice obvious better methods: methods that have existed for decades. While, at times, the best outcome would result from finding a different way don’t fail to make sensible improvements in the meantime. At least adopt the better methods that are known (doing so is fairly easy compared to inventing new ways of doing things) until different ways are adopted.
Toyota is a great example of doing both. So are Google and Apple. But doing things differently also means taking risks and Apple has suffered in the past. Doing things differently is great as long it is the right differently (which isn’t always easy to judge).
8 Responses to “Better and Different”
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June 28th, 2006 @ 1:34 pm
[...] For me it did happen to someone else so it is funny However, I run across similar thinking and “customer service” and then I don’t find it as funny. The failure to failure to adapt to a changing world (the internet is here to stay folks) is amazing. Most companies would benefit from just adapting to the changing world without elaborate innovation plans. Innovation is great, but challenging. Don’t ignore the possible improvements short of innovation. It seems to me obvious the VW response is that of an organization trying to hold on to an outdated model of behaviour. Toyota needs to do a great deal of work in the dealership area too. At least they realise that they do and are trying: Park Place Lexus won a 2005 Baldrige award. by curiouscat Tags: Management, Innovation, Customer focus, IT Permalink to: Our Policy is to Stick Our Heads in the Sand [...]
November 11th, 2006 @ 11:13 am
[...] I share this frustration with declaring old ideas new: Management Improvement, Better and Different, Quality, SPC and Your Career, Deming and Six Sigma, Management Lessons from Terry Ryan and on and on. Why does this matter? Two reasons, most importantly to me is that when we fail to value the best ideas, instead valuing the new ideas, we are not as effective as we could be. We often accept pale copies of good old ideas instead of going to the good old ideas – which will often lead to a much richer source of knowledge. [...]
December 19th, 2006 @ 8:59 am
[...] Top ten tips for preventing innovation give some great ideas many companies are already doing but you may find some your company hasn’t mastered
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October 26th, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
“Once this is done the install time is reduced to nearly zero and requires no specialized knowledge. This is the first ingredient in Operations Secret Sauce…”
February 8th, 2008 @ 10:12 am
so many things are packaged as amazing new breakthroughs when really they are nice enhancements. Even management ideas are sold this way. And, for management ideas, I think they are most often actually degradations of what Deming, Ohno, Shewhart, Ishikawa, Ackoff… said – not enhancements.
August 26th, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
1) Focus on cash flow… cash is what keeps the doors open and pays the bills… 2) Make a little progress every day…
June 1st, 2009 @ 8:56 am
Create a climate that promotes pride in work. Create a climate where everyone sees how they contribute to the end product. Hire people you trust and let them do their jobs. Seek continual improvement. Respect people…
November 22nd, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
[...] is value in being able to think and discuss ideas in a broader context than your organization. You lose a great deal of learning opportunities if you can’t. And having common idea about what common principles a lean thinking [...]