Over breakfast this Saturday, my wife and I discussed various home improvement projects for our new place. Very early into the conversation, we realized how little we knew about the house. What’s under the carpet? Can the toilet be moved easily? How long will it take to remove the wallpaper?
Answers that can only be found inside the space – and tearing up the carpet.
One of the principles of Kaizen is to be in the environment you’re attempting to improve.
Yet, many conversations I have with clients, especially early-stage meetings, take place outside of the environment in question. Many teams feel pressure to nail down times, processes, and schedules before their first step into the space.
The Japanese have a 1/3 – 2/3 ratio similiar to Americans, only backwards. we’ll spend little time on planning a project and then the remaining 2/3 of the time working through execution. oftentimes this is an expensive path to follow, as many unforseen problems can arise. the Japanese will spend much time talking, planning, and testing a plan before the execution. think Japanese cars relability vs. american cars. undoubtly the Japanese cars rank better almost every time.
Americans are in a big damn hurry to do something, whether they get it right or not isn’t necessarily as important as in the doing.