The "plancton" of process
There is a running joke among the continuous improvement community about the sentence "be more careful". A common advice among people who "just do" (as opposed to plan-do-check-act), it's quite a waste of breath and saliva; people is already as "careful" as they can, unless they don't give a rat's ass about the task, in which case, your admonition is not going to have much impact.
The problem is that there are a lot of things to be-more-careful about, so why need a system and some kind of learning repository. Repeating "Be more careful" like a parrot, happens after the fact, and doesn't cut it.
That's why we need processes to do things. A process usually is composed of those aha moments where you go "here's where I could be careful here". You record it, you try it, and that's how you improve.
I've discovered, however, an element that is even below be-more-careful in utility for improvement: cursing. For example, if I pick a toast from the toaster and burn my hand (and it's the second time it happens, due to the peculiar features of the toaster), I automatically will curse. With divine right to do so due to my free will, but it doesn't advance me an inch towards a toast burns-free world.
In these moments, I often remember these thoughts, and then, right after the curse, I add to myself ironically: "be more careful..."
It is only after those preliminaries that I examine what happened, why, and what am I going to try different next time to avoid it; the learning starts...
The problem is that there are a lot of things to be-more-careful about, so why need a system and some kind of learning repository. Repeating "Be more careful" like a parrot, happens after the fact, and doesn't cut it.
That's why we need processes to do things. A process usually is composed of those aha moments where you go "here's where I could be careful here". You record it, you try it, and that's how you improve.
I've discovered, however, an element that is even below be-more-careful in utility for improvement: cursing. For example, if I pick a toast from the toaster and burn my hand (and it's the second time it happens, due to the peculiar features of the toaster), I automatically will curse. With divine right to do so due to my free will, but it doesn't advance me an inch towards a toast burns-free world.
In these moments, I often remember these thoughts, and then, right after the curse, I add to myself ironically: "be more careful..."
It is only after those preliminaries that I examine what happened, why, and what am I going to try different next time to avoid it; the learning starts...
