Operational Excellence – Reality Laughs

For operational excellence . . . know the difference between a task and a project.

My definition is that a project is:

Something that cannot be completed by one human in one work session.

This, of course, raises more questions than it answers:

What does “completed” mean?
What’s does “work session” mean?
How many people can be included in the definition of “one person?”

Fortunately we are all knowledge workers (in the Peter Drucker sense) so we get to define those things for ourselves.

And THAT, right there, is what separates the professional from the amateur.

While trudging the happy road of Operational Excellence, we are refining our judgment, setting our standards, and then executing on them.

By far the most important aspect of Operational Excellence is developing good taste — and demanding performance accordingly.

This is an inside job. The SOPs, the training, the tools . . . these are trivial compared to the ethical standards you develop for yourself — and hold yourself to.

Review

This book is an Exhortation: all anecdote, no instruction. Culinary analogy: this is like offering a handful of popcorn to a starving man (me).

This review is a “damned with faint praise” review. Still, I got my $10 of value from the paperback, in the form of incremental forward motion.

Summary

Checklists make a difference. They can help in an operating room. Maybe they will help you, too.

Between the story-telling, here are the important lessons of the book:

Making a good checklist is really really really hard. But it can be done.
People won’t necessarily react well to being asked to follow a checklist. Putting a checklist into practice is hard, too.
Checklists help you prevent errors.

Should you read this book?

Read this book to be inspired (not persuaded—persuasion only comes from within). Don’t discount the value of inspiration.

Strike while the iron is hot . . . but keep the iron hot. This is a “keep the iron hot” book. Read it for mindset reasons.

What to do next

If you’re serious about changing your life (and checklists are a tactic you want to employ), find someone (in live human form or book form) who can help you.

“That sounds really good. But what do I do, right now, in this day, the day that I’m in?” I remember asking that question daily. For years. And Bob would just chuckle, knowingly.

Embrace the suck. Do the work, one day at a time.

Win by conquering territory one centimeter at a time. Sometimes it’s millimeters. Sometimes it’s just holding on to what you have accomplished. All of these are victories.

And keep reading.