Comments on: Avoiding the priority trap. http://timebackmanagement.com/blog/avoiding-the-priority-trap/ Working At The Intersection of Personal Productivity and Lean Manufacturing Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:18:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Matthew Cornell http://timebackmanagement.com/blog/avoiding-the-priority-trap/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Matthew Cornell Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-59 I agree that Metric-English miscommunication seems obvious in hindsight, and that standard work is crucial. I will add that a) we all make mistakes, including NASA (who I used to work for) and people on expensive/important projects, and b) that one source for *knowing* standard work is mistakes you (or others) have made. Recall this (presumably true) story about IBM's Thomas J Watson Snr: == The legend goes that a top salesman lost $5 million on a project he'd been working on. Called to see the boss, the salesman prepared to be fired. However, once he was ushered into Watson's office, he was surprised to find that Watson cheerfully started discussing the next big project they were planning. Dazed and confused the salesman asked Watson if he was going to fire him for the loss. "Fire you?" responded Watson. "Why would we want to fire you when we've just spent $5 million training you up?" == Important is how we deal with those mistakes. I agree that Metric-English miscommunication seems obvious in hindsight, and that standard work is crucial. I will add that a) we all make mistakes, including NASA (who I used to work for) and people on expensive/important projects, and b) that one source for *knowing* standard work is mistakes you (or others) have made. Recall this (presumably true) story about IBM’s Thomas J Watson Snr:

==
The legend goes that a top salesman lost $5 million on a project he’d been working on.

Called to see the boss, the salesman prepared to be fired. However, once he was ushered into Watson’s office, he was surprised to find that Watson cheerfully started discussing the next big project they were planning.

Dazed and confused the salesman asked Watson if he was going to fire him for the loss.

“Fire you?” responded Watson. “Why would we want to fire you when we’ve just spent $5 million training you up?”
==

Important is how we deal with those mistakes.

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