What happens when you add too many fish to an aquarium? Overcrowding. The fish don't have enough space to swim around, which leads to stress and aggression. Water quality degrades. Too much fish waste leads to a build-up of chemicals like ammonia and nitrite, which goes on to cause things like fin rot and infections.
If a leader wishes to treat an organization as a machine (ala "High Output Management"), they should be rigorous about understanding their relationship with the machine. Are they a user? A cog in the machine, of many? The creator or manufacturer?
When leaders engage with "the machine" as primarily users...they are also positioning themselves in a passive & potentially exploitative relationship. This never works out well.
Recognized this: "Teams gracefully adapt to debt, too many meetings, too much work, and too many demands. Meanwhile, team members get...less reliable. Unless something is essential, it gets filtered."
Watching it now. Feeling it now.
Great description of business life without WIP limits.
“High-functioning people can appear to have the situation under control, but they're mainly propping things up.”
100% relate to this article and this snippet.
If a leader wishes to treat an organization as a machine (ala "High Output Management"), they should be rigorous about understanding their relationship with the machine. Are they a user? A cog in the machine, of many? The creator or manufacturer?
When leaders engage with "the machine" as primarily users...they are also positioning themselves in a passive & potentially exploitative relationship. This never works out well.
True, but waiting for the helpful suggestion 😉
Recognized this: "Teams gracefully adapt to debt, too many meetings, too much work, and too many demands. Meanwhile, team members get...less reliable. Unless something is essential, it gets filtered."
Watching it now. Feeling it now.
Great description of business life without WIP limits.