Issue 6.2 / March 17, 2004

Contents:

• In Praise of Adequacy <read>
• HyperLinks: W Can You Spare a Dime? <read>
• Top Ten Sign Your Company is Overzealous with "Lean" <read>
• MRT NewsBriefs <read>
• Calendar of Events <read>

In Praise of Adequacy

Recently the Motion Picture Academy held their annual awards show, maybe you caught it on TV. However, are these "Oscars" an accurate reflection of what was objectively the highest quality performances and accomplishments of the past year in movies or merely somewhat random accolades given mostly to popular people and/or sentimental favorites? As usual, it's a mixed truth.

While there are no Oscars for business, we do have things like the Malcolm Baldrige award, ISO certification, and a whole lot of people reaching out to achieve these and similar marks to be considered "world class." Now, things like the Baldrige have considerable qualification criteria, it's a contest rather than a balloting process like at the Academy, but it does seem like the achievement is used in a similar fashion, i.e. added to logos and marketing materials that boast the credential to enhance credibility. In this sense, they both fall into what could be considered the "politics of excellence."

There really is nothing wrong with this, except that every once in a while it seems necessary to decry what seems in our society to be a gross overattention on what I consider to be "impractical greatness." Tiger Woods is a good example of this. Even though your rational mind knows you can't ever become as skilled at golf as Tiger Woods, you'll still consider buying the driver he endorses on that lottery-slim chance it'll get you closer to his level. You want to be world class, even though you rationally know you'll never get there. Tiger Woods is great, but for the rest of us, his greatness is impractical. Maybe it's ok for golf, but we need to stop doing this in our companies. Stretch goals can have unintended consequences.

Let's say your CEO reads a book like "Built to Last," or, God forbid, actually listens closely to where Larry Ellison says business trends are going. How often do you think events like this prompt a multi-million dollar evaluation of MRP software or launch ill-advised TQM programs? Too much focus on chasing "world class" processes can distract you from your true business goals.

Instead, I'd like to throw some recognition towards the adequate majority, the rest of us that haven't enjoyed an enormous spike of fabulousness, but simply, yet consistently, accomplish what is required with the expected results. Sure that sounds boring, but that's what most of life is, so why shouldn't it be celebrated?

I don't mean people who don't try hard, are lazy, or incompetent. I mean those that are reliable, trustworthy, and intelligent, just not in any standout fashion. For example, I mean the guy who makes sure your email works every day, the engineer who cleaned 250 defunct vendors out of the parts database, or the secretary that set up all of the customer visits that later led to a breakthrough innovation. They don't mess up too bad, fix their own mistakes, and get the job done on time. These are the people I'm talking about.

In "Kano" analysis of customer needs, one type of product feature is identified as not increasing customer satisfaction if present, but greatly decreasing satisfaction if it is absent. The same goes for adequacy, it is the foundation of everything around us--when it's working, it's invisible, but when missing, it's unacceptable. Some would say adequate competency is the basic cost of entry to having a job in the first place, but many of today's managers making layoff decisions might disagree.

This is one reason so many laid off engineers come back as contractors. Either they did things so adequately that they weren't noticed until they were missed, or were so inadequate that they were the only one who could fix the mess that they left behind.

So let's stop heralding market leaders who temporarily leveraged a trend and start holding up the companies that are always just good enough yet never bad. Raise your glass to the #3 company in your market. Wave a flag for the slightly overpriced but forever reliable commodity maker. Give a coerced vacation day to the guy in your department with perfect attendance. Celebrate what's adequate in the world, it's the only thing that most of us can honestly lay claim to.

HyperLinks: W Can You Spare a Dime?

Link: http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/2004funding.htm

Have you ever seen the weird infomercial on TV where the guy who wears a suit with colored questions marks all over it is pitching his book for how to get your grubby hands on free government money? Consider this the upscale corporate version...

The "Advanced Technology Program" of the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced its 2004 federal funding opportunity. In this program, you can receive up to 2 million dollars over 3 years if you represent a US owned, for-profit single company or industry-led initiative. These funds are intended for high-risk technology development projects that are at the front-end of development, which often do not qualify for traditional venture capital.

If you believe you have a project that may qualify for this opportunity, visit the website listed above for complete details on the program guidelines and instructions for obtaining the official ATP proposal kit. Deadline for applications is Wednesday, April 14, one day before taxes are due.

Top Ten Signs Your Company is Overzealous with Lean Improvements
From the MRT satellite office in Toyota City, Japan

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