I've been in software since the 80's. I've watched all the fads and cults rise and fall .. From General Electric to Kanban and back again. Honestly, over the

I've been in software since the 80's. I've watched all the fads and cults rise and fall .. From General Electric to Kanban and back again. Honestly, over the decades, there are very specific patterns in all the ism's, and its the recognition of these patterns which each new generation of ignoramus decides to make their own and turn into the Hot New Cool Shit. So I feel its really necessary to point out that while, with the Toyota Method, there is very definitely a refinement of techniques that have been well-worn, and proven, indeed in many markets around the world - there are still parts of the human psyche of productivity which remain unexplored. One of those aspects, I feel, is the obfuscation and neglect which occurs with every wave of computer culture. We kind of don't really work on the reasons for obfuscation - because obviously this is not productive. Productivity means, getting the shit done, in a way that increases value - for the individual producers as well as the owners of the means of production. Toyota works. The proof is in the fact that it is one of the biggest and best brands in the world. But what doesn't work is the occlusion of methodology that occurs, which makes the revelation here in the 21st Century of time-worn, centuries-old methodologies, relevant. We get this way because we decide to occlude, forget, neglect, and ultimately .. reject .. the ways of the masters. How many of us read this article, gave it a cursory glance, and decided to close the tab, for whatever reason: "its too preachy", "its a culture thing", etc. And what number of us actually decided to incorporate the Ohnno way into our thinking, for the simple fact that HN gave us the clue? Really, what I would like people to understand is that there is a desultory, occluding factor, to these different 'ways'. The moment the marketing people take over a working technology, they decide to brand-differentiate, and this means forgetting the roots of it all. "Nobody thinks of the sugar; all we see is the cola" can only happen if we actually act on the basis of ignorance. The point being, the Toyota way seems - like so many other ways - to have the principle purpose of fighting ignorance. Ignorance of oneself, ignorance of others, of the customer/user, of the managers, and so on. Ultimately, the Zen approach is, remember that you will always be forgetting, and express your current reality in such a way to defeat that. No successful brand is ever forgotten; no successful methodology can happen in a vacuum. Yet: it requires such a vacuum before you can find your own handle on it, and ultimately apply it with success. "Applying it with failure", on the other hand, is a sure-fire to re-invent something else, 'brand new', again and again. Don't you feel there is something inherently intrinsic to Toyota Method? Well, there should be a list of these feelings, by now, for those of us who have been paying attention for decades ...