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Japanesse companies, Toyota in particular, took hold of American management thought and applied it to their manufacturing processes better than we did. The wise
by programminggeek 15y ago
Japanesse companies, Toyota in particular, took hold of American management thought and applied it to their manufacturing processes better than we did. The wisest method was the concept of "continuous improvement", which is to say they constantly are going back and refactoring portions of their manufacturing process to reduce waste, increase throughput, and so forth.
It's very similar to how you might optimize a program. You find a hotspot you think might need improvement and you spend a portion of time improving it. Measure results before and after. Rinse and repeat.
I'm sure there are a lot of small things they learned along the way but the simple idea of continuously improving their processes has kept them on top.
Truly enlightened Agile development is not doing Scrum, XP, etc., it is being wise enough to look at your process and see how it can be improved. Pick and choose different ideas that will fix the parts that need to be fixed, but never be fully satisfied with what you are doing.
The real failure in any project management philosophy is believing that it is the "One True Way" that all things must be done for all teams everywhere all the time.
- pestaa 15y agoWell said. Culturally, Japan has always been agile imo. When they were first introduced to European influences, they copied what they liked and ditched the rest.
- Aga 15y agoI have to disagree here, as Japanese culture is generally quite strict about rules and processes. An average japanese company is very far from what you would even dream to call agile. Rules and conventions about face-time, not being able to disagree with your superiors (basically anyone who entered the company before you) and valuing facade over results seriously hinders efficiency and trying out new and brave things. However, I'm constantly surprised by the great ideas the Japanese get despite all that stiffness in the society.
- pestaa 15y agoThe rules may be strict; my point was, they don't do things just because they did it that way all the time. If they see something better, they bow before the change. If it comes from the management, I'm impressed even more.
- Aga 15y agoThis does not apply in general. A lot of things in the Japanese society are done in old, even arcane ways just because they always have been done like that. The society is not built on bowing before change but on to reach some kind of harmony. Changes might be accepted eventually, but getting there is the hard part.
- pestaa 15y agoIt's true it is not a core concept for them to change instantly, but the slow evolution of habits worked very well for them. Arcane ways are not necessarily bad, but if they couldn't detach from them in the face of a better alternative, I'd be surprised.