Systems (re) Defined!!!!!

Gentleman recognized as the father of operations, WestChurchman said about systems that work well – are about aesthetics – NOTdetails.

You must be wondering why am I talking about systems?After all that is not a subject I have ever touched. There is a reason,  few recent observations which you mustdelve into as well – it will change, and I hope it does, the way you look atorganizations.

Taking on Churchman’s statement further – essentially whathe is saying is this: a system needs to beautiful. It doesn’t have to be good,it doesn’t have to be detailed and documented with capability of colorful piecharts and tall graphs – it has to be BEAUTIFUL.

Beauty makes sense to me. It in this context means -economical, minimal and parsimonious. Yet the strange truth is, you ask a 100people in your organization for a 100 synonyms for ‘systems’ – I can guaranteethat in modern organizations with self proclaimed ‘Class A’ systems, NOT ONE ofthe 10000 words will be ‘beautiful’. Thus in the eyes of the father of systems– you don’t have one or have a lousy one!!

Taking this simple research forward, JW Marriot realized(still implementing) they didn’t have beauty in their systems. They learnt thateven for a long stay at the hotel – the perception in the mind of the customerabout the hotel and it’s service was established in the first 10 minutes.  Subsequently they got rid of the bellman, of the reception process. Replaced it with a Guest Relation Officer, whomet you at the entrance, took your luggage, took you to the room and with a UPSlike device checked you in on the way to your room. All this in less than 3minutes. That is economy and aesthetics of systems.

I ordered a book some weeks back from some group calledthe Project Management Institute. The book came nicely packed in time. That wasgood. There was a letter with it. Very good. Now the letter started even better– Dear Customer– Thank you for your order. Before I divulge further contents, I have never been ableto understand this – no one’s parents ever named them customer.. Why on earthwe send a letter like that. The letter proceeded. THIS book may NOT bereturned under ANY circumstances unless it got significantly damaged on the wayto you. AND if it was damaged you must make your claim within five workingdays.

Wow!!

At least they could have had a little bit of fun if that’show their idea of customer service is—they might as well have said, HeyChetan we know you steal and cheat. Don’t try to pull that one on us. We gotyou!

Well then I would’ve had a good laugh…coz that’s what theyreally said, didn’t they… We know your kind man!!

Now, sometime back I was working with a textile company. Asignificant part of their business at the time was the mail order business. Sowhile consulting with the company we decided to have some kind of an enclosurein the package, a card that will establish a friendly relation with thecustomer.. So I went down to the Director of Operations and said how aboutputting up a feedback / complaint card with every package. But I told her thatyou are wonderful person, please write it as a human being and not as adirector of operations.

She way exceeded my expectations. You got to read this.She wrote:

Dear Mr. Abc.. PLEASE COMPLAIN….. Thank you for yourorder. We want everything to go perfectly. If the order was late or wrong or ifany of the goods are damaged in the slightest or even if you are just having alousy day and just want to load on to someone, please call our customer care hotline..

Isn’t it lovely. Its human, its wonderful.

People don’t get it – there is no law that prevents youfrom being human!!

I urge each of you to pull out two papers – an internalcommunication document and one external communication document (to a client, asupplier) and read it as if you were from somewhere else. Which one does itsound like – the Project Management Institute or the latter?

Are you not literally demeaning people? Simply rate yourdocuments on a scale of 1-10 on two dimensions – beauty and grace – Try it!!And think about it. Look at FEDEX, what is their system, why did it help themto a 15 Billion Dollar company in no time? What is the magic of Nordstrom? Whatis the magic of SouthWest Airline that runs a discount airline with the bestservice in the world. It is most profitable and is the safest airline in theworld. What is the magic? I think it is words like – systems that arebeautiful….

The world essentially thrives on quality. Quality isessential to compete. Over the last ten years India has made great advancementsin quality. Wonderful ones. BUT you cannot any longer compete on quality.. Youcan equally get it in Bangalore as you can in Bangkok or Brazil or any whereelse. “Quality as defined by few defects is becoming the basis of entry forthe players interested in the automotive sector rather than a competitiveadvantage.” Thisis the conclusion of a JD Power survey.

The issue is not the quality and systems we build aroundit. Three days ago in the Wall Street Journal, the Head of Quality at Motoroladescribed this better than anyone else – he described the ISO 9000 processperfectly. -  “With ISO 9000 youcan still have terrible processes and products . You can certify a manufacturerthat produces life jackets from concrete as long as that jacket is made withthe documented procedure and the company provides the next of kin with theinstructions on how to complain about the defects.” Isn’t that perfect?

ITS NOT ABOUT THE SYSTEM. You can have any number ofhi-tech, advanced and technically evolved mechanisms. IT IS ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDEto the system. Is the attitude to create humanness or to create simply aprocess.

Think about it from a human perspective.. Take an example.Lets say you go to a FABULOUS game of 20-20, a FABULOUS rock concert, aWONDERFUL play, a MARVELOUS romantic dinner, this coming Saturday night with your spouse orsignificant other, and after three lovely hours in the restaurant – you walkout – you turn to your spouse or significant other and you say “Oh my dear!What a LOVELY evening, it confirmed to requirements!!!”

People don’t talk like that, but business people DO.  Quality is about goodness. System isabout goodness as much in an IT company as it is in a restaurant. Are youbeginning to see what we actually end up doing?

Mr. Gibbons, former CEO of Burger King who was responsiblefor getting the company back up in a very short time to compete with McDonaldsagain – described the following statement as a number one nightmare – we didit right but it was still very ordinary. Read it again – we did it right but it was still veryordinary.

Richard Branson put it wonderfully when he started Virgin(airline). He said we do not want to get into the transportation industry, weare still in entertainment. He describes his systems and processes to be‘people’s personalities’.. You could see them living it. I remember flyingVirgin and the crew about to make the safety announcement began by saying,“There may be 50 ways to leave your lover but there are only 6 exits in thisaircraft. Listen carefully.” I think that’s human.. Isn’t it.. Doesn’t that onesentence tell you the organization you are with?

The late great Jerry Garcia said you do not want to beconsidered the best of the best – you want to be the only one’s to do what youdo.  Its wonderful language – oneit makes business sense – two and this is a very personal reason – I do notunderstand why anyone would bother to get out of bed to go to work if that’s notyour goal. We’d all want to go see India play the world cup cricket final, ifwe got a ticket, we’d probably be at the stadium two hours before the match andstay there till well after the end of the presentation ceremony to see India bethe OLNL ONE to hold the world cup aloft. The question is if that is not your(or organization) goal, to be the only one at something, then why bother withanything at all. Just float around. Hang in there. Life will pass bycomfortably.

“Success means never letting the competition define you,instead you have to define yourself through a point of view you care deeplyabout.” I don’t know he author of this line but to me it’s as good a strategyyou’ll see.  I say that because Ihave had access to a few internal documents you see in a company.. You findstuff like ‘exceed expectations’.. ‘conform to requirements’.. ‘delight’ .. etcetc… The problem is after writing this statements we slice them with a knifeand find processes and systems to help us achieve this. Systems, we find,beauty we will not, because the statements are not even about being the best,leave alone being the only one.

“magical moments’ is what Walt Disney called it. “lustafter! and the only one’s to do what we do’ is what Andy Grove calls it. I amnot trying to get it down to statements here. I am trying to make a very simplepoint. The marketplace is crowded with similar to yours, products and services.What will make the difference? Quality in every form will catch up – in today’stimes faster than ever. Thus, things like these ought to be the difference.Churchman’s finding – aesthetic systems – will arise from attitudes of Disneysand Groves, not by implementing humanless and inhuman, non beautiful systems and processes.

ITS about the attitude to create beauty and grace notabout creating a perfect system. Remember the nightmare – you might do itperfectly, but not good enough. I hear consultants and service providers, eventhe Big Four consulting firms, saying that the services our becomingcommoditized – Nothing irritates me more than this. Guess what the answer is –you created perfect systems – too perfect – but just not what the father ofoperations suggested. A seemingly inadequate small statement – (systems thatwork well – are about aesthetics – NOT details). Very silly to overlook thefact of it.

Think about this. Think about this in your organization.Think about this in the brand called ‘you’. And redefine systems to be humanand graceful. At least begin with your own.

Yours,

Chetan Walia