Stop Doing Stupid Things
SteveIn the 1990's when the corporate 'reengineering' craze was at its height, the giant multi-national corporation that I was working for at the time had bought into all the promises and wonderfulness that reengineering would bring to the massive, bureaucratic organization.
As part of our ongoing journey towards better understanding and improved efficiency, the company organized a seminar and brought in a few guest speakers, experts on reengineering to address and rally the troops, and to share their wisdom on the process so that all of us minions, (I was definitely a minion at that time) could benefit.
As the first Mr. Expert (I wish I could remember his name) took the microphone he glanced at his watch and casually remarked that he was not sure why the event organizers had given him a 90 minute slot for his speech and for Q&A, as he did not have really all that much to say.
He said the following:
The secret to reengineering, and the only thing you need to remember is this - Stop Doing Stupid Things.
That was it. 
He knew, correctly, that in our giant organization you did not have to look very hard or far to find 'stupid' things we were doing every day. Find a 'stupid' thing (and they are obvious and easy to spot) and simply stop doing it.
Passing paper around endlessly, calling meetings and inviting dozens of people so as not to 'offend' anyone left out, creating report after report displaying essentially the same information in slightly different ways were just some of the fundamentally stupid things that my corporate finance group engaged in every day.
I know what you are saying, that was ages ago, now we have so much better workplace tools and technologies that make us all more productive and efficient. We can share information and collaborate in ways that the old reengineering expert would never have dreamed about. We are all smarter, and better educated.
We can't possibly being doing as many stupid things as in the past can we? I mean with increased global competition and relentless pressure on sales and profits, if we were doing stupid things we'd be out of business by now, right?
Maybe.
As 2010 nears, I think it makes sense to take a more honest look at some of your processes, normal ways of getting things done, and things like standing meetings and such. Take a few minutes to ask a simple question - Is this good, or is it stupid?
And if it is stupid, toss it in the trash. If you get hassled, tell them I said it was ok.
Reader Comments (14)
Still happens every day Steve -
"Passing paper around endlessly, calling meetings and inviting dozens of people so as not to 'offend' anyone left out, creating report after report displaying essentially the same information in slightly different ways"
"Is this good, or is it stupid?"
Dawn Hrdlica (@dawnHRrocks) gave me some wonderful advice during my SPHR studies very similar to yours above. "does it make good business sense" I love the "or is it stupid" though :)
This is why I kinda like the concept of lean service - it challenges the statement "this is how we do things here" and forces you to get rid of all the non value adding steps/activities.
Can I say this to the department of homeland security? Or just my immediate sphere of influence? :) I love this. It is going on my monitor.
Happy New Year!
@Troy - I know the sad truth is that in many places the stupid things just seem to go on and on and on
@April - I think the 'Is is good' or 'Is it stupid' test can be applied to many aspects of life!
@Sakib - Excellent point!
@Deirdre - Thanks very much and Happy New Year!
I am weeping openly at the simplicity- ! great post once again Steve- thank you!
@Debbie - Thanks so much! I appreciate that very much.
Nice post. I totally agree with you, stupid things happen all the time, especially on big companies. I work on the viagra online office here in LA, HR department, and it's something we have to deal every day.
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