Ed Fowkes

Let’s look at Toyota, as it offers one of the clearest examples to my mind. Toyota’s famous production system isn't simply a collection of clever manufacturing techniques. It changes the environment in which people work. One of its best-known principles is that problems should become visible immediately. Toyota developed the famous andon system (アンドン), where a worker who spotted a problem could pull a cord to summon help and, if necessary, stop the production line.

Over the past century something rather interesting has been happening. Ownership has slowly begun to spread. Perhaps the most famous example in Britain is the John Lewis Partnership. John Spedan Lewis seems to have asked himself a philosophical question. Why should the people helping to create value not participate more directly in its rewards? At the time, this was a remarkably radical idea...

At this point, a natural question emerges. If value is concentrated and effort eventually dilutes it, how do I decide where to focus? This is where measurement enters and with it, a new layer of distortion. Charles Goodhart observed that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Now before I continue, I’ll just say “Data is golden.” However…