Schlagwort-Archiv: Rules

Tool beats rule

In the wake of long-term growth and tackled crises, bureaucracy proliferates in all corporate corners. This is especially true to large companies, which are fueling the wild growth by creating job positions for specialists, who are constantly adding new regulations to the bureaucracy without abolishing old ones. This is done primarily by creating new rules that transfer responsibility to the users – instead of providing tools in which application is already programmed.

The corresponding tools range from self-explanatory forms, to deployed procedures, to apps that offer users the necessary answers. Although forms exist for a long time, they are often not really self-explanatory. The tool beats the rule in terms of effectiveness due to the following effects.

  • You choose instead of following
    Tools solve tasks that are prepared in such a way that the intended outcomes are the result at the end. This forces the official apparatus to think in advance how the results should look like, what you need for the result and in which steps you will achieve it. Depending on the task, this can be the shortest route or a ramified network of routes, which also allow complex requirements and personal preferences in the processing. The user chooses instead of following guidelines that would not help him in the application, because they only determine what must be done – rather actively than passively.
  • You learn, instead of apologizing
    Unfortunately rules only draw boundaries that do not allow crossing without clearly stating what has to be done or how to achieve the goals. The limitations that are part of the objectives impede additionally – not to mention the discouraging effects of repeated apologies. The way out is provided by tools which require a willingness to learn and a comprehensive introduction – rather open than closed.
  • You act, instead of thinking
    Routine behavior is not possible in the beginning of a new approach. It requires repeated performance and the development of personal experiences to internalize a routine. By providing tools that are prepared in such a way that they offer room for maneuver to the users and at the same time produce the desired result, everyone acts within the framework provided. Over time, experiences are exchanged, people enrich each other and thus create the best possible results. Rules, in contrast, offer little guidance on how to proceed. They lead to ever new approaches in order to create the error-free results – rather practice than theorizing.
  • You perform, instead of improvising.
    The avoidance of unnecessary activities is one of the reasons for setting up rules. The wheel is reinvented again and again in the task processing and generates further expenses in the cooperation, which undermine the potential of the teams. However, pointing out what is not allowed, leads employees to put their energy into personal optimization. As a result, obvious weaknesses are not eliminated for fear of drawbacks. By means of appropriate tools, resolutions are well prepared and can be easily readjusted with the help of appropriate feedback loops. These performance increases of the company are prepared in form of appropriate tools in an engineering-like manner – rather straightforward than meandering.
  • You adapt the tool, instead of yourself
    Rules usually contain roughly prescribed procedures. The perfidy lies in the detail, when the application leads to different intermediate results and thus to different result quality. In order to function at all, those involved adapt to the specifications, which means that a large part of their additional possible contributions gets lost. It is smarter to provide a tool that the users can adapt to their needs, i.e. tools that provide alternative ways to the result for the various personalities, e.g. top-down or bottom-up procedures; frontloading, just-in-time, or backloading. Over time, the experiences of the employees flow into the tool and it becomes more and more appropriate – rather mastering than being mastered.
  • You find, instead of developing
    A tool can often do more than originally intended. Think of a screwdriver – tightening or loosening screws; levering or prying open something; piercing or widening holes; bracing something; etc. Administrative tools, such as mechanisms for application and approval, can be reused in different environments. You then have a standardized approach that becomes after a short time common practice for everyone. Not to mention the effort of having to develop the same task over and over again with different approaches – rather reusing than reinventing.

Bottom line: Looking at your own bureaucracy is the first step in overcoming the legacy of regulations. For creating additional sets of rules and regulations that burden rather than relieve the flow, new rules should be introduced as practical tools. With the corresponding freedom in the tools, the users‘ willingness to design is promoted, the basis for error tolerance is created, routine is possible, waste is avoided, the knowledge of the best procedure is implemented in the tool, reuse is possible and, above all, undesirable behavior is minimized. The expected harmonization and the compliance of the employees can thus be designed – the provided tool beats the given rule.

What remains for most of us?

A gate agent of an US airline recently denied boarding to passengers for improper clothing (leggings). The Paris Opera expelled a Muslim woman from the hall due to her niqab. In Mallorca it is forbidden to walk in bath clothes through the city. The so to speak public areas are more and more limited and regulated. When do we start regulating buying in the supermarket, going by bus, visiting the cinema and all the other profane things of everyday life, with an order that extensively limits the individual rights and privacy? What remains for most of us?

The whole thing is intensified by the fact that less and less areas are common property that you can use at will. The desired behavior in these areas, like buildings, roads, parks, forests, and places, is regulated by private or governmental bodies. With the increasing provision of generally accessible places by businesses and the retreat of public areas, the free spaces are narrowed, where the general public can fulfill itself – sometimes free of charge and sometimes with an entrance fee.

All these places are subject to different regulations. The green may not be entered. On public streets are less and less parking lots. This leads to the fact that on one airline you may not fly with leggings and in the other one you may; you may enjoy a performance veiled in one opera hall and in the other not; you may enter one building with a dog and the other one only without; you may be under video surveillance in one road, without knowing, what they do with the images and in the other one you may not; you may spend the night in one park and in the other one not;  you are not allowed to mountain-biking in one forest and in the other one you may.

In the US some companies drain the water reservoirs of communities for a small fee. Afterwards, they sell the water filled in bottles for a lot of money to customers – also to the residents of the communities, who got in the meantime water problems. The remaining common properties, like air, streets and education, will become administered on a trust basis and likewise chargeable – for each breath.

The regulation of the everyday life is progressing continuously. The consequences are already visible, although deterring futures were already extensively depicted in literature and in movies.

  • The big brother is watching you in 1984 by George Orwell – nowadays also during Internet usage (more here).
  • The prohibition to read books in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – nobody knows, which filters are already restricting the access to certain information.
  • The consequences of the virtualization in Matrix by the Wachowski brothers – it is worthwhile to look into the near future with Ray Kurzweil (Transcendent one).
  • The assisted suicide in Soylent Green by Harry Harrison – so far only the multi-media attractions are missing.
  • The preventive pursuit of future perpetrators in Minority report of Philip K. Dick – for the time being potential suicide bombers get already electronic tags before the first criminal act, in order to prevent that they blow themselves up.

In extreme cases you can only live your personal style in the context of certain rules. The related convictions will limit the variety and colorfulness of the world. Do we really want this?

Bottom line: Since more and more examples arise frequently that mean restrictions for the majority of the population, the time has come to observe these trends. The community gets more and more limited. Everywhere evolve regulated zones. At the same time other cultures are pointed at and their local rules are stigmatized as unfree. The question that arises is what remains, if we get in the so to speak public areas more and more rules imposed. Which dress-code is valid for the evening walk or shopping? When do individuals make money with common goods like fresh air, good streets or education? And what is the cost of using it? What remains for most of us?
Obedience?