New Book Review: "Rethink"
Recently posted Amazon Vine book review for Rethink: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation, by Ric Merrifield, FT (Financial Times) Press, 2009, reposted here:
If there is one overall motif or theme for this book by Ric Merrifield, it is a constant attempt to focus on the "whats" or end goals of business processes, not the "hows" or methods in which these goals are accomplished. While this is the stated attempt of the author, it is clear from even a cursory reading of the text that although "whats" are often discussed, it is a discussion of the "hows" that actually carries the book.
The 5-page introduction of this book is fantastic, although during this initial introduction, Merrifield mentions that the term "capability" has been more precisely defined over time, and that industry focus is now "on the desired outcomes of an activity – what it does as opposed to how it is done. So instead of speaking of capabilities in the pages ahead, they are referred to as 'whats'. The distinction is important, particularly because management theory in recent decades has focused so strongly on such how-oriented programs as reengineering and Six Sigma. It has also helped make the approach basic enough to be understood and applied by employees at every level of a company".
The only problem with this philosophy is that "capability" is actually a Six Sigma term that is still being used in industry. A higher capability level in Six Sigma essentially brings with it less defects, based on how the voice of the customer defines such defects. This book suggests that in Six Sigma, business processes are frequently examined without regard to what such processes aim to produce, but this is a straw man argument. Before being chosen for a Six Sigma process improvement effort, such a project typically undergoes an examination of priority level that involves looking at the "whats" as well as the "hows" behind the process, which includes consideration of both cost and benefit.
While there are some good examples in this book of placing "whats" priorities over "hows" priorities, these terms are often used interchangeably, regardless of whether this was the intention. One simple example the author provides to prove his point (and also admittedly labels "mundane") starts the first chapter. This example describes an individual driving to their favorite park to walk their dog, and after their realization of the increasingly high cost of gasoline, they determined that it was time to cut back on their driving. This hypothetical individual found a new route to their routine destination after examining the various alternatives, but it did not save them much time or money. The author continues by explaining that "instead of struggling to improve the 'how' of getting to her favorite park, [they] drastically rethought the situation at hand – the 'what' that she hoped to accomplish. [They] spread out [their] map and began looking for other suitable parks much closer to [their] house. Sure enough, [they] found one. [Their] new destination wasn't as big or as woodsy as [their] favorite, but the dog was happy – and over a week's time, [they] could calculate [their] fuel savings in dollars".
As a consultant, this reviewer has come to understand that what is immensely important here is how a potential client views the situation at hand. What is the goal in this scenario? Is the destination the goal or is making the dog happy the goal? Or perhaps the goal is saving money on gasoline? These questions are immensely important. For example, the destination can actually be seen as a "how" OR a "what", because the destination might be a means to an end (rather than a "what"), an end which brings happiness to the dog. But the destination might be the actual "what". This distinction is not made clear in the initial presentation of this scenario, and this lack of clarity is unfortunately a repeating theme throughout the rest of the discussion. This reviewer presents this trivial business case because it is so simple, not because it is representative of other business cases presented throughout the book, many of which are quite interesting.
The vast majority of the content provided in "Rethink" consists of business cases. At the end of each chapter, a page or two is presented on how to rethink "whats". The "Key Concepts" section at the end of the book, in the opinion of this reviewer, actually outshines the preceding pages, and this reviewer would like to see this material expanded upon in a subsequent work. This last section discusses what the author deems "conventional" business views that focus on "hows", presents an example of a common workflow process map, and follows up on these items with his "hows" versus "whats" thinking.
Later in this section, the author discusses "heat maps" which, among other things, show the levels of performance, value, predictability, connectedness, and compliance of each "what" within a business process. The heat map is not a new concept, but the author presents this concept well, and is able to tie together some of the loose ends from earlier chapters. However, taking into holistic perspective all of the material that Merrifield presents, in the opinion of this reviewer this book is not the "manifesto" that the publisher claims on the cover. The "what" topic of discussion is definitely an important one, but the "how" delivery vehicle is not very effective.