Finding the “Herbie” in Your Data Factory
Mention the name “Herbie” to anyone who has read Eli Goldratt’s book, “The Goal,” and they instantly remember the slowest kid in the scout troop. In this story the main character, Alex, has to come up with a plan to turn around a poorly performing manufacturing plant. While on an outdoor hike with his son, he notices that the boys in the troop keep getting spread out further and further. Everyone points to poor Herbie at the end of the line.
Alex decides to let Herbie lead the line. He also distributes some of the extra weight that Herbie was carrying. As it turned out, the fluctuations of the line balanced out and the hikers reached their destination together on time. To Alex, an engineer, they were able to increase the “throughput” of the entire troop. He discovered the true meaning of “dependent events” in relation to “statistical fluctuations.” The solution to his problem came from finding and fixing the bottlenecks in the plant.
So, what does this lesson about manufacturing have to do with us? For example, a bank is actually a data factory. With each loan, data enters the “plant” and a transaction occurs. This generates additional data over the lifecycle of the loan. Raw data in, data processed, and new data out – at ever increasing volumes. The CIO’s job to keep the factory running at top efficiency. The CRO’s job is to make sure that reports to external regulators are error free.
In factory terms, we have rooted out the bottlenecks – the “Herbies” – within client information systems that lead to waste, operating inefficiencies and inaccurate financial reporting. The bottleneck at a bank is often related to spreadsheets. Find where spreadsheets are used for reconciliation, data collection, reporting, etc. and you will find the waste. The solution to bad data in this factory example is not more spreadsheets. Talk about fixes that fail.
Governance-in-Motion is our approach to Data Governance based on Systems Thinking that resolves the root cause of data quality issues. The aim is to create a continuous process that removes roadblocks in the daily handling of data, reduces risk and eradicates waste. The Japanese have a word for this waste, Muda, which means “futility; uselessness; wastefulness” and is central to the Lean Thinking process.1
Lean Production was Toyota’s secret weapon that revolutionized the automotive industry. At MetaGovernance, we’re applying the same principles to help our clients improve the performance in their own data factories.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muda_(Japanese_term)
