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The Great Post Office Scandal

6 March, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

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A Case Study of a Dysfunctional Culture Nick Wallis writes a story that should be a work of science fiction. Like Jurassic Park, he takes a ridiculous premise but then plays the idea through in a totally believable way. Nobody could recreate the dinosaurs, but good fiction takes a bizarre proposition and makes the outcome […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: case study, cost of poor quality, cost saving, culture, fessing up, ignorance, Post Office, purpose, supply chain, targets

The Tiger That Isn’t by Blastland and Dilnot — Book Review

1 November, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The Tiger That Isn't

What is it about? According to its authors: “Mathematics scares and depresses most of us, but politicians, journalists and everyone in power use numbers all the time to bamboozle us.  It is liberating to understand when numbers are telling the truth or being used to lie.” According to Steven Poole at the Guardian: “This very elegant book… […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: analysis paralysis, Andrew Dilnot, data integrity, data is not information, key performance indicators, measurement, Michael Blastland, targets

Messy by Tim Harford — Book Review

5 August, 2018 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Messy Tim Harford

What is it about? According to the author, Tim Harford, Messy “celebrates the benefits that messiness has in our lives: why it’s important, why we resist it, and why we should embrace it instead”. According to Maria Konnikova’s New York Times review, “a less catchy, but perhaps more accurate, title for the book would be […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: beliefs, command and control, complexity, innovation, systems thinking, test and learn, Tim Harford

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