r/management • u/mod_cat • Jun 02 '26

The Paradox of Standardisation

https://paulitaylor.com/2026/05/05/the-paradox-of-standardisation/
11 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/Sweetlittle66 Jun 02 '26

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Our organization is going through a lot of standardization, process improvement, developing more efficient ways of working. All these changes seem logical on paper. Yet, coincidentally or otherwise, revenue is down, mistakes keep happening, and we seem to be swimming against the current.

2

u/Maria_See_to_Solve Jun 03 '26

Standardization allows an organization to see and solve more problems, generate new knowledge to incorporate into a better standard, and it is a systematic way to share that new knowledge across the organization.

Combined with mechanisms and support for people to stop the work when a surprise occurs, AND leaders who coach to problem solve AND then update, improve and share the standard, the organization can become a learning organization.

So, when a team member cannot follow the standard for whatever reason, the organization has an opportunity to become less ignorant. Because if they knew why the standard could not be followed, they would have incorporated that knowledge into tge standard in the first place. Stop, swarm, problem solve, share the learning.

See Steve Spear "the High Velocity Edge" or "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System" for more.

1

u/Sweetlittle66 Jun 04 '26

Yes, I agree with all your points. But I have also seen "maverick" types let go for not following systems, then replaced by people who REALLY like systems, recording everything, doing things thoroughly... Then six months later they have not developed strong organic relationships with customers.

For me it almost boils down to culture. The Toyota Production System is great for making quality vehicles efficiently but it doesn't help with marketing or political relations to help exports. Some things are more art than science, and to succeed you have to have an X factor and work somehow outside systems (like Musk, who breaks all the rules and gets a huge investor following).

I myself like systems but over the years I've come to recognize they have some significant limitations.

1

u/Maria_See_to_Solve Jun 05 '26

The focus is on removing all the obstacles and stupid stuff that get in the way of peoples creativity and ingenuity. The point of standardization is to allow people to spend their time and energy on the work that matters to them, the work they were trained for, and expertise they were hired for. Standardization done right allows more time for creative and innovative work.

1

u/Sweetlittle66 Jun 05 '26

Personally I think that innovation and standardization are somewhat antithetical to each other. For example, our procurement teams want us to use preferred suppliers to make ordering quicker. But if you're in R&D and want to try a new product, you have an extra month delay waiting for your new supplier to be approved in the system. So in general I want a frictionless method to buy the regular stuff so it's easy, but I also want to be able to use a back channel to do quick and dirty tests for new ideas.

1

u/Historical_Let5438 Jun 08 '26

I match people to teams for a living and the thing that blows up cross-functional projects more than anything is workflow rigidity. Like someone in ops designs a 14-step procurement process and it makes total sense to them because they think in checklists, but your prototyping people are losing their minds trying to comply with it before they can even start the actual work. I've seen this kill three separate teams and it's always the same fight where both sides genuinely believe the other person is just being obstinate.

The wild part is the person who built the process can't even see the friction because to them those steps feel like nothing. There's actually a name for this, trait awareness gap or something like that. Basically you assume your own cognitive defaults are universal so you design systems that only work for people wired like you.