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Review
This waste of our money is just madness. Do you ever wonder how the Government came to make such a pig's ear of running the public services...? The argument compellingly made in this book...is that the Government has designed failure into almost everything it does on our behalf... it is culpable because it has failed to listen to people who know better how to run services on behalf of the customer. --Philip Johnston, telegraph.co.uk
...essential reading for every national and local politician, every public servant or indeed anyone who cares about public services. It describes and explains how command-and-control thinking is having a devastating effect on our public services but more importantly identifies how we can go about putting it right! A cracking read from the first page to the last. --Steve Greenfield, County Trading Standards Officer, Suffolk County Council
This book is uncomfortable, challenging and very direct. It offers huge learning and insight. It is buttock-clenching in places. It stimulates different thinking and methods that should be strongly encouraged and welcomed in the pursuit of excellent public services. A superb read. --David McQuade, Deputy Chief Executive, Flagship Housing Group
...essential reading for every national and local politician, every public servant or indeed anyone who cares about public services. It describes and explains how command-and-control thinking is having a devastating effect on our public services but more importantly identifies how we can go about putting it right! A cracking read from the first page to the last. --Steve Greenfield, County Trading Standards Officer, Suffolk County Council
This book is uncomfortable, challenging and very direct. It offers huge learning and insight. It is buttock-clenching in places. It stimulates different thinking and methods that should be strongly encouraged and welcomed in the pursuit of excellent public services. A superb read. --David McQuade, Deputy Chief Executive, Flagship Housing Group
Product Description
The free market has become the accepted model for the public sector. Politicians on all sides compete to spread the gospel. And so, in the UK and elsewhere, there's been massive investment in public sector 'improvement', 'customer choice' has been increased and new targets have been set and refined. But our experience is that things haven't changed much. This is because governments have invested in the wrong things. Belief in targets, incentives and inspection; belief in economies of scale and shared back-office services; belief in 'deliverology... these are all wrong-headed ideas and yet they have underpinned this government's attempts to reform the public sector. John Seddon here dissects the changes that have been made in a range of services, including housing benefits, social care and policing. His descriptions beggar belief, though they would be funnier if it wasn't our money that was being wasted. In place of the current mess, he advocates a Systems Thinking approach where individuals come first, waste is reduced and responsibility replaces blame. It's an approach that is proven, successful and relatively cheap - and one that governments around the world, and their advisers, need to adopt urgently. "A refreshing deconstruction of the control freakery of the current performance regime. It could do for thinking on business improvement what An Inconvenient Truth has done for climate change." Andrew Grant, Chief Executive, Aylesbury Vale District Council "This is the must-have book. It correctly identifies why the present regime is failing our citizens and customers, but more importantly it gives the reader a proven method by which to bring about real improvement in service performance and cost." Dr Carlton Brand, Director of Resources, Wiltshire County Council "This book is uncomfortable, challenging and very direct. It offers huge learning and insight... A superb read." David McQuade, Deputy Chief Executive, Flagship Housing Group "If ministers, local authority leaders and chief executives only read one book this year this is it. A true beacon of sanity in an increasingly insane regime; ministers should read this and recognise the error of their ways." Mark Radford, Director of Corporate Services, Swale District Council
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
John Seddon has written a great book, which I hope becomes a management classic and mandatory reading for all politicians and managers.
In it he explains how the current government focus on micromanagement and targets has made services worse and more expensive.
Do targets work? They work inasmuch as they encourage people to meet the targets - that's what they get paid on - but in order to do so they will 'game' the system. I have never known a system where this has not happened. So they meet the targets, but at the expense of customer service.
John shows that targets are destructive and counterproductive. An example I have witnessed. A time limit was put on telephone enquiries. So after one question, if the customer had a second question, some operators would tell them they had to call in again to get the second question answered. (I always wondered if the manager who made the call length target also reduced the length of all their conversations and meetings to 3 minutes). This is an excellent example of arbitrary management decisions, not based on any reality, but with the thought that by focusing only on a step in the process they can reduce costs. Of course, without looking at the whole process, it is more likely to increase costs. We all know of other examples - I have just received a form from the tax man to be filled in without any return address or envelope to send it back in. So I call them to find out. These failures in one part of an organisation make more work elsewhere. Getting service right first time is always cheaper (and if you don't agree, in explaining why, you've just proved my point!)
More importantly, John shows what you can do about it: simple practical steps that do not need an army of consultants or massive IT projects.
Who knows best what the work actually consists of? The managers in their offices? The people in head office?
Why not get the workers to fix the customers' problems, and where they cannot, get them to drive the process changes (with the help of their managers - you knew managers had to have some role). This is illustrated with lots of examples. Whilst John is very wary of quoting the sort of productivity improvements you can get, his examples range from 20-40%. But setting out to save money is a way to fail; getting the service right (not necessarily the best service, but as John shows, service that does the job in the way the customer expects) is the way to lowest costs.
Lots of ideas in a powerful book. Enjoy.
In it he explains how the current government focus on micromanagement and targets has made services worse and more expensive.
Do targets work? They work inasmuch as they encourage people to meet the targets - that's what they get paid on - but in order to do so they will 'game' the system. I have never known a system where this has not happened. So they meet the targets, but at the expense of customer service.
John shows that targets are destructive and counterproductive. An example I have witnessed. A time limit was put on telephone enquiries. So after one question, if the customer had a second question, some operators would tell them they had to call in again to get the second question answered. (I always wondered if the manager who made the call length target also reduced the length of all their conversations and meetings to 3 minutes). This is an excellent example of arbitrary management decisions, not based on any reality, but with the thought that by focusing only on a step in the process they can reduce costs. Of course, without looking at the whole process, it is more likely to increase costs. We all know of other examples - I have just received a form from the tax man to be filled in without any return address or envelope to send it back in. So I call them to find out. These failures in one part of an organisation make more work elsewhere. Getting service right first time is always cheaper (and if you don't agree, in explaining why, you've just proved my point!)
More importantly, John shows what you can do about it: simple practical steps that do not need an army of consultants or massive IT projects.
Who knows best what the work actually consists of? The managers in their offices? The people in head office?
Why not get the workers to fix the customers' problems, and where they cannot, get them to drive the process changes (with the help of their managers - you knew managers had to have some role). This is illustrated with lots of examples. Whilst John is very wary of quoting the sort of productivity improvements you can get, his examples range from 20-40%. But setting out to save money is a way to fail; getting the service right (not necessarily the best service, but as John shows, service that does the job in the way the customer expects) is the way to lowest costs.
Lots of ideas in a powerful book. Enjoy.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a measure." Goodhart's Law is as powerful, if not as well known, as Parkinson's Laws. It deserves to be better known and understood.
This book helps us to understand the working out of Goodhart's law, and shows us how disastrous it is when people in charge do not understand Goodhart's Law.
The basic error which Seddon exposes is that failure to think of the whole system or pathway of help, leads instead to focusing on parts of the system, with the result that although each bit may be doing its bit, the overall result is awful, as one part clashes against another. This dynamic is currently endemic in Britain's public sector leading to valueless activity, meaningless measurement, and ever poorer service, at ever greater cost. You and I as taxpayers are paying heavily for this stupidity. David Craig describes the full costs in his book Squandered.
The dynamics of not trusting the staff, not believing the staff's reports, working to meet the target, rather than to meet the need are powerfully described, with examples drawn mainly from the housing sector. I could supply many examples from the NHS, and teachers, soldiers and police would readily testify to the truth of Seddon's argument. Their managers would utterly deny there is a problem, and set about rooting out the few bad apples who disturb their illusions. It's not that managers are intrinsically daft, it's just that the tasks they are set are misdirected from the start. Politicians wonder how the services get poorer even as all the targets they set are met.
Seddon's book is seditious. It makes a powerful case that most of the people in the public sector involved in regulation, management, specification of roles and contracts, are actually wasting their time, and even worse they get in the way of front line staff trying to do their jobs. When the truth that Seddon articlulates is fully understood a whole load of jobs and staff in the public sector will need to disappear.
This is an excellent book. It challenges current orthodoxies, and explains why front line public servants such as doctors, teachers, police so detest their management. This book deserves to lead to major changes in how the public sector works. Management that is focused on targets, and looking good to superiors and politicians, rather than on delivering good service to clients and patients is useless.
I recommend this book to MPs, councillors, and to front line public sector workers. Their managers must not read as it is dangerous, and they don't need to know it, or they will lose all belief in their work.
This book is very powerful medicine, and the British public sector would benefit from a large dose of it.
This book helps us to understand the working out of Goodhart's law, and shows us how disastrous it is when people in charge do not understand Goodhart's Law.
The basic error which Seddon exposes is that failure to think of the whole system or pathway of help, leads instead to focusing on parts of the system, with the result that although each bit may be doing its bit, the overall result is awful, as one part clashes against another. This dynamic is currently endemic in Britain's public sector leading to valueless activity, meaningless measurement, and ever poorer service, at ever greater cost. You and I as taxpayers are paying heavily for this stupidity. David Craig describes the full costs in his book Squandered.
The dynamics of not trusting the staff, not believing the staff's reports, working to meet the target, rather than to meet the need are powerfully described, with examples drawn mainly from the housing sector. I could supply many examples from the NHS, and teachers, soldiers and police would readily testify to the truth of Seddon's argument. Their managers would utterly deny there is a problem, and set about rooting out the few bad apples who disturb their illusions. It's not that managers are intrinsically daft, it's just that the tasks they are set are misdirected from the start. Politicians wonder how the services get poorer even as all the targets they set are met.
Seddon's book is seditious. It makes a powerful case that most of the people in the public sector involved in regulation, management, specification of roles and contracts, are actually wasting their time, and even worse they get in the way of front line staff trying to do their jobs. When the truth that Seddon articlulates is fully understood a whole load of jobs and staff in the public sector will need to disappear.
This is an excellent book. It challenges current orthodoxies, and explains why front line public servants such as doctors, teachers, police so detest their management. This book deserves to lead to major changes in how the public sector works. Management that is focused on targets, and looking good to superiors and politicians, rather than on delivering good service to clients and patients is useless.
I recommend this book to MPs, councillors, and to front line public sector workers. Their managers must not read as it is dangerous, and they don't need to know it, or they will lose all belief in their work.
This book is very powerful medicine, and the British public sector would benefit from a large dose of it.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a follow up to Freedom From Command and Control which was about how a management style called "Systems Thinking" could make the service sector much better. That book itself was excellent but I feel that John has eclisped it with the latest book, particularly if you have an interest in the way the public sector operates (and lets face it, we all should have as thats where our taxes go). The book paints a clear picture of just why the current government (regime) has failed to make a significant improvment in public sector services (health, education, police, local govt etc)despite drastically increasing spending (our taxes).
John is claiming (and I recognise much of what he is saying as true from experience)that the way government actually run the public sector through standards, targets and meauring the sector to death is the reason why it is failing, and NOT, as the media often wrongly claim, is it down to poor employees or managers.
Sadly this is a point that is only rarely picked up by the media (possibly because its easier to blame people than a system) but is the fundamental truth behind why we pay so much in taxes and seem to get little in return. For anybody who has used any area of the public sector and received less than good service, this book has the answer.
Readers will in future recognise why they are receiving poor service and ask "what is the target behind this poor service".
John eloquently describes several case studies and scenarios which illustrate his claims and thinking. The style is easy to read and understand and in addition to the content there is also a host of useful information that any manager can pick up and use as an added benefit.
You should buy this book if you are a manager in the public sector and want to make a difference, or a tax payer and you want to know where your money is besing wasted. If you are a committed Command and Control management style thinker, then you will find your current beliefs challenged and undermined by this book.
John is claiming (and I recognise much of what he is saying as true from experience)that the way government actually run the public sector through standards, targets and meauring the sector to death is the reason why it is failing, and NOT, as the media often wrongly claim, is it down to poor employees or managers.
Sadly this is a point that is only rarely picked up by the media (possibly because its easier to blame people than a system) but is the fundamental truth behind why we pay so much in taxes and seem to get little in return. For anybody who has used any area of the public sector and received less than good service, this book has the answer.
Readers will in future recognise why they are receiving poor service and ask "what is the target behind this poor service".
John eloquently describes several case studies and scenarios which illustrate his claims and thinking. The style is easy to read and understand and in addition to the content there is also a host of useful information that any manager can pick up and use as an added benefit.
You should buy this book if you are a manager in the public sector and want to make a difference, or a tax payer and you want to know where your money is besing wasted. If you are a committed Command and Control management style thinker, then you will find your current beliefs challenged and undermined by this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Laugh out loud recognition if you work in the public sector
Was on my reading list for my MBA course, started reading it on the train into work and could barely hold the laughs in. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jus
Improvement ideas - not just for the public sector
This new book by John Seddon continues his theme from his previous one which dealt with the application of "systems" thinking to organisations. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Marcus Price
Learn about LEAN principles
John Seddon is an occupational psychologist and there is no doubt he knows his stuff. This book gives an incite into LEAN and it's principles. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr P
impressive
This book gave me a solid clear insight in the world of (public) services and the type of organisational design that causes a service to fail / get worse / can't adapt or improve. Read more
Published 17 months ago by B. Oosterhuis
That was the manifesto - next comes the evidence
After writing "Systems Thinking in the Public Sector", John Seddon unsettled the Audit Commission by suggesting publicly (in the "Local Government Chronicle") that the Commission... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2010 by Andrew Carey
Accessible, credible and eloquent
John Seddon sets out to show how standards and targets can lead to failure, and why this has happened. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by Tim B
A rambling rant and no solution offered.
I've never reviewed a book before but felt moved to do so by this book. Not because I have suddenly seen the light and repent but because of the damage it must be doing to the... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2010 by M. L. Hamilton
Systems Thinking in the Public Sector
This is s superb book for anyone who works or is involved in the public sector. Written by someone who really knows what he is talking about. Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by A gardener
Eye opener
This is a real eye opener for anyone who works in local government. If your department is under review, re-organisation or "re-alignment" I'd reccomend you give this a read and... Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2009 by Mr Octarine
An entertaining and thought provoking narrow minded rant
First thing to note about this book: it's not about systems thinking. This is a book about process management with a statistical process control spin and with the importance of... Read more
Published on 7 Aug 2009 by Odibus
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