Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential reading for all CXO-level executives - how to survive the econmic slow-down and come out on top, 24 Aug 2008
Michael Kennedy's most recent publication, `Ready, Set, Dominate', is an excellent complement to his earlier book, `Product Development for the Lean Enterprise'. Not only does it continue the storyline previously used as a vehicle to explain what Toyota does to achieve world-leading performance in product development, but it builds on that storyline to examine how an organisation can transform itself to move toward a similar destiny.
Various authors have tried to combine fact and fiction, but the results generally are disappointing. Too often the fictional element is stilted, with `cardboard cut-out' characters, while the facts the author is trying to convey remain poorly explained, even obscure. Conversely, Kennedy and his co-authors, Kent Harmon and Ed Minnock, have managed to produce a good story, populated by believable characters, some of which provide all too realistic analogues of the people with whom many of us work on a daily basis! I found the discussions at the end of each chapter to be a very useful review of the key facts addressed by the fictional characters. These discussions, which might otherwise distract the reader's attention, are kept relatively short and to the point, and cause the reader to consider how the ideas presented may be abstracted to the more general case, from the specific elements of the fictional storyline. Plenty of diagrams are included, a must considering the subject matter's emphasis on the visualisation of data. I found the majority to be clear and good illustrations supporting the points made in the text. So much for the style.
The technical content of this book is, of course, what really matters. It reminds the reader, and keeps one focused, on the realities of any business. That is, in order for an improvement initiative to be sustained for any length of time, the organisation must survive, satisfy customers, and make a profit sufficient to keep the shareholders happy and committed. Senior management must dance to the tune played by the investors and their bean counters, so they have to be convinced that the approach taken to improve performance really does have a good chance of success. The authors have done a good job of presenting the problem from the perspective both of `traditional' financial management, and from that of the creative engineers. This contrasts short-term objectives focused on quarterly results and the share price, with longer-term considerations that build wealth based on the acquisition of knowledge and product development expertise. This is done very well, although in my experience, the accountants and non-technical CXO-level executives take considerably more convincing than the characters in this book!
The authors succeed in spotlighting the key behaviour that distinguishes Toyota from most other organisations. That is, the company invests in building and using a knowledge stream that runs across all other activities, while concurrently focusing on understanding and delivering the value that customers demand (avoiding waste and valueless activities). After some deliberation, my colleagues and I have concluded that the crucial contrast depicted by Kennedy is between two product development philosophies: the one promoted here is a philosophy of `test first, solve problems only once', whereas the alternative may be characterised as a `test last, fix on fail' philosophy.
Managers concerned with product development (whatever the nature of the products), and anyone with an interest in innovation and improvement, can take away from this book many practical ideas around which to structure an action plan that will help deliver improved performance. Whether it leads their organisation to world-class performance, and domination of their market, will depend on how successful they are at enlisting the commitment of their management colleagues, and how far and fast they are able to adopt and implement the concepts presented.
If business is about the art of wealth creation, then I believe this book (and its earlier companion) ought to be essential reading for all managers and executives, irrespective of their particular area or discipline.
Definitely a 5-star read.
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by Michael N. Kennedy
by Moshe F. Rubinstein
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