[post_intro]The performance of a system depends on how the parts fit, not how they act taken separately. As a result, and to paraphrase Dave Gray, a best practice from one school, or from one teacher, can’t necessarily be applied successfully elsewhere. [/post_intro]
Gray quotes systems expert Russell Ackoff‘s rather brilliant car argument:
“If we have a system of improvement that is directed at the parts, taken separately, you can be absolutely sure that the performance of the whole will not be improved.” … I read in The New York Times that 487 kinds of automobiles are available in the United States. Let’s buy one of each and bring them into a large garage. Let’s then hire 200 of the best automotive engineers in the world and ask them to determine which car has the best engine. Suppose they come back and say the Rolls Royce has the best engine. Make a note of it. ‘Which one has the best transmission?’ we ask them, and they go over and test and they come back and say the Mercedes does. ‘Which one has the best battery?’ They come back and say the Buick does. And one by one, for every part required for an automobile, they tell us which is the best one available. Now we take that list, give it back to them and say, ‘Now remove those parts from those cars, and put them together into the best possible automobile, because now we’ll have an automobile consisting of all the best parts.’ What do we get? You don’t even get an automobile, for the obvious reason that the parts don’t fit.
“Why?” questions about objects called systems cannot be answered through analysis.