Bad Systems in the News: Not the Worst "Oops" Possible with Nukes

    1
    1

    The Lean Thinker » What Nukes?

    I had been mulling over trying to do a post on this story since the original story broke in August that some nuclear-armed cruise missiles were “accidentally” or “mistakenly” moved from one base in North Dakota to another in Louisiana.

    I've read a number of stories, and there doesn't seem to be a clear story about what happened. The most recent stories are more about punishment and blame. I'm more interested in “root causes.” There are different theories:

    1. A mistake occurred. Procedures got lax, airmen weren't following procedures and leaders didn't notice or didn't take action. The system didn't have enough controls or oversight.
    2. A mistake like this couldn't possibly have happened. The systems are too air tight and there are too many controls in place.

    So which is it? I'm not sure. If you read too far into possibility #2, Google search results quickly get you to conspiracy theories worthy of the show “24.” The systems are too tight for this to have happened unless someone was trying to send a message to a foreign country or somebody was trying to steal a nuke. I'm not endorsing those theories and I quit reading when I realized I was getting close to the lunatic paranoid fringe.

    There are some really interesting underlying issues here, related to Lean concepts of standardized work, error proofing, and the role of leadership. Heck, if Air Force personnel were really coming up with their own unauthorized process, there's a horribly astray attempt at “kaizen,” perhaps.

    I've linked to a lengthy post from the new “Lean Thinker” blog. Check it out. Who has some insight into this? This story makes my head spin.

    Please check out my main blog page at www.leanblog.org

    The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Mark Graban.

    , , , on the author's copyright.


    What do you think? Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Or please share the post with your thoughts on LinkedIn – and follow me or connect with me there.

    Did you like this post? Make sure you don't miss a post or podcast — Subscribe to get notified about posts via email daily or weekly.


    Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation:

    Get New Posts Sent To You

    Select list(s):
    Previous articleReader Question: Managing Suggestions
    Next article"Theory of Restraints"???
    Mark Graban
    Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

    1 COMMENT

    LEAVE A REPLY

    Please enter your comment!
    Please enter your name here

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.