I love simple questions. Specifically, I love questions that are ostensibly simple but can spur deep reflection about important stuff… and ultimately improvement.

I like the question, “So what?” Those two words seek to identify the “actionability” of things like performance metrics and visual controls. For example, if tier 1 meeting performance metrics do not provide unambiguous insight to stakeholders on the causality of performance gaps and the causality can’t be at least partially addressed by the stakeholders, then the metrics probably don’t pass the “so what?” test. In fact, the metrics have entered the realm of bad wall art.

So, I’ve got a new question: “Do you see what I see?”

Yes, I know it’s three times longer than “so what?” but I think it’s equally as weighty. Heck, we could even abbreviate it as DYSWIS.

Here are two ways DYSWIS can be applied in a lean context.

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