When we set goals, they are never neutral or objective and they all come with competing goals, by-products and trade-offs. This is illustrated in the SPoR Goal setting semiotic (See Figure 1. Goal Setting) Figure 1. Goal Setting The same occurs with any design, there are competing … [Read more...] about Goal Setting and Zero
Goals
The Tyranny of Metrics
The Tyranny of Metrics This is the title of a very easy to read book on the obsession of metrics by Jerry Z. Muller. It should be mandatory reading for anyone in the safety industry. 'The challenges of ‘tick and flick’ in the culture of safety is endemic. We know from the research by Herbert Simon … [Read more...] about The Tyranny of Metrics
Nonsense Goals and Language on Display
Nonsense Goals and Language on Display One of the things that Safety does best is speak meaningless language and create reverse goals. When one defines safety numerically and then makes up binary nonsense language to match, it makes for pretty stupid rhetoric. There is nothing more absurd than … [Read more...] about Nonsense Goals and Language on Display
Zero is Not a Noble Goal
Zero is Not a Noble Goal Recently I saw some marketing that zero was a ‘noble aim’, nothing could be more absurd. More so, when one is trying to dismantle it. The idea of something being ‘noble’ is either associated with rank and nobility, showing fine moral principles or elite qualities. Zero as a … [Read more...] about Zero is Not a Noble Goal
Goals and Vision in Safety
Goals and Vision in Safety Safety is the industry of lower order goals (see Figure 1. Goal States). Safety functions under the false slogan ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’. It chooses to ignore a much better aphorism and that is: ‘you can’t count what counts’. We have known for a long … [Read more...] about Goals and Vision in Safety
DUMB Goals for Fallible People
DUMB Goals for Fallible People The language of perfection is non-sense for fallible people. Speaking infallibility to the fallible is a sure recipe for alienation and delusion. As language forms the bedrock of culture, language of infallibility sets up those speaking it for hypocrisy and … [Read more...] about DUMB Goals for Fallible People
It’s a Great Goal, it Just Doesn’t Work
It's a Great Goal, it Just Doesn't Work Everyday a man walks down the street of a small country town in South Australia and waves his arms about squawking like a parrot, he has been doing this for several years. One day a visiting policeman sees him and asks him what he is doing. 'It's easy' he … [Read more...] about It’s a Great Goal, it Just Doesn’t Work
