ERP - Continuous Degradation System

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    Founders of companies do not like ERP?


    Now it’s clear why, after unsuccessful ERP implementations, not a single hair fell from the heads of IT directors, project managers and no one was hurt by the owners of the companies where I happened to work. The picture was made up of accidents and successful coincidences.

    In both coal holdings, the owners were not mythical characters, but quite real dudes. This is in EVRAZ and SUEK, except in the photo and on TV, 99% of the employees have never seen or heard them. We felt ours all the time. The feelings are quite delicate when you work side by side with the owner, the creator of all this from scratch and the billionaire in the end. All feelings sharply aggravate when he asks you exactly at the meeting, sets an example or scolds or shakes hands in the corridor and says "how are you?"

    Both there and there I was lucky to attend these landmark meetings when the owner, with all his directors and representatives of the chosen ERP, announced the start of implementation. Unlike all the hooting people present, the owner remained a skeptic to the end, surrendering under the onslaught of the virtuoso lies of the ERP messiahs and the convincing arguments of his zombie assistants. I was one of them - a moron inspired by a great ERP idea. Courage and devotion overwhelmed me. From the perspectives drawn in the sky, a pulse was beating in my head, but despite the general glee, there was some hopelessness and emptiness. It is as if the founder of the company surrenders his authority and leaves. Five minutes ago, he was at the helm, and now control is beginning to shift to something that is still unknown under the name ERP. Nothing terrible happened, of course, but the sediment remained.

    Why do we need this regulation?


    Once, when I tried to sign the next regulation, the second boss told me something like this: “Why do you need this regulation? It is necessary to simplify everything on the contrary, but competently, without loss of efficiency. There are different situations. Every time you have to think, consult with your colleagues and find the most profitable solutions. ” To put it mildly, I was not ready for such a turn. From the fifth time, I still achieved my goal and was very proud. However, a grain of doubt was thrown at me, although the rules were holy at the first enterprise. Stop! Indeed, no matter what happens, we had to fit into the established order. And if it didn’t work out in any way, then I had to go decide to the chef. Only not everyone walked, but simply lowered the brakes or shifted their problems to other shoulders.

    What is our goal?


    The next sign was the book "Target". I fell into the hands of an accident. I read it with pleasure. The meaning laid in it became the main principle in the work - continuous improvement. Fortunately, the position made it possible to redo the regulations, develop and implement instructions, that is, not to justify: “We have such an order!”, But to identify a bottleneck, invent a solution and implement it right there. Thanks to the words of the second boss, it was the simplification of processes that formed the basis for the changes, which brought real pleasure from work and a quick effect. Somehow everything began to spin both in me and in the adjacent departments. Positive. Drive.

    Of course, in EVRAZ such a number would not have passed. “Let it be difficult, boring, but according to the rules. Do you want to improve? You’ll become the director of the division, and then you will improve, ”they argue. And for sure. After working in those holdings, a similar letter came to me: "We all like it very much, but we have ERP and CRM." “Yes, you said that IT does not work for you in them?”, We were surprised. "Yes! There is something to work on, ”they replied proudly.

    And again we return to the “Goal”. I was very lucky with the edition that I read. Unfortunately, others included less valuable additional materials, and this was an afterword as the author came to the idea of ​​writing a book. It turns out that Eliyahu Goldratt used to work in a software company to optimize production technology. Oops! From the afterword (from memory): “Passing by the enterprises of my former clients, I began to notice that many of them went bankrupt, one after another, and were put up for sale. After all, technology optimization was successful. Why did they go broke? ” So here it is the second hidden meaning of the genius book! Goldratt deliberately moved away from implementing ERP to creating a process of continuous improvement.

    Well? Screwed up?


    Fortunately, we did not succeed with ERP implementation. At the first enterprise, quietly peacefully signed intermediate acts, paid and parted friends. On the second parted enemies, but nothing bad happened either. The owners did not tear their hair, and they did not touch us either. Although not surprising. Entrepreneurs of this level are very interesting and unusual people, only sometimes they are very difficult to understand. They have a different type of thinking. You need to be able to decipher their message, which can fit in a couple of phrases, but it does not fit into ten regulations and the whole ERP.

    Or maybe they were not upset at all? Maybe they were glad that the team of developers could not defeat their team. Their native teams, with whom they started, went through difficult times, developed and became who they are now - respected, well-to-do people who gave decent work to 5 thousand people. After all, their teams somehow managed resources without ERP? More precisely, not somehow, but very much nothing. If "what", then the IPO would not be placed. Previously, it happened that they could flare up for a trifle, but here they could not implement a whole ERP. Right! They were glad. Enterprises create strong leaders, not ERPs.

    Thanks to the joint efforts of the owners, Goldratt, as well as a series of events described, the picture has developed. So, the introduction of an ERP system concrets existing processes, including inefficient ones. And if during the implementation process it was possible to build effective ones, then they are concreted. And then what? And then everything changes rapidly, and the Procrustean bed of the ERP-system pinches us and drags us to long-forgotten goals. All attempts to improve are faced with a blank wall of high cost of improvements. Initiatives are nipped and nullified. Only what is impossible to work without is being finalized. ERP makes it difficult to earn money to refine itself ...

    It turns out that ERP is a good cover for bureaucrats, loafers and clumsy managers. If you want to change, pay. An excellent business, but a harmful system for the process of continuous improvement, and one who does not improve is degrading.

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