Book Review: 5/5 Impact On Me (Book By Dan Heath)
Read more about the book here
The Heath brothers have written amazing books. This book explained we should understand the root of a problem, not just treat the symptoms. For example, using a "5 Whys" analysis or changing processes after an incident in a tech company. But, there's a challenge with these upstream solutions. It's hard to know of problems that did not happen because of your upstream solution. It is difficult to measure their benefits, so motivating people to do upstream fixes is tough. Take the Y2K issue as an example. Experts thought it would be a huge disaster. A lot of work went into preventing it, and only minor problems happened. It's tough to measure the impact of this work. People downplay it, saying Y2K wasn't a big deal. We value those who react to emergencies more than those who prevent them. Consider 2 policemen. One stands before a sharp bend, making people drive carefully and saving lives. The other stands after the bend, collecting fines, but more accidents might happen. The first policeman prevents problems, but his impact is less visible.