The elements of a management operating system
- Meeting rhythm. A tiered structure of daily, weekly and monthly reviews, each with a standard agenda, attendees and time box.
- Measures. A small set of leading and lagging measures at each level, usually arranged by safety, quality, delivery, cost and people, with targets.
- Visual management. Boards that show the measures, actions and problems so status is visible without a report.
- Standards and audits. Standard work for operators and leaders, with layered audits that check it is followed.
- Escalation and action management. A defined path for issues that a level cannot resolve, and a single list of actions with owners and dates.
- Problem solving. Agreed methods (5 whys, A3, PDCA) and the forums where they are reviewed.
- Strategy link. A way of connecting the daily routines to the organisation's goals, so improvement work serves the strategy.
Why organisations define one
Without a defined operating system, every site and every manager runs things their own way. Performance depends on individuals, information lives in spreadsheets and heads, and improvement work competes with firefighting. A defined system makes the routines explicit, so they can be taught, audited and improved, and so a new leader can run the operation on day one.
MOS, daily management system and tiered daily management
The terms overlap. A daily management system is the day-to-day part of the MOS: the tier meetings, boards and actions. Tiered daily management is the name for the linked meeting structure at its heart. The management operating system is the whole: daily management plus the standards, audits, problem solving and strategy link around it.
Signs of a weak operating system
- Meetings happen when the manager is in and stop when they are away.
- Measures are reported monthly, so problems are weeks old before anyone acts.
- Actions live in several lists and nobody knows which is current.
- The same problems recur because nothing records the fix.
Is a management operating system software?
No. It is the way the operation is managed. Software becomes valuable when it runs the routines: live boards, actions that move between tiers, scheduled audits, a record of problems and fixes. The system comes first; the tool should fit it.