Predictions You Can Count On --Dickeson

Standards are linear predictions, while actual hours are linear outcomes. Then we impose on these the Voice of the Customer, seeking linear demands of quality attributes and delivery schedules—budgets or goals—that we can only incompletely fulfill.

Managing is predicting. This we know. We must be able to predict the results that will follow from our actions in order to run a business. But now we know that we can do so only imprecisely because there's some master scale of rounding and interrelationships—input variance—that confounds precise attempts. We have to live in this imprecise, non-linear world. Somehow we must go with the flow and do the best we can. We can't predict with precision anymore so we "optimize" not "maximize."