Hindsight Is Mostly 20/20

"Change your mind about something significant every day." - Malcolm Gladwell

Good Saturday morning all and welcome to this edition (No. 25) of "With That Said" (WTS), a LinkedIn newsletter powered by your friends here at Supply Chain Now .

Today, we're talking football, instant replay - - and just how that might apply to the workplace. On March 11th, 1986, the National Football League adopted instant replay for the first time. It was not unanimously popular, as 4 owners opposed the system. And it would be used in a game for the first time a few months later, on September 7th, 1986, in a contest between the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns. Paul J. Noble , the biggest Browns fan that our SCN team knows, would approve - - as the Browns gained a touchdown against the Bears once instant replay overturned a call on the field.

Long story short, that initial instant replay system (which was very limited) would get voted out of the NFL by 1992. And then a much different format was introduced & adopted by the league in 1999, and instant replay has stood the test of time in the NFL, as it continues to be utilized today.

Baseball is cranking up, as Major League Baseball is conducting spring training now - - and the regular season will open in a few weeks. Scott Luton was just talking with Greg White the other day, as it related to greater technology adoption in baseball. As you may know, MLB brought replay into the game in 2008. Scott & Greg both agree that there is a huge opportunity to allow technology to call balls & strikes at the plate, rather than human umpires. Scott says: "MLB has made some progress in a more standardized strike zone in recent years. But when will the next Eric Gregg game take place? Because when a home plate umpire decides to call a generous zone, there's no mechanism to correct that during the game itself."

Scott alludes to the infamous home plate ball/strike calls in Game 5 of the 1997 National League Championship Series, where the Florida Marlins defeated the Atlanta Braves, thanks in large part to Eric Gregg's widely inconsistent & generous strike zone. It could be said that Scott is still simmering a bit about his beloved Braves loss in the pivotal game (the Marlins would go on to win the World Series that year).

So what does all of this have anything to do with global supply chain and the business world in general? Well, two thoughts:

One of the first thoughts that come to our minds is: technology without adoption is largely meaningless. What if the NFL had introduced modern instant replay back in 1999, but officiating crews weren't taught how to use it in any applicable situation? Well, it'd probably go unused game in & game out. It would be irrelevant, no matter how much was spent by the NFL on the technology infrastructure.

As we all know, that has taken place on countless occasions in the business world. Management invests in the latest & greatest shiny tech, with all the bells & whistles. And then they throw it over the fence to the team, with little training & "aftercare" - - which of course leads to poor utilization, little-to-no adoption, and infinitesimal return on investment. In a recent SCN webinar, Scott & Greg spoke with Tanya Roach, SCMP from Federated Co-operatives Limited & Vishal Patel from Ivalua . After recently implementing new technology, Tanya says she's never seen greater user adoption in her entire career. That's a pretty powerful statement - - find out the story behind it in the webinar replay that's available on demand: click here

And secondly, back to instant replay but from a business perspective: if you were to think about your workplace, what would you and your team think about if your management brought in an instant replay system that reviewed all of your decisions & judgment calls. Can you imagine? Officials in the major leagues must know that their last big call (or small call) might get examined at any minute - - and get overturned for the whole world to see. They must know that, while continuing to show up & deliver each and every game.

When it comes to the business environment, Scott suggests we don't need instant replay, but rather "continuous preplay".

"Why wait until after the play is made to review? Let's give our team members the technology and reliable data insights, at their fingertips, on a regular basis, so they can be able to make better decisions...and make them more quickly, with confidence. Faster, better, confident decision-making makes for more successful employees; which certainly makes for more successful organizations," says Scott.

We touched on these themes in a recent episode of The Supply Chain Buzz, where Mark S. Holmes from InterSystems made an appearance. Check out the replay via LinkedIn here.

Let us know what you think.

On that note, our SCN team would invite you to check out the following events, discussions & resources:

?? Michael Pytel from Fulfilld joins Scott, Greg & Kevin L. Jackson, CISSP?,CCSP? on The Supply Chain Buzz this coming Monday, March 13th. Learn more here.

?? Learn how Bio-Rad Laboratories is transforming its supply chain to boost customer service & overall experience via an upcoming live webinar Tuesday, March 14th. This event will also feature leaders from IBM & Kinaxis . Learn more here.

?? Learn how ERP & TMS combine forces to solve big supply chain pains in a livestream set for Wednesday, March 15th featuring Shannon Vaillancourt from RateLinx & Paul Tedford from Synergy . Learn more here.

?? Did you miss Greg White's most recent Supply Chain Commentary? Check out the insights that tens of thousands of folks have been raving about - - Greg publishes "must see POV" every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. See his latest here.

?? Last week, our SCN team shared content related to our celebration of National Women's History Month. Check it out here.

?? And finally, don't miss Scott's Good News message that he delivers every Friday morning. His latest is here (and be sure to share your own Good News with us!).

Have a great weekend all.

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