from Lean Technology Transformation: How Budgets Ruin Value Creation and Delivery

This is an insightful article, but challenging to traditional management processes.  The central theme parallels one I've made about research in business: in an effort to feel that they're in control, managers often measure the wrong things, the ones that are easy to measure.  And by so doing, create outcomes that hinder their businesses.

This quote from the article is important:

"...budget contracts can act like drugs. They seduce executives into believing that they have control over their future financial outcomes. But, like most drugs, they have serious side effects. They lead both senior executives and operating managers into an annual performance trap from which it is difficult to escape."

Lean Technology Transformation: How Budgets Ruin Value Creation and Delivery