Stop the World
The Stop the World event or Andon Cord is another of our favorite practices that we use regularly in our engagements and is a DevOps superpower.
John Willis explained the origins of the word Andon in his ITRevolition blog post4 – in Japanese, it comes from the use of traditional lighting equipment using a fire-burning lamp made out of paper and bamboo. This idea was later translated for use in manufacturing in Japan. The Andon became used as a signal to highlight an anomaly (that is, a flashing light). This signal would be used to amplify potential defects in quality.
The Andon Cord and Psychological Safety
The first time I heard of the Andon Cord was when reading The Phoenix Project – A Novel About IT, DevOps and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford – if an employee on the car production line suspects a problem is happening...
