A Modest Proposal - Train Local YIMBY (and Others) Groups in Process Improvement
For ensuring that well-intentioned housing policies don't languish in bureaucratic limbo, and for making them actually deliver results for communities.
Kevin Hawickhorst's “Eisenhower’s Bureaucrats” uncovered how the Bureau of the Budget once taught federal managers systematic process improvement techniques that helped create the most trusted era of American governance.
We all know something like that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. However, the skillset and tools of the 40s and 50s, especially the focus on training lower-level workers and management, might have been used elsewhere.
What if modern political organizations across different domains could adapt and train interested members in said tools?
Why it matters
California's continuing housing crisis illustrates the problem: A 2025 YIMBY Law report shows ambitious pro-housing laws delivering dismal results — SB 9 (which ended single-family-only zoning) produced only 140 units in 2023; AB 2011 (designed to convert strip malls and parking lots into housing) yielded just 10 approved projects in two years; and SB 4 (the "Yes In God's Backyard" law allowing religious institutions to build housing) has had no takers at all. What the hell happened? It isn’t just a bunch of added loopholes, turning this law into swiss cheese (after all there are still people who would eat swiss cheese, unless it’s the really good stuff, despite harvarti being a thing, or provolone if you want something with a bit more extra but not too extra!) Let’s cut the cheese, something went wrong with the implementation.
YIMBY Law tracked 140 local ordinances “designed to reduce or prevent” the bill from working. They included tight limits on the size of buildings, affordability requirements, or restrictions on which types of owners can make use of the law. How do you fight against something like that, especially with state processes being so slow, let alone the fact you should expect *another quarter for the swear jar* from the federal government, except more subsidies to upper-income suburbs?
You need people with an understanding of processes at the local level for any chance of a fight. Either for early detection of these local ordinances, to help others figure out ways to build more housing (if any), and to better communicate (NOT MESSAGING) how these processes affect housing (especially with existing materials like “cruel musical chairs”).
Making it accessible for everyday activists
It's worth acknowledging that process improvement isn't intuitive for most people. Even large corporations with dedicated resources often struggle to implement it effectively (don’t believe me, ask McKinsey who is less trustworthy than I am but for some reason, you trust these guys). And while think tanks occasionally tackle implementation issues, they're typically far removed from the ground-level reality where policies succeed or fail.
The key is making these techniques accessible to ordinary people in local groups who have the most direct experience with broken processes. They don't need MBA jargon or complex methodologies—just practical tools to document what's happening in their communities.
A hypothetical example is a local YIMBY volunteer who's helped ten homeowners navigate ADU permits and has invaluable knowledge that no policy expert in Sacramento possesses (which is a good idea in its own right, instead of an accounting student helping people file taxes, law or real estate students helping people navigate ADU permits with the understanding they are not real estate lawyers). Equipping that volunteer with basic process mapping skills increases the chances that the volunteer might spot something everyone else overlooks!
Unlike corporate “process improvement” which focuses on short-term cost-cutting or (in very rare cases since Deming’s death) efficiency, WW2-era political process improvement focuses on effectiveness—making the government deliver what laws promise just like what happened during the 40s and 50s. This distinction matters because it centers on citizen experience rather than administrative convenience.
Even something as esoteric as increasing fertility rates, there is a growing mountain of research and case studies showcasing the value of better implementation or even better local government can provide, let’s say “booming” results (*sounds of crickets chirping*).
These failures aren't about policy intent but process implementation, which is precisely what process management techniques address. The gap between legislative ambition and real-world outcomes exists across every policy domain, from healthcare to environmental protection to small business support.
The big idea
Train political organizations and advocacy groups in practical process management using Work Simplification as a model:
Document and map local government processes in the domain you care about from beginning to end
Identify bottlenecks where applications stall or requirements cause abandonment
Develop targeted plans for specific administrative barriers for friendly political leaders and admins can follow.
Spelling it Out
Process mapping could transform local and regional political advocacy by shifting focus from abstract policy goals to concrete implementation barriers, helping to identify and prevent loopholes before legislation is enacted. Not to mention may encourage local and regional groups to apply tools not just to policy advocacy, but their operations!
When activists can pinpoint exactly which steps add months of delay or cause projects to be abandoned, they develop more effective, targeted solutions, some of which can be implemented now or used to develop a plan of attack.
How it works for different organizations
Political Parties
Could evaluate which government services their constituents struggle with most, developing platform proposals based on actual administrative bottlenecks rather than ideological assumptions or fictitious bottlenecks. This creates a powerful feedback loop between voter concerns and policy solutions (have *any* sort of positive feedback loop is a good thing).
Abundance Agenda Folks
Could document regulatory compliance journeys to identify which steps cause the most friction for businesses, especially on the local and state level, then advocate for constant and consistent procedural reforms instead of failed “Third Way” policies that never seemed to work during Rahm Emmanual’s tenure at Chicago (turns out getting rid of health and safety stuff wasn’t a great idea) or Andrew Cuomo as New York Governor (just ask “Train Daddy” on how much being effective mattered).
Community Advocacy Groups
Could track residents' experiences with public services to pinpoint where vulnerable populations face the greatest barriers, making equity concerns concrete and actionable.
The YIMBY Example
California's YIMBY movement provides a perfect example of this approach's potential:
ADU's success (28,000 permits in 2023) versus the failure of other housing laws reveals how eliminating specific bureaucratic barriers leads to results
Process mapping would help spot early on why some housing reforms succeed while others fail, enabling advocates to plan follow-up moves.
Local YIMBY chapters could serve as early adopters of these techniques and can help produce tools and tactics
How it works in practice
Local political groups would learn to:
Track applications through their journey using process mapping techniques
Classify steps by their function (approval, review, waiting, transport)
Measure time spent at each stage of the process
Identify which requirements cause abandonment
For example, the YIMBY Law report identified specific process barriers that undermined California's housing laws:
Local government opposition (140 local ordinances designed to circumvent SB 9)
Added requirements like affordability restrictions
Bureaucratic workarounds that preserved the status quo despite new state laws
What makes these barriers particularly insidious is how local governments and NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) groups strategically exploit loopholes in well-intentioned legislation. By the time housing advocates realize the impact of these technical maneuvers, it's often too late – the legislation has been effectively neutralized through implementation barriers or loopholes that give an inch for NIMBYs to take a mile that wasn't anticipated during the policymaking process.
What we're watching
At the Assembly housing committee's first hearing of 2025, Chair Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, noted: "We shouldn't just keep passing more and more bills just because we can. We should actually look at what is working, why it's working, how we can do more of what's working and if it's not working, we should do more to fix it or change it."
This indicates growing recognition that implementation details matter as much as policy intent. Especially as local Californian governments’ efforts to make sure people under the age of 45 are unable to own a home brings in mind a Leo Tolstoy quote in mind: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Similar realizations are emerging across issue areas, suggesting a potential renaissance in governance effectiveness if process management becomes a standard political skill.
The bottom line
Process management isn't glamorous, but it's the missing link between policy ambition and real-world results. By training people across causes and ideologies in these techniques, we could create a new kind of civic engagement focused on making government work for people. While it might be more efficient to have a larger power, state/provincial/national, to just hammer down a single standard like Japan’s housing laws, that is just isn’t possible with most other contexts. You are going to have to fight multiple fights in multiple places multiple times.
Start small by training diverse advocacy groups in different policy domains (like YIMBYism!) to map relevant processes. Then, share best practices across different domain-focused groups. What begins as technical training could evolve into a way to scale policies on a local and regional level.
Edit: Yes, I am aware of *specialized* classes from Strong Towns, which you should take by the way, but I am talking about baseline process improvement techniques