Over overprocessing

In the context of our digital world, where we can reach out and touch (or annoy) people at any time, think briefly about this example of the waste of over-processing.

 

Just because we CAN send a note to "all" does not mean we SHOULD send a note to "all."

 

 

Keep learning.

 

 

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The "gut punch" of poor quality

My longtime blogging pal Karen Wilhelm just posted a fabulous story on how poor quality hits a customer.  Her crisp, creative few paragraphs communicates marvelously. 

 

I suggest you read it and then use it with others in your organization to talk about quality.

 

Keep on learning.

 

 

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Cutting Meeting Waste--you can do it privately

We recently invited folks to join in a group effort to cut the waste of meeting time.  I've been encouraged by the comments we've received.

One improvement we have made, already, is this.  The original idea Dan Markovitz and I had was to do A3 analysis in public...all of us would post the A3 our company was working with and we'd all be able to learn from each other.  

Yet, for some of you, that's uncomfortable.  First, it's a concern of looking "dumb" in public.  I understand that, having been visibly "dumb" lots of times.  Second, there is a legitimate concern about exposing any company information.  

So, if you'd like to participate but want to remain anonymous, let us know.  Dan and I will comment but no others.  

We have a few slots left in our maximum of eight participants.  Let us know if you want to be in!

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Join us in an experiment to cut meeting time

Intriguing idea often come through unusual routes.  The idea in this post is one of them.

When I was at the Lean Summit in March, Jim Womack spoke quite passionately of a need to move beyond just the tools of Lean to an emphasis on Lean Management.  How do we better use the principles of Lean to run our companies, not just make our products?  This got me thinking much.

One evening at the same event, I finally got to meet Dan Markovitz, a cool guy and fellow blogger, author of Time-Back Management.  Dan has a real passion for how we use Lean to manage our time and do a much better job of getting knowledge work done.  We had some marvelous conversations, discovering many shared interests.  

Dan published a wonderful post last week; Meetings: The Plaque of an Organization.  In it, he quoted one of my heros, Peter Drucker, who wrote:

Too many meetings always bespeak poor structure of jobs and the wrong organizational components. . . if people in an organization find themselves in meetings a quarter of their time or more — there is time-wasting malorganization.

This lead to further conversations.  We all know that inventory, per se, is not waste though excessive inventory is waste.  Similarly, some meetings are necessary but excessive meetings are true waste.  And, since we know we can often cut unexamined inventory in half with little ill effect, can we do the same with meeting time?  We want to know.  So, acting on Jim Womack's assessment that "management is learned by experimentation, not by dogma", we are posing an open, on-line experiment. 

Dan and I  invite you and your group/company to join us in a group experiment to see if we can lower the quantity of meetings in each of our organizations. 

Here are the details:

Purpose:

• To reduce the plague of meetings so that we can, you know, actually do some work

People:

• Participation is limited to the first eight companies (or groups) to respond
• All members of the lean community are welcome to review the A3s at any time, or comment on the open access Google Doc

Process:

• Dan Markovitz & Joe Ely will provide the problem statement for the A3 (this creates a uniform starting point for all groups)
• Each company works simultaneously on its own A3
• All A3s posted and readable (but not editable) on Google Docs to anyone who is interested during and after the course of the project
• Comments/updates/funny cat pictures can be submitted on a separate Google Doc so that everyone can read them

Timeframe (75 days):

• Target launch date: Monday, May 3
• Target completion date: Monday, July 12
• Two weeks to fill out the left side of the A3 (background; current conditions; goal; analysis)
• Eight weeks for Do-Check-Act (proposal; implementation plan; follow up)
• Report out/reflection by July 19

If you're interested in joining us, please send an email to Dan Markovitz (dan ATSIGN timebackmanagment.com) or me (joeely618 ATSIGN gmail.com) with your name, organization, and contact information.  We'll send you the link to the Google Docs area with the A3 template and problem statement.

Questions?  Comments?  Contact either of us

We hope you can join us.

Mental Models

It is way too easy for me to have a mental model of Lean as a straight process, much like going to University.  First you take the 100 level course, then the 200 level course and, if you persevere and get some funding, you might eventually finish graduate school.  Knock off the courses, check the boxes, get the diploma.  

Which is a disservice.  

Last week, we were grappling with a problem of inadequate supply of an intermediate component assembly.  We should have had enough but ran out, severely affecting the supply of final product to a customer.  Bad news.  Drilling into the issue with the folks involved, it became clear we had missed on one element of our pull system.  Basic stuff.  But we lost track of it. 

Gee, I thought we had passed that course.  Felt we had conquered that city, slain that foe.  I guess not.  And why did we miss it for several weeks?  Fundamentally, it was the wrong mental model in my own head.  I didn't circle back quickly enough to the basic pattern which triggered the problem.  I wanted to relentlessly move forward.  Even though I have written here just last fall about linear vs. circular learning, I still was stuck in a linear mental model.  Linearity runs deep.

Take a look if you are too linear today.  

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When Systems Annoy

At a recent local business luncheon, the conversation at my table turned to diets.  It became quickly evident that five of the eight folks were on one of various current diet methods and, boy, did they five of them enjoy talking about it.  Good carbs, bad carbs, nice calories, bad fat, happy fat, omega 3 (or 5 or 7, I can't remember), salted vs. unsalted frog tongue.  The detail, the intensity, the animation were all amazing.

The other three of us, unfortunately not seated next to each other, were caught in the withering caloric crossfire.  We sat silently, having nothing to contribute in the face of such enthusiasm and controversy.    

Yet one really good thing came from the otherwise dismal lunch event.

It reminded me, in the clearest possible way, how I can annoy as well if I prattle on about Lean systems around those who do not find it interesting.  

It's great fun to talk Lean systems with those who are interested.  Let's spare the rest of the world who just want stuff that works and doesn't care how it happens.  

Keep on learning.  Even learning when to keep quiet.

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Why Variation?

"What makes this metric change?  Why is it up and down?"

The senior executive was both adamant and insistent.  He wanted reasons.  Now.  

The question is valid.  The answer is elusive.  But NOT impossible.

Why DO the numbers go up and down?  Why does the yield seem good one week and lousy the next?  Why does the labor used for Process X change from day to day? Why do the same steps in the same work sequence yield differences in quality over time?  

Why?

As in many cases, Dr. Deming offers guidance here.  

His view of variation is captured in his description of common cause and special cause.  How does this work?

In short, he urges users to plot the metric and calculate the control limits of the data series, generally two standard deviations above and below the mean.   Inevitably, the data will move around.  How to explain the variability??

Dr. Deming says movement within the control limits is due to common causes, the inherent variability in any system, the noise, the general changes which read on any process.  How to improve it??  You work on the system, apply continuous improvement.  There is not a one-to-one correspondence between cause and change, however, much to the chagrin of the questioning executive.  

Conversely, movement beyond the control limits is due to special causes, one-time, traceable aberrations, both for good and bad.  Unit costs suddenly improve?  A one-time purchase of raw materials from a supplier who ran out of warehouse space.  A rash of late deliveries?  A broken, important piece of production equipment.  How to improve it?  Go to the source of these one-time issues and fix them.  You can also get a smile from the executive with your crisp explanation. 

Teaching about, understanding, charting and measuring the key variabilities in a system is a wonderful training tool for any organization.  It forces correct conversations about important issues.  It can turn opinionated arguments into data-driven solution-fests.  

One of the most concise discussions of this tool is in Marypat Cooper's excellent Kaizen Sketchbook.  I recommend it highly. 

Keep on learning.

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Lean Transformation Summit-Day Two

The second and final day of Lean Enterprise's major meeting was a good one.  Day One was very insightful for me.  Day Two went deeper into example and practice of effective leadership.  My initial highlights:

• Mike Pulic of Grainger described his experience that a myriad of small, local improvement efforts trumps a few large projects. 
• He offered one key quote:  "The central role of leadership is to foster candid conversations on the right topics."
• Greg Peters of Goodrich, the aerospace firm, described his 15 years of experience driving Lean.
• His summary of change?  "Awareness and Understanding can come through the brain but Commitment and Habit have to come through the heart."  An engineer by training and temperament, he nevertheless really understood the emotional component of the change process.
• Jim Womack provided the final address with a measured and emphatic challenge to change how we manage.  I'll have much more to write about the topic as I try to absorb his emphasis.

It was a terrific time and I have much to mull and apply.  Stay tuned...I'll share my learnings. 

 

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Lean Transformation Summit--Day One

I'm attending Lean Enterprise Institute's event in Orlando, the Lean Transformation Summit.  I've been hoping to get here for a couple years and it finally worked out this year.  It has been wonderfully challenging and helpful.  Highlights of Day One.

• Lantech gave the most compelling presentation I've seen on building standardized management work.  They had striking demonstration of how this effort secured earlier gains and saw them through a very difficult 2009.  I have tools from this to allow us to save time and be more effective managers.
• Jim Luckmen led a remarkable session on building Lean culture.  His insight on why culture changes, combined with Lantech's demonstration of specific management actions, was worth the entire price of admission.
• I met fellow Lean Bloggers Mark Graban and Dan Markovitz.  A photo will follow as proof...but what a wonderful conversation with those two guys.  Dan offers insight on management work which is unique in the Lean community. 
• LEI walks the talk.  The way they run this meeting exemplifies best practices in Lean.  I'm impressed with their attention to detail, customer satisfaction, waste-free efforts and rapid problem solving.  Very impressed.

More will follow in weeks to come.  I'm learning much. 

 

 

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In Awe of Process Excellence

At some point, I may find things like this boring.  But I have no idea when that might happen.  Look at what is possible, just due to process excellence. 

I have a personal project coming up which requires a small, portable digital camera.  The project will take place outdoors, however, in some rough territory and the probability of losing, dropping or soaking the camera is sizable.  So I didn't want to invest much.  I looked at low-cost cameras in a discount store but they didn't quite fill the bill.  I then thought to try eBay...could I find a low-cost, used camera to fill the bill? 

Last Sunday night, I looked at several auctions and found a 3-year-old Nikon L3, 5MP camera with some cosmetic defects which fit my requirements perfectly.  The bid price of $8.50 only added to my interest.  With 7 minutes left on the auction I put in a maximum bid of $15 and headed out the door to a previous commitment.  I got home, and found I got the camera for $12.00; with shipping, my total cost was a mere $25.  All of which happened in about 10 minutes of my time on line. 

And it got better. 

• On Monday morning, the seller shipped the camera to me
• He gave me a tracking number with the USPS
• The Postal Service sent me an email at each transition of the package through it's system
• On Wednesday, I received the camera.
• On Thursday, I picked up a 1GB memory card for $10, along with some milk and cereal, at a neighborhood store. 

I was set for a mere $35.   

Think of the processes which delivered just what I needed, right when I wanted it.

• eBay has a market allowing buyers and sellers to connect efficiently
• The Postal Service tracks packages and makes it public
• The supply chain delivers a gigabyte memory card for the price of a quarter tank of gas.

 Each of these happened due to effort to pull waste out of the process.  The efficiency of it all was amazing.  

The challenge to us?  How many of the processes which my customers see move as smoothly??  How many act on what the customer wants with this level of precision? 

No room for arrogance for most of us.  

Keep on learning.

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