Lean

How a few key measures can fuel improvement

1-page handout – 75KB Our lives are filled with measures, except when it comes to measuring the health of our business processes. To monitor our physical health, we keep tabs on weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and other indicators. With our favorite sports teams, we track rankings, batting averages, field goal percentages, and more. With our finances, we keep a watchful eye on our bank balances, interest rates, income, and expenses. But at work, meaningful measures can be lacking – with people relying on intuition and instinct to tell how things are going. This is especially the case when it comes to business processes. Staff (and even process owners) will offer opinions when asked about the current “health” of their process. But few will cite quantitative measures that reveal the real health with any precision. This is a problem, but it’s mostly an opportunity for improvement. When people learn about process-related measures, they start seeing the connections between different activities and functions. And when a team begins to track several key measures over time, keeping those numbers front and center week after week, greater ownership takes hold. People start looking for ways to improve their process. To help with this, we’ve packed our best measurement intelligence into a practical one-pager. It gives you a list of key process-related measures, with plain-language definitions for each. They’re sorted into four categories so you can see how the different measures relate. You (and your colleagues) can use this one-pager right now. Decide on two or three high-priority measures for your process, gather baseline data, then gather new numbers at regular intervals so you can see trends. Use visuals (like bar charts) to add understanding and impact. You’ll also use this one-pager when improving a process, whether it’s with a blitz approach like a Kaizen event, or a series of sessions over several weeks. Not all the measures will be relevant, but many will be. The team will want to gather baseline numbers reflecting the health of the current-state process – and put together a separate set of projected numbers to show the expected level of process fitness once the future-state process is in place. These projections serve as improvement targets going forward. With their new numeric know-how, will staff start cheering on their processes like they cheer on their favorite sports teams? We won’t go that far. But you can expect to see a better...

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1-hour eye-opener: Use SIPOC to improve processes

1-page handout – 120KB – Fillable/Savable Don’t be turned off by the acronym. SIPOC works wonders when it comes to process improvement. The SIPOC Diagram is a visual tool that conveys crucial information on a single page. It shows everything that goes on in a given business process. If you’ve ever wanted staff to get a start-to-finish big-picture view of their work, here you go. SIPOC (pronounced sigh-pock) stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers. All are identified when a SIPOC is created. It “makes visible” all the components and connections that end up producing an output and delivering value to customers. That’s a lot of good information for a single one-pager. But wait, it gets better! Click here to download our SIPOC in fillable/savable PDF format. Feel free to circulate it among colleagues, but most of all, put it to work with staff. The PDF includes tool tips for the various fill-in fields. The SIPOC Diagram is often used when planning a big process improvement project. It gives a high-level understanding, and it can help a team sponsor right-size the project scope. Its structured nature ensures that sponsors and others think through every aspect. It also works great as a stand-alone activity. Bring the concept to staff, and work together to talk through and identify all the components. Write on a flipchart or white board, using the one-pager as a guide – then enter the info into the one-pager so everyone can get a clean copy. Believe it: This quick activity is an eye-opener. People typically focus on their own work. SIPOC widens their vision so they see and appreciate all the moving parts. Expect to hear comments like: “So that’s what happens before my part of the process!” “That explains why we have those delays.” “This whole thing could be a lot simpler.” You’ll also hear questions: “Why are we using that supplier?” “What happens when those forms come in with errors?” “Do we really need that check phase?” In other words, SIPOC prompts discovery and curiosity. Staff begin to lean forward, looking for ways to improve their process. Can SIPOC-powered conversation be the starting point for a process improvement project? Can it raise curiosity to the point where people do additional fact-finding and analysis in order to get smarter about their process? Can it uncover some “just do it” improvements that get implemented right away. Yes, yes, and...

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When problem solving is like pulling teeth

Thanks to a rock-hard bagel and a chipped molar, I’ve become a zealous advocate of root-cause analysis. You’re familiar with the concept: Problem-solving works best when it starts with a deep dive to find the causes of problems, which are much different than surface-level symptoms. Root-cause analysis is common sense, but it gets short shrift in most workplaces. When trying to solve problems, many people skip the analysis, make assumptions, and rush to solutions. That’s what happened with my chipped molar. My dentist took a look, judged the tooth to be okay, sanded it down at the corner, and sent me on my way. Two weeks later it chipped again. The dentist took another look, installed a crown, and predicted a long and happy molar life. But a month later, pain set in. This led to a root canal and pain relief, followed two months later by pressure sensitivity that was more subtle but ongoing. That’s when the real fun began: a year-long series of trips to see my dentist (four times), an endodontist, a second endontist (second opinion), a gum specialist, and an oral surgeon. Most were left scratching their heads, but two of these people took an activist posture right away, recommending that I have the tooth “removed” (their word). It’s one thing to talk about root-cause analysis in the work context – and something else entirely when we’re referring to literal roots, when they’re in our jaw, and when there’s talk of yanking them out. So I was pleased beyond description when the oral surgeon took a much different approach, coming across more like Sherlock Holmes and less like the Terminator. He was all about analysis. He took his time. He reviewed the case file in detail. He ordered up a special x-ray to get a better inside look. He ruled out an infection. He took photos of the gum, sending them to a colleague for an expert opinion. When he called me a week later to discuss his findings, he got right to the point: “Extraction has a certain degree of finality. So let’s not rush into it unless we absolutely have to.” I couldn’t agree more. “You report that the pressure sensitivity is moderate. My recommendation is that we take no action for about ten months. We’ll see whether the symptoms evolve, which might give us more insights. And we can get another x-ray...

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Lean on “Tim” to improve your work processes

1-page handout – 91KB If you manage or work in a process that frustrates staff and falls short of customer expectations, here’s great news: Tim can help, he can start now, and he works for free. Who is this generous Tim? Well, he’s an acronym, designed to make a key concept more memorable. His full name is TIMUWOOD (typically referred to as Tim U. Wood). Each letter stands for a different form of process waste – a point where the process is overly complicated or too slow or redundant or error-prone. Click on the thumbnail for a TIMUWOOD one-pager. This isn’t the only summary on the web, but it’s the best. It conveys plenty of information in concise plain English, and it’s tailored for service-oriented workplaces. If you work for any kind of service organization – a professional service firm, a government agency, an educational institutions, or anything like that – this TIMUWOOD summary will be very relevant. The key is to put it to work, and here’s one surefire way: Gather with colleagues who all work in the same process. Share the TIMUWOOD handout, provide a quick overview, and allow a few minutes for review. Then prompt the group to think about their process in terms of all eight TIMUWOOD factors. Ask: Which of the descriptions on the handout seem to match what we’re seeing and what our customers are experiencing? A couple good questions will open the conversation. As people share their views, list the discoveries on a white board or flipchart. See where the group gravitates. Look for an emerging consensus around the two or three occurrences of waste that people seem to cite most. Now, this exercise isn’t the end all, it’s a starting point. It gets everyone thinking more deeply about their process – in a way that sets the stage for improvement. Here are additional questions to build momentum toward next steps: • What are some “just do it” improvements we can make right away? • With those one or two occurrences of waste that really stand out: What’s the root cause? Some snap analysis will deepen the group’s thinking. • Is there information or data that can help us get smarter about the situation? Who can do some research and get back to the group? • How about a process walk? Some groups get so curious from their TIMUWOOD conversation that they schedule a start-to-finish walk-through of their process – literally...

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