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Showing posts from 2012

Diagnosis: Organizational Alzheimer's

A deliveryman carrying a bouquet of flowers walks up and knocks on the door of a small home. When the lady of the house answers he says, "Are you the Widow Jones?" The lady says, "Well, my name's Jones, but I'm no widow." The deliveryman says, "Oh Yeah, just wait till you read the card!" Ba dum dum crash! As a business consultant, sometimes I feel like the guy delivering the flowers. I know the bad news (and the good) well before the intended recipient. And like the deliveryman, sometimes I have to repeat the bad news several times with ever decreasing levels of subtlety. I used to think the need for repetition was a communication issue -- perhaps I was unclear in my description of the root causes of the organization's problems. My views are evolving though. I'm starting to think that the inability to process information that threatens the status quo is a root cause of root causes. Chris Argyris (1985) covered the topic of defe

Standard Work Activity: Lean Six Sigma Sonnet #1

I've been working on adapting our yellow belt curriculum for presentation via the web. The long-pole in the tent for this curriculum conversion is the process simulation. When I teach the class in-person, we always do a hands-on production simulation that the students "fix" over the course of several rounds. To replace the hands-on production simulation, I need to come up with about six hours worth of meaningful activities to simulate aspects of a process improvement project. The catch is that I have to be able to facilitate the activities with a large group of remote students. One idea I'm kicking around is to develop a standard work instruction for writing English sonnets. On the surface, writing a sonnet might seem difficult. However, most people can produce a sonnet in about 25 minutes when you break down the process into a series of steps. Notice that I didn't say most people could produce a good sonnet -- only that they could produce a sonnet that mee

Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

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Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski My rating: 3 of 5 stars View all my reviews

Mentoring a Student Team for the MAES College Decathlon

By some strange mistake in judgment, the MAES chapter from Colorado University-Boulder ended up with me as their mentor for the college decathlon event held during the annual symposium. I'm enjoying the experience, but I wonder how useful I've really been to my team (this is my first college decathlon, so they have to spend a little extra time teaching me how to mentor them). For the "Blog Post" event, my students have posted a short article to the MAES Facebook page. The measure of success in this event is the number of "Likes" they get on Facebook by this afternoon. If you have a few seconds, please like and share at the link below. Go Buffaloes! top-10-things-to-remember-for-the-next-maes-symposium

The Fable of the Toner Purchase

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As the toner supply in her home office started to run low, wise Ms. Owl placed an order. She needed to stock up for a long winter, so she doubled her normal order and submitted all of the proper forms to Jonny Badger, the supply clerk. When the requested toner did not arrive on the scheduled delivery date, Ms. Owl called Jonny Badger to determine the cause of the delay. "Banker Frog cancelled your order," explained Jonny. "Several other people in the village will also need toner, so banker Frog decided to bundle the orders to reduce the overall cost to the village." "When will I get my toner?" asked Ms. Owl. "Banker Frog is consolidating the orders now. We'll submit the larger order today. It should arrive by next Friday." "What should I do in the meantime?" asked Ms. Owl. "I waited to order the toner until I needed it - just as Banker Frog directed. Now, I've run completely out. Without toner, I w

To Be Good, Managers Must Have Good Meetings

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The other day, I was invited to attend a meeting with 11 top executives, the Big Wigs. The Big Wigs meet every Friday to discuss strategy. As a little wig, I was attending to fill the role of note taker. The topic of the day was about refreshing IT resources in the field. There was no meeting agenda. The meeting started 7 minutes late. One Big Wig had already laid out papers to work on during the meeting. Four of the Big Wigs sent their deputies to “cover” the meeting. The 2nd highest ranked Wig in the room began checking messages on his phone (or playing video games, I’m not sure which) after only 3 minutes. At the end of 60 minutes, I had not recorded a single meaningful discussion or action item. Not one. To hold this particular meeting cost the organization roughly $800 in salaries and benefits. We spent $800 to teach 11 Big Wigs that field reps are getting new laptops – even though all 11 knew that new laptops were on the way before the meeting started. I'm relaying
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Today and Tomorrow: Commemorative Edition of Ford's 1926 Classic by Henry Ford My rating: 4 of 5 stars Brilliant, though somewhat utopian in outlook. I was somewhat surprised to see that Henry Ford outlined a complete and modern continuous process improvement program back in 1926 -- long before quality circles, total quality management, and lean six sigma. The basic message of the book is that good business management can save the world. Ford cites multiple examples from Ford Motors where better management improved the bottom line and also improved the lives of his workers. The book reads somewhat like an Ayn Rand novel - the producers of the world carry the load for the moochers. Ford does offer ample advice and has a very quotable writing style. The only thing that kept me from giving it five stars was the constant droning about how Ford Motors is the best thing since sliced bread. Otherwise, this is a very good book, maybe a must read, for those interested in continuou

Simulated Process Improvement is Easy!

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We just completed the first annual training cycle (Oct 2012-Sept 2012) of our resurrected Continuous Process Improvement program. Our first year goals (and invested resources) were fairly modest. We planned to train an initial cadre of practitioners (check), execute several proof-of-concept projects (check), re-institute the local CPI collaborative (check), grow an in-house instructional capability (check), and embed CPI as an integral part of the strategic planning process (semi-check). In some ways, I think we might have aimed too low. It is common to achieve 1000% improvements in simulated processes during training. In our most recent class, we improved over a baseline production of 4 products in 10 minutes to a final production of 46 products in 10 minutes -- 1150% improvement in production and a cycle time improvement from 150 seconds per product down to about 13 seconds per product. If we could accomplish that in real life -- our biggest problem would be trying to figure out ho

Acknowledging Milestones: 50 Projects and Counting

Two overlapping tidbits of information caught my eye this last week. First, I am trying to persuade my boss to send me to a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt course. In the description of the course, a Master Black Belt candidate is described as a Black Belt with an experience level equivalent to 50 process improvement projects. Second, I visited the blog of a very well-known practitioner who indicates that his experience level consists of "over 250 projects" completed. It got me thinking: I wonder how many projects I have completed? I found it surprisingly hard to count projects, even harder to count them honestly. The hard part isn't remembering the work. The hard part is determining what constitutes a project, and which projects count as personal experience. Do all projects have to be continuous process improvement to count?  Does a rapid improvement event count as a project, or should I only count full projects? If I manage the project manager (i.e., he or she works

The Paradox of the Low Hanging Fruit

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In business projects, the metaphorical language of picking the low-hanging fruit almost always comes up. Just to be clear, the low-hanging fruit refers to the idea that the easiest or lowest cost work should get done first. Examples of low-hanging fruit include things like eliminating obvious waste, cutting overtime, reducing excessive stockpiles, and removing self-inflicted policy constraints. Good things generally happen when you pick the low-hanging fruit. First, the project team can satisfy an immediate need to be successful, if only on a small scale. Because the low-hanging fruit is so easy to get, harvesting it early in a project can generate momentum for a more sustained effort. Second, everyone on the team can agree. Because the low-hanging fruit is obvious, disagreements on the obvious course of action are normally quite easy to resolve. Third, the project team can de-clutter the solution space. Getting the little things out of the way can help the team stay focused on the

Lubricating the Social Machinery: Tips for Using Humor in Public Speaking - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

Lubricating the Social Machinery: Tips for Using Humor in Public Speaking - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com : 'via Blog this'

Garden Synchronicity: Defective Cucumbers and Resistance to Change

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I started a garden for the first time last year (2011). I wasn't very good at it, but I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. I learned that planting flowers with the vegetables helps attract beneficial insects. I learned that too much water can be just as bad as not enough. I also learned that plants grow better when organic material (a.k.a. compost) is tilled into the soil. So at the end of last year, I put all of the garden and yard waste in a compost bin. Rotten tomatoes, corn stalks, grass clippings, fallen leaves, and dried sunflower plants all went into the bin. When spring came, I dumped out the compost bin and used a roto-tiller to mix it all into the garden patch. As a process improvement over last year's garden, I actually had a plan for Garden 2012. I knew that I didn't want any more sunflowers, because they blocked out the sun for other plants. I knew that I wanted cucumbers, so I bought premium seeds and planted them in the northeast corner o

Intangible Value in Small Projects

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How big does a continuous process improvement project need to be? I get variations of this question every time I provide training on the topic. My best answer goes something like this: "The tools and techniques of CPI are scalable to accommodate both large and small projects. Black belt projects are normally larger and more complex than green belt and yellow belt projects. In a typical cross-functional process map with four departments and 30 steps, a yellow belt might do a project on one step, a green belt might do a project on one department, and a black belt might do a project on the entire process." Two hidden issues underlie this question. Issue number one is that people believe that every project must provide substantial and tangible benefits to be worthwhile; they believe that doing small projects is a waste of time. The truth is that there is value in doing a CPI project, however small, for the sake of doing the project. Colleagues might argue that projects consu

Coolest New Vanity Search for Academics: Microsoft Academic Search

Although far from perfect, this has got to be the coolest new vanity search tool for academic authors. I love the  visual co-author and academic genealogy graphs. Check it out:  Microsoft Academic Search :

Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter

Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter by Shelly Brady (List Price: $12.95; 2002 New World Library) I stumbled across a recommendation for this book somewhere along the way and made a mental note to read it someday. I am glad I did; it is really an inspirational story. Shelly Brady reviews her years as a personal assistant to Bill Porter, a door-to-door salesman who overcame the challenges of Cerebral Palsy. She condenses her experience into a series of illustrations about timeless principles of perseverance, dignity, and will power. In all fairness to readers who may buy the book, it isn't particularly well-written. Brady does a nice job of capturing Bill Porter, but her narration wanders off topic frequently. That is, she doesn't seem to be able to resist making the story about her 30% of the time. It is a quick read in an easy conversational tone; I read it in one sitting. For me, the power of the story (and the value of the book) was the challenge that it placed on m

Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work

Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work by Dan Roam (List Price: $29.95; 2011 Portfolio/Penguin) This book actually delivers on the title promise. Dan Roam provides an application-oriented structure to turn weakly-presented ideas into really elegant communication tools. If you've read the Back of the Napkin  or Beyond the Back of the Napkin , then you'll recognize his engaging style that mixes text with oddly compelling simple drawings. In Blah Blah Blah, he extends his earlier work and reinforces the same basic message: words go better with pictures. I am a fan, and I really liked the overall book. In terms of criticism, the presentation felt a little padded in some parts -- saying in 5 pages what could be said in 5 words. I also missed the exercises that Roam included in his other volumes. In this book, readers are more passive; the text was less interactive. This book would be useful to anyone who routinely presents information: teachers, executives, stu

The Primes: How Any Group Can Solve Any Problem

The Primes: How Any Group Can Solve Any Problem by Chris McGoff (List Price: $29.95; 2012 Wiley). Would you pay for a list of generalities that described the way groups operate? Groups sometimes need a leader. Groups sometimes must choose between competing priorities. Groups sometimes experience interpersonal conflict. If such a list of generalities is useful to you, then The Primes delivers. If, on the other hand, you want practical and application-oriented instruction in group problem solving, then The Primes misses the mark. Don't get me wrong, Chris McGoff's commentary on his list of group generalities is very insightful. His accompanying pictographs adds real value to the discussion. I liked the book, but I am struggling a little bit with who would benefit from reading it. For a very experienced change practitioner, I think The Primes would be useful as a way to stimulate thought and reflection. I think most other audiences would find that the book does not deliver o

5 Gems of Wisdom from Senior Leadership

I had the opportunity to attend an executive leadership conference recently as a fly-on-the-wall. That is, I was not a participant, but I was present for the extended discussions. From those discussions, I culled the following quoted words of executive wisdom. 1. Truth has a date-time stamp. Shared as an explanation of why direction and guidance from leadership sometimes change. Implication: get over it and get on with it. 2. The ball that you stop looking at is the one you drop first. Shared as a counter to a request from subordinates to identify what the priorities are (and thereby eliminate non-priority tasks). Implication: tactical priorities are not static. 3. Better is the enemy of good enough. Shared as a counter to the suggestion that a plan should not be executed until perfected. Implication: waiting for a perfect plan kills momentum; it is better to move forward with a partial solution now. 4. Slow down to go fast. Shared as a counter prem

Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers

Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Oglivie (List Price: $29.95; 2011 Columbia Business School Publishing). My expectations for this book were quite high -- I wanted the promised thinking tool kit for managers in a fun-to-read package as advertised in the book title. I was a little disappointed. It is a good read, and the authors did a nice job of making the book visually compelling. I was disappointed in the depth of the content though. The authors presented what I felt was a very surface-level explanation of the design process. The primary "tool" was a phased approach to design that separated creativity from concept development from sales pitch: not exactly a revolutionary design strategy. I am struggling a little bit with the question "who would I recommend the book to?" It is generally well-written, and the illustrative stories are also kind of interesting. In all fairness, some of the organizing outlines

Change Management: Speed Reading with Evelyn Wood and Me

After completing the one-day Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics course yesterday, I felt compelled to comment on the course techniques from a Continuous Process Improvement perspective. In a very simple sense, the course is a Lean Six Sigma project on the reading process. The reading techniques eliminate a lot of variation in the process, cut out some non-value added reading steps, set a reading takt time using a 'pacer', and provide clearer instructions to the 'users' of the reading process. After completing the material, I really did double my reading speed and increase my comprehension. The Evelyn Wood reading process (like most post-improvement processes) really is better and faster. Next, I went home and did the thing that frustrates every CPI practitioner: I abandoned the new and improved process in favor of the more familiar though less efficient pre-improvement process. I read a book using my tired, broken-down method. It was a little eye opening to realize that even

Manufacturing Lego (TM) Pyramids

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Yellow Belt students "manufacturing" Lego (TM) pyramids are very intense (from our March 27-29, 2012 class). We ran the process simulation across three rounds. In the first round, the five student teams collectively delivered 25 pyramids. After training and the application of process improvement techniques, production skyrocketed. In round three, the same five student teams delivered 245 pyramids. Although we fell short of the 250 pyramid goal, we were successful in eliminating waste, reducing process variation, and managing the system constraints. Increasing production in a simulated environment by 1,000 percent is difficult but achievable. Now, we've just need to take the lessons back to the real world and apply them.

Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers Lean Six Sigma Workshop

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We took a different approach to Lean Six Sigma training for the Society of Hispanic Engineers Eastern Leadership Technical Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 24, 2012. We did three things that were just a little bit different from our normal approach: 1. We adapted the Navy's Lean Six Sigma curriculum to offer it in a workshop format. The hands-on nature of the workshop format aligned well with the typical curriculum already, but we had to make some adjustments for the space and time constraints of a conference workshop. 2. We simplified the process simulation just a little bit to minimize the materials requirements. We put together a meaningful simulation experience using only a single piece of paper. It made it a lot easier to travel with the materials. 3. We increased the enrollment cap from 20 seats to 60. The 20 seat limit was originally set to make the instruction highly interactive. To maintain the interactivity, we incorporated more co-facilitators for th

Priming the Project Pump: Lean Six Sigma on a Shoestring

When I teach lean six sigma tools and techniques, I always emphasize the importance of application. Withouth projects that produce results, lean six sigma is only another empty training program about solving problems. Regardless of what I say or do during training, the transition from student to practitioner is sometimes slow. The slowness of the student-to-pracitioner transition is partly due to my unique organizational circumstances. I am building on the ruins of a previous lean six sigma deployment. The earlier deployment team had built infrastructure to the point of critical mass; the project pipeline was flowing and beginning to produce real operational results. Then leadership changed and the effort was abruptly cancelled -- existing project teams were disbanded. The re-deployment investment for the current effort consists of one half-time black belt (me) and a small office supply budget. With those resources, I am deploying lean six sigma to a nation-wide enterprise of a few tho

Continuous Performance Improvement

As a Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Program Manager, I really enjoy delivering training. I feel effective when I weather the initial storm of doubt and resistance from trainees: "CPI is another management flavor of the month...," "CPI is just a rehash of Total Quality Management...," "How is this different than process re-engineering (or any of dozens of brands of process improvement." After a few hours, I can literally see the conversions start taking place as very smart people realize that the processes that they manage are not smart. By the end of the training, only a few hold-outs still remain: individuals who still see no value in the techniques and tools associated with improving processes. Needless to say, I was surprised when I realized that I don't care about process improvement. Process improvement, for me, is only a means to an end. The only reason I want our organizational processes to be improved is to improve our organizational pe