It's About Delivering Value, Stupid...

With apologies for paraphrasing a famous presidential campaign slogan, I look at the big picture of a Lean System. It is too easy, in the midst of talking about the tools of Lean such as start up metings and visual displays, to lose sight of the reason we use the tools.

VALUE And, even more importantly, value as defined by the end user.

I share two current illustrations of people who seem to "get it" about value.

In the January 20, 2003 issue of US News, there is a remarkable story about Joy Hakim, author of elementary and High School History texts. Ms. Hakim had the "radical" idea that school history texts should be interesting, not boring. She saw the end user as the student and then set out to write accurate history that would engage that student mind and curiosity. Among other things, she:

• Used tight, sparse language
• Didn't feel bound to "political corectness"
• Tested her work by having students read the text first and "grade it" as to whether or not it was clear.

She had a hard time finding a publisher at first; some school system still balk at her clarity of style. But her "customers" love it; she actually gets fan mail from students. The article is inspiring...I am grateful to my wife for flagging it for me.

Then, check out what this child care center in Ohio is doing to create value for parents. Things like adding:

• A professional chef to prepare good meals for the kids
• Carry out meals for busy parents
• Dry cleaning drop off
• Haircuts for the little tykes.

(My thanks to Thomas Leonard of Coachville for highlighting this story for me.)

Look at what is going on here. In mundane, ordinary enterprises (school books, child care), folks are stepping back and asking "What does the end user really need? Can I provide it?" They both got very creative and tried some things. Outside the "normal" expectations for either. And, having defined value for the end user, both were far more able to see what activities did NOT add value...and these are opportunities to stop doing something and remove waste.

Think broadly about value. This stretches my mind on the subject. I hope this is helpful to you as well.

Feel free to forward to a friend. Email me

More on Daily Start-Up Meetings

A few further observations on successful start up meetings.

The purpose is not to meet...it is to improve. This often gets lost, particularly after running the meetings for several weeks. The team leader (whether or not he/she is the official leader) must regularly ask for proposals for improvement. I've seen a consistent tendency by group members to want to simply "attend" the meeting. Our culture reenforces this "entertainment" mode of meeting rather than the "involvement" mode. Some questions that seem to work include:

• "So what can we do about this?"
• "What can we do today about this?"
• "What would be an improvement?"
• "What caused that breakdown?"
• "If we could do that over again, what would we do differently?"
• "Can you document that idea?"

You get my point...be specific and ask for action!

Periodically ask yourselves "How can we make this meeting better?" Don't limit improvement to only the work you do...also improve the way you make improvements.

How can I "meet" if I work by myself?

This is a real issue for many professionals, particularly those in sales and other professions that are mobile or solo. The "meeting" still is effective, if done using the outlines I suggested last week.

Central to a solo performer is the visual display of results, about which we'll talk more in my next posting. A brief story will illustrate.

In my career before coming to FBi Buildings, I ran my own consulting company and worked from home. A friend suggested I make and pay attention to a simple display of the key items I needed to be successful. They were not unlike those needed in any firm. Who are my customers? Do I have enough of them? Are they paying their bills? Do I have cash? Will I be able to stay in business for the next six months?

I constructed a chart and updated it twice a week. Then, daily (mostly), I reviewed the chart and tried to do activities that would drive the figures positively. It was the most useful time of the day and the most useful piece of paper I had.

That's how a solo professional can make lean principles work. I strongly suggest folks who work alone adopt a similar practice.

I hope this is helpful.

Feel free to forward to a friend. Email me

Good and Bad practices in Daily Start Up meetings

I've seen quite a few daily start up meetings...here's what I've observed.

Do This

• Smile and make eye contact. Particularly difficult for technical people, but remember, lean is about valuing people...hard to make them believe that when you are talking to your shoes.
• Keep it moving and be crisp.
• Use the Visual Display to guide the meeting each morning. These metrics can focus the discussion on results which the group can affect.
• Make assessments and propose action. Example: "Our on-time delivery has slipped in the past week. I propose Bob and I work tomorrow afternoon to figure it out."
• Seek coaching much as an athlete asks someone else with experience to observe and suggest how performance can improve. Find someone who can help your meetings get better and better.
• Build a mood of expectation, one that says "We can address problems and steadily improve." This is the opposite of a mood of resignation and being a victim.

Don't Do This

• Try to solve all problems while there. Better to index issues that need to be addressed outside the meeting.
• Solve other groups' problems. That's their job. Focus on issues under the group's own control.
• Allow one person to dominate the discussion and exclude others. Each person in the group should speak each day. Remember, the group should be no larger than 9 members.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to forward to a friend. Email me

Why a Daily Start Up Meeting?

Yesterday, I described the five identifiable elements of a Lean system. Today we talk about the Daily Start Up Meeting.

Most of us shudder at the thought of another meeting. Even worse, a DAILY one. Stay with me here, we're talking about something different.

Lean systems are built deeply on the value of each team members' worth and contribution to the continuous improvement process. The fundamental building block of this is the daily workgroup start up meeting. Here's what it looks like.

It happens in the intact workgroup. A workgroup is a collection of 4-9 people who could help do each others' job, if needed. It is small enough so all can contribute to the discussion. It is large enough to get some real work done. Note: the daily meeting does NOT happen with the whole company, unless it employs less than 9 people.

Everyone is present for the meeting. Input is valued.

The meeting happens in the workplace, not in a meeting room. No donuts, no formalities, no meeting arrangements.

It takes 10 minutes or less.

It happens daily, not 3 times a week. It builds a rhythm of communication and contribution.

It has a set agenda, and is not just a daily "water cooler" gab session. The agenda will depend on the nature of the work, but will almost always include the following topics:

• Greeting the group at the start of the new day
• Reviewing the previous day's key metrics on the visual display (more on the visual display later this week)
• Making assessments about the group's performance
• Asking about the day's plans for each group member and if they have needs
• Wishing everyone a good day

It rotates leadership, eventually allowing everyone in the work group to lead. Many groups allocate leadership to take place in one week intervals.

More tomorrow on good and bad practices in such a meeting. I hope this is helpful.

Feel free to forward to a friend.Email me

How can I know if I'm doing Lean?

I've struggled with this one. The books about Lean are fascinating and the stories others tell are compelling. Yet, what does it look like? If I were a doctor and came up with a diagnosis "The patient is Lean" what would be the basis of that statement?

I've landed on five indespensible and observable characteristics. Look at an intact workgroup in a company and try to find the following.

1. A Daily Start up Meeting
2. A Visual Display of Results
3. Documentation of work group practices
4. A plan for continuous improvement
5. An audit of progress

These are both observable and improvable. They each are simple, and ZERO capital expenditure is required to do any of them. They can turn a company around. They are difficult to do, consistently.

Which is exactly what a lean system is: simple, low cost, highly effective, and very difficult. Much like a good diet or an effective exercise program, it depends far more on consistnecy and follow through than on fancy gimmicks or big dollar payouts.

I'll discuss the daily start-up meeting and the visual display of results this week, as they are tightly related. Next week, I'll hit the other three.

I hope this is helpful.

Feel free to forward to a friend.

Email me

5S, always a good starting point

I've observed that many, many experienced lean practitioners urge those new to lean to start with 5S. Now, I've done 5S in a number of situations, but I think I got some new insight into it over the holidays.

By way of review, 5S is the five-step system for creating and maintaining an orderly workplace. The five steps are:

1. Sort
2. Set in Order
3. Shine
4. Standardize
5. Sustain

Here is an excellent summary of 5S. A very useful, short book on the subject is published by Productivity Inc. The steps are self-explanatory and are fundamental to any lean system.

I applied 5S over the vacation to my home office. My, what a mess it had become. My intent was to work through the first three steps of 5S in two four-hour blitzes. It worked and here's what I observed.

Sorting forces disciplined thinking. The lean concept here is to get rid of anything that does not add value. Only leave the items you use every week . So, I dug in and started at the top, asking, do I need this? Bottom line: I filled up six file storage boxes with junk. I found and emptied seven three-ring binders. I found an overdue library book and returned it. I have a stack of 20 books to give to our local library for their used book sale. I found some old baseball memerobilia I'm going to list for sale on eBay. I had to ask myself, over and over, does this book/paper/form represent anything I really need? If not, throw it out, give it away, sell it. In the midst of all the junk, I found about six papers that I really valued. The rest went away. (If you'd like a copy of a 1981 issue of Sports Illustrated with a very young Wayne Gretzky on the cover, it is yours for the asking...just Email me!)

"Set in Order" forces labeled storage. I need to keep old tax returns. How? The second step forced me to think through how to sanely keep the items I truly need. Some simple shelves, with hand-written labels did the trick. Minimal cost, reconfigurable.

Labeled Storage helps others help me keep it clean. The few things I need to keep-bank statements, health care records, for example-now each have their place. My wife and I both know where they go. They are far less likely to get "tossed". Without the labels, it is impossible to get to the step of Standardization.

Shine means "shine". It was fun to finally get down to the top of my desk, last seen several years ago, and spray on cleaner and make it really shine. The physical act of cleaning and eliminating literal dust and clutter is amazingly invigorating.

Eliminating clutter frees the mind to focus on what is important. Lean is all about relentlessly eliminating waste that gets in the way of creating value. The simple act of cleaning a workplace is the starting point.

5S is contagious. I did the 5S on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday evening, I went into the office to see my 14 year old son cleaning out a side table where he kept homework he had done on the printer. It, too, had been a mess. Matt cleaned it all off and left one reference book and a box of computer disks neatly in order. I hadn't asked him to do this. He saw the look of amazement on my face and said, sheepishly, "Well, I see what you did and figured this was the least I could do." Good kid.

Find some clutter to clear out today. Clear your mind to add value.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to forward to a friend.

Single Piece Flow, in the Snow

As I started removing the 7" of new fallen snow covering my driveway on Christmas morning, I got to thinking about value-adding and non-value adding activities. What would a truly lean system look like? While it was tempting to think that the best system would be to go get my neighbor's snow blower, what could I do without any outlay of cash?

I had to first understand value. In this case, I was the customer. I valued a clean driveway, all the way to the street. A partially cleared driveway did me no good. I had to clear a path for one car and then the path for the other.

I had to make every movement count. The chief of the eight wastes on the driveway was movement waste...unneeded walking. So, I began to think how I could add value with every movement.

Ergonomics then became clearer. With a value-based premise, I realized I also had to value my work force, which in this case was me. Particularly my back. I realized that I could add value and balance the work strain by alternating a big scoop with a light scoop, from the left side of my body and then the right side.

Steady is faster than hurried, if it flows. I found I was making very good progress, when I made every movement count. "Be quick, but never hurry" as John Wooden coached his famous teams at UCLA.

Engaging the mind sped the task. By thinking carefully about simply scooping snow, the task became much more enjoyable. This is a little-talked-about advantage of a lean system. By always thinking about how to improve, the task (oftentimes menial) takes on new meaning and value.

The bottom line... I got my driveway clean in the same time as my neighbor who had his two twenty-something sons helping him. I didn't take my cell phone to the driveway for example and I kept moving. High-priced labor, thinking lean, beats the masses of cheap labor that doesn't.

Lean applications are everywhere. I hope this is helpful...and brings you a smile. Feel free to forward to a friend.

Email me

Chrismas Eve Thoughts

A number of musings on this Christmas Eve afternoon.

• The Economy remains in a very uncertain state. Durable goods orders, reported this morning, are down. Some local indicators seem bullish. If there was a question about it, it shows further that the future is both uncertain and unknowable. A lean system that can continuously improve and renew itself is key.
• Peace on Earth remains elusive. Despite huge gains in productivity (the kinds of gains that lean systems develop), the world's haves and have nots seem to have a bigger gap than ever. I, as part of the "haves" and part of the West, cannot remain indifferent to that growing chasm.
• It ain't about technology, it's about character. It is ultimately who we are, who I am, that makes a difference. Marvelous concepts, applied poorly, only deepen hostility and cynicism, both locally and globally.
• My sons each reside in a tenuous spot in their lives. David, age 24, enlisted in the US Army and heads for boot camp on January 6 to be a field medic in an airborne division. Nathan, age 22, looks hard for a solid job with his undergraduate liberal arts degree in hand but finds it hard going. Matt, age 14, shaved for the first time last night. My head spins to be a friend, Dad and confidant to each of them.
• My dad died nine years ago today, after a marvelous 78 years of life and a one-year battle with colon cancer. Hard to believe it has been nine years. I learned most of what I know about the crucial parts of life from him. He was a massive gift to me and I still wish I could pick up the phone and gab with him.
• Christmas offers hope in each of these areas. The humble birth of a baby that we Christians call the King of Kings, who served with humility and tenacity, brings me to learn what I can from him. Psalm 115:13 captures it well "He will bless those who fear the Lord-- small and great alike."

I hope you have a most Merry Christmas.

Feel free to forward to a friend.

Email me

Using "AND" rather than "BUT"

One of the amazing things I observed last week occurred in a management meeting on Tuesday. In two very different settings in our business unit, we had staff members who were spontaneously raising their own standards. In both cases, they had looked at important, strategic, recent business results which were very encouraging, exceeding expectations. And, in both cases, their immediate reaction was "we can do better." Their mood was one of slight discouragement.

How do we react as leaders when, as expected, efforts towards waste reduction yield fruit? How do we respond when quality people expect more of themselves?

My colleague, Greg, captured it well (as he so often does) when he pointed out we have to use "AND", not "BUT" in the setting. Example: "We've done well AND we can do better." "We did well on 65% of those jobs AND we can make inroads on the other 35%."

This is not just a clever linguistic ploy. Years ago, I heard a trainer say "The word 'but' negates everything that comes before it, as it if does not count." Think about this phrase, commonly used; "He's a nice guy BUT he never turns in his time cards." Plug in the fault you choose; by using the word "but" you negate your earlier assessment that "he's a nice guy." Words are important.

By using "and" we can correctly acknowledge the progress that is real and celebrate it. We also correctly acknowledge that we can make further progress.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to forward to a friend.

Email me

Why write a web log??

I failed to write anything on this web log last week. I rationalized the non-action to myself in that it was an amazing week. Much went on here, most all of it very positive, marvelously positive. But rather than write about my thoughts as they developed, I somehow wanted to "polish" those same thoughts, as if this web log was some sort of a performance.

Bad idea.

Why was it a bad idea? Because in so doing, I forgot why I started this log. I lost track of one of my own learning styles.

For me, this log offers a chance to distill and condense my thoughts. That act alone is a huge learning opportunity. If anyone else happens to read, so much the better. What you get here is (until last week) pretty much fresh and not terribly processed. The lean process, as it grows, can be very messy. That goes for individuals, like me, and for entire enterprises. I fail myself and my company if I try to make it too pretty.

I'll try to keep helping myself learn... and write frequently. Thanks for listening.

Feel free to forward to a friend.

Email me