Defining the Problem Statement

Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.

This quote illustrates an important point: before jumping right into solving a problem, we should step back and invest time and effort to improve our understanding of it.

The problem statement is a clear and concise statement that describes the symptoms of the problem to be addressed. Defining the problem statement provides three benefits for the team:
creates a sense of ownership for the team
focuses the team on an accepted problem
describes the symptoms in measurable terms

The following four guidelines are effective in creating a problem statement that is clear and concise:
Define the problem - In the problem statement, team members define the problem in specific terms. They present facts such as the product type and the error made.
Identify where the problem is appearing - Identifying where the problem is appearing, or manifesting, as specifically as possible helps the team focus its improvement efforts.
Describe the size of the problem - The size of the problem is described in measurable terms.
Describe the impact the problem is having on the organization - The description of the problem's impact on the organization should be as specific as possible.

The truth of the matter is that the more specific the statement, the better the chance the team has of solving the problem. An inadequate problem statement can lead the team down a dead-end path. When defining the problem statement try to avoid these four common pitfalls:

The problem statement should not address more than one problem.
The problem statement should not assign a cause.
The problem statement should not assign blame.
The problem statement should not offer a solution.

A simple and effective method of defining a problem is a series of questions using the five W’s and one H approach (5W1H: who, what, where, when, why, how).

Who - Who does the problem affect? Specific groups, organizations, customers, etc.
What - What are the boundaries of the problem, e.g. organizational, work flow, geographic, customer, segments, etc. - What is the issue? - What is the impact of the issue? - What impact is the issue causing? - What will happen when it is fixed? - What would happen if we didn’t solve the problem?
When - When does the issue occur? - When does it need to be fixed?
Where - Where is the issue occurring? Only in certain locations, processes, products, etc.
Why - Why is it important that we fix the problem? - What impact does it have on the business or customer? - What impact does it have on all stakeholders, e.g. employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, etc.
How - How many parts are involved? How are you going to solve the problem? Using what method or techniques?

Each of these answers will help to zero in on the specific issue(s) and define the problem statement. Your problem statement should be solvable. That is, it should take a reasonable amount of time to formulate, try and deploy a potential solution.

A well-stated problem statement speeds a robust corrective action process. It helps identify potential root causes and eliminate bias and noise. Accurate problem statements save time and effort by focusing the team on root cause identification. Continuous improvement happens when root causes are found and permanently eliminated. Defining the problem statement is the first step in this process.

Quote of the Day 11/20/09

On Friday’s I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

“I say an hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour out of the entire system. I say an hour saved at a non-bottleneck is worthless. Bottlenecks govern both throughput and inventory.” - Eliyahu M. Goldratt, The Goal

A Lean Journey Now on Twitter and LinkedIn

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The Key to Upcoming Retention Concerns is Recognition

A WSJ article yesterday talked about a growing concern for businesses to retain top talent. The author indicates that based on historical data workers will look elsewhere as the economy improves. This would pose a significant problem to those employers who may have weeded out weak performers while keeping top performers during this recession. A survey from last winter cites pay and benefits as the most important factors employees' value. Normally I would not concur with this but can understand with this recession why compensation is a top concern for workers.

While some companies struggle with how to financially reward their employees others are finding ways to involve their work force more in the business.

"We will not retain our staff if we can't get them to believe in us," Mr. Stack says. "If you value your employees, their trust will grow and they will not look around for another position."

According to the DOL, employee turnover cost American businesses about $5 trillion each year. Employee recognition is still one of the powerful strategies to combat turnover. A recent HR Daily Advisor Tip covered eight keys to successful retention. The advice includes exuding confidence in employee's ability, including significant others in praise, knowing what motivates and inspires employees, encouraging employees develop new skills, and simply saying thanks. Successful companies learn that you get what you reward.

In Lean retention and recognition come under the respect for people pillar of TPS. Respect for people comes from organizations building employee relationships that are fulfilling for their people as well as for the business.

How does your organization value employees and show appreciation?

What is Lean?

A reader studying quality management and researching Lean recently asked me, what is Lean really about? In realizing that I have never fully defined my view of Lean on this blog I thought I should.

Let me preface this by saying it is difficult to succinctly define Lean in way that would capture the breadth and depth of knowledge. There are volumes and volumes of written text on many aspects and concepts of Lean. I have been studying in this field for a dozen years and my learning will never be done.

Lean is all about respecting people while eliminating Muri (overburdening), Mura (unevenness), and Muda (non value added activity) in all business processes. It is a philosophy which embodies a manufacturing culture of continuous improvement based on setting standards aimed at eliminating waste through participation of all employees.

The originators of Lean include thinkers like Henry Ford but its most notable and well studied collection of thinkers comes from Toyota. The Toyota Production System (TSP) is comprised of two pillars being JIT and Jidoka. The JIT concept aims to produce and deliver the right parts, in the right quantity, at the right time using the minimum necessary resources. JIT includes but is not limited to concepts of flow, takt time, pull via kanban, and leveling (heijunka). Jidoka is all about building in quality at the process and separating man from machine. The goal is not to run continuously but to stop running automatically at the first sign of an abnormal condition. Jidoka concepts include standardized work, mistake proofing (poka-yoke), process control, and problem solving (six sigma techniques).

The Five Fundamental Principles:

1) Specify Value – End-use customer view

2) Indentify Value Stream – Activities that create value

3) Flow – Make value flow

4) Pull – Respond to customer demand

5) Perfection – Zero waste

The Lean Rules-in-Use:

1) Activity Rule – Specify all work to content, sequence, timing, and outcome.

2) Connection Rule – Customer-supplier connections must be direct & unambiguous.

3) Pathway Rule – Pathways for product/service must be simple & direct.

4) Improvement Rule – Improvements are made using scientific method (PDCA) at place of activity (Gemba) under the guidance of a teacher (Sensei)

It is the endless pursuit of perfection which I refer to in the title of this blog “A Lean Journey: A Quest for True North”. True North is making 1 by 1, defect free, on demand, immediately, safely, and at no cost. It is the ideal target condition not easily achieved. It is approached by eliminating waste, the opposite of value. Value-added activities are those activities that transform materials or information, increase the form or function of products or services, and the customer wants. All other activities are wasteful; add no value; and consume resources, time, and space. The eight wastes are characterized as:

Defects

Over-production

Waiting

Non-utilized Resources/Talent

Transportation

Inventory

Motion

Excess Processing

This is only made possible by believing people are the cornerstone. You must engage all human resources and provide knowledge. These two elements are the key drivers to the speed of continuous improvement.

Lean is creating and implementing processes throughout the entire organization that are highly responsive and flexible to customer demand. Lean paves the way for delivery high quality products and services, at the right location, at the right time, all in a cost effective and profitable manner.

Here are some other resources for Lean definitions:

Mark Graban's Lean definition

Lean Enterprise Institute's lean definition page

Wikipedia's Lean definition

Art of Lean's learning page

This is a post that I will continue to reflect on (hansei) and update throughout my Lean Journey.

Quote of the Day 11/13/09

I am going to try a new thing here at A Lean Journey Blog. On Friday’s I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

Feel free to share some of your favorites here as well.

November 13, 2009

The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. ~Albert Einstein

Lean Is About More than the Myths

It is important when you are starting out your lean journey to understand what Lean is really about. Steve Cook, a former Dell Computer supply chain executive and newly appointed chief operating officer of MFG.com recently took time to explain three common myths about Lean.

Myth #1: Lean = Job Cuts

"If done well, Lean initiatives are less a cost-cutting exercise and more a growth exercise," said Cook.

Myth #2: Lean = Doing More with Less

Lean is about doing more to get more, knowing that reducing waste is a growth strategy, a way to help the company be more competitive, Cook said.

Myth #3: Lean = a Cost Reduction Strategy

While Lean initiatives clearly involve reducing costs, "it's a myth if it's the reason why you're doing Lean," emphasized Cook. "The underpinning of Lean must be about making the organization more successful."

Lean is really a systematic way to learn to see the inefficiencies in your processes and to solve these opportunities in such a way to grow the business profitably by adding value the customer will pay for. If you want to be a successful company you will learn to empower and engage the entire organization to focus improvement on value-added work from the customer’s perspective.

Cook added a saying from Dell which reflects this, “You’ll get beat up for high cost, but you’ll get fired for quality/availability issues.”

Is your organization solving problems only for themselves or are they solving those for their customers?