The Lean Way to Tie Your Shoes

Visual instructions on how to tie a "Ian knot" show six simple steps.

This is the world's fastest shoelace knot because there are fewer sequential steps and it all happens in a single, fluid movement.  It has been said that the reduction in time could add up to 4 days per lifetime.  Tying your shoes might be necessary but it is hardly value added.  Don't be complacent and take common practices for granted they can be time wasters. 

Even this simple example provides some Lean lessons - everything can be improved, small things can add up, and single piece flow is the ideal process.

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A Colorful Way of Solving Problems

Problem solving is a systematic thinking process to bring about change.  In ordinary thinking, the thinker leaps from critical thinking to neutrality to optimism and so on without structure or strategy.

Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint, and this is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at problems from emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. This can mean that they underestimate the problem, don't consider all consequences, and fail to understand the feasibility of the solution.

A colleague and friend (thanks Ken) recently introduced me to Six Thinking Hats.  This is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking created by Edward de Bono. The premise of the method is that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be identified, deliberately accessed and hence planned for use in a structured way allowing one to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues.

Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:

White Hat:
Objective, neutral thinking in terms of facts, numbers and information.  With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it.

Red Hat:

Emotional, with judgements, suspicions and intuitions.  'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally.

Black Hat:
Negative, sees risks and thinks about why something will not function. Using this hat, look cautiously and defensively at all the bad points of the decision. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work.  Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans tougher and more resilient.

Yellow Hat:
Positive, optimistic, clear, effective and constructive. This hat helps you to think positively and to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it.  Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

Green Hat:
Creative, seeks alternatives. The green hat is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas.  A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

Blue Hat:
Or Meta hat, thinking about thinking.  The blue thinker's role is to keep an overview of what thinking is necessary to scout the subject.  The Blue Hat stands for process control.

The Six Thinking Hats tool  can be a powerful technique used to look at problems from different points of view. All of these thinking hats help for thinking deeper.  This helps us move away from habitual thinking styles and towards a more rounded view of a situation.

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Lean Quote: Character Matters!

On Fridays 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.

This post was inspired by Christian Paulsen's post on Character and Leadership.

"Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect. Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character." — R. C. Samsel

Achieving short-term results doesn't require great leadership.  Those kinds of results are easy to get.  Some may threaten employees, pay more, entice with contests, or manipulate the politics.  But for employees to follow long term, the number one requirement is that a leader by trustworthy.  It's even more important than having a great vision, being a great communicator, or being innovative, wise, courageous, inspiring, intelligent, or any other trait.  The first question every employee asks is, "Do I trust my boss and the other members of management?"  If the answer is "no", then they start looking for someone else to follow - someone they can trust.  This trust issue is a big deal.  It's a by-product of leadership integrity.

Without integrity, a leader can never develop trust.  Without trust, a leader will never develop people. Without developing people, a leader will never maintain a following.  And without followers, there is no one to lead. It all begins with integrity.

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Get More Done by Doing Less

Most of us get paralysed when faced with a large and complicated undertaking.  Jason Yip gives some tips on how to get it done from Ignite Sydney this past August.  Jason is a Principal Consultant with ThoughtWorks focused on Agile and Lean Software Development.

Stop Starting and Start Finishing



Some keypoints from the video:
1. The more projects you work on the less time you have for any one project. (A recent study showed that office employees who were interrupted while they worked took an average of 25 minutes to get back to what they started.)
2. Can make more mistakse mulititasking.
3. We can't see things piling up so the first step is to visualize the work load.
4. Next step is to limit the number of things we are going to do simultaneously.
5. Get stuff done quicker by doing less at one time.
6. Shoving more stuff into the process doesn't help anyone.
7. Limiting workload creates an environment of teamwork.
8. Measure cycle time of certain types of work so you can give a lead time.
9. Use root cause analysis to fix problems so they don't reoccur.
10. Doing more stuff is not important, finishing them is.

On Jason's blog he shared a version of the presentation from Sydney which he subtitled An Introduction to Kanban.

(Agile Sydney version) Stop Starting and Start Finishing: An Introduction to Kanban

View more presentations from Jason Yip.

Jason expands on his previous steps adding several new points.  For performance measures he suggests several that are not just time based:

1. Productivity - cycle time, ROI
2. Quality - defects, customer satisfaction
3. Cost - burn rate, cost per item, total project cost
4. Morale - engagement, employee satisfaction. 

As you work to improve your efficiency and that of your organization I think Jason provides a number of great concepts to consider in your process.  Multitasking in this sense is really the essence of Muri.  Muri is a Japanese term for overburden, unreasonableness or absurdity.  Stop the maddness.  Start focusing.  Accomplish more.

The Lean Logistics Blog

My friend Kelley Dodd recently shared a new lean resource, The Lean Logistics Blog.  This blog is place to discuss lean logistics and lean supply chain best practices, industry thought leadership, and continuous improvement.  It is written by LeanCor in-house and on-site lean logistics managers, engineers and consultants, this blog contains lean tools, tips, and tricks from lean practitioners doing the work every day. Robert Martichenko, the author Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream, created LeanCor to drive the next step in the evolution of lean by addressing the unmet logistics needs of lean manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

The first several posts focus on some central Lean elements in supply chain:

They define waste by eight logistical wastes that need to be eliminated.  When you focus on total logistics cost, you are essentially making the supply chain work in your favor. 

Alignment between the floor and senior management is critical to support continuous improvement.  The key to balancing the effort of front line employees with the knowledge and vision of management is a solid Hoshin Kanri Strategy planning process.

Going to the Gemba makes the problem simpler to tackle.

The use of a tool like a swim lane diagram is effective to target and eliminate the waste in your supply chain.

This blog is off to a great start and I look forward to their continued contributions to Lean and logistics.  While checking out this site don't miss the Lean and Six Sigma Resource Room for more learning opportunities.

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The Lean Equation

Can Lean be represented by a single equation?  In simple terms Lean can be defined as the most efficient use of resources in the creation of value for the end customer.  Business is about the system or series of processes to satisfy the customer.  Processes by definition can be defined.  So if Lean is a business system for thinking customer value it can be represented below: 

Demand is the amount of work in the system.  Capacity is the resources available to do the work.  Demand minus Capacity results in a Load on the system.  If the demand is greater than the capacity the system is overloaded.  If the demand is less than the capacity the system is considered underloaded.

John Seddon, author of Freedom from Command and Control, indentified that demand is made up of two types: Value Demand and Failure Demand.  Understanding the nature of demand is starting point for Lean.  Value demand or true demand is the value determined by the customer.  Failure demand results from a failure to do it right the first time or from a failure to take action.  Value demand in turn comes from predictable demand and variable demand.  Shifting or leveling these demands can free up capacity.

Taiichi Ohno, considered the father of the Toyota Production System, said that capacity is work plus waste.  So if we identify and eliminate waste then "free" capacity is released into the system.  Removing waste also allows for further reduction in failure demand.

Some underload is desirable because of variation in demand.  A process that is loaded to 100% (where demand equals capacity) will frequently fail to meet the customer's requirements.  When the system is underloaded then any spare resources should be directed to waste removal.

Reducing variation in demand by persuading customers to take smaller, more frequent batches can reduce the load on the system.  This can result in improved customer service levels and the ability to handle more demand.

This Lean equation illustrates that reducing failure demand, reducing wastes, leveling the demand, reducing variation, and using slack capacity to focus on improving efficiency are all necessary for satisfying the customer's requirments.  Furthermore, these activities result in feedback loops within your business system for continued input for PDCA (plan-do-check-act).

Lean Quote Inspirational Leadership

On Fridays 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.

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams quotes (American 6th US President (1825-29), eldest son of John Adams, 2nd US president. 1767-1848)

What makes a leader inspirational? The ability to inspire people to reach great heights of performance and success is a skill that leaders need. Passion, purpose, listening and meaning help make a leader inspirational.

People do what they have to do for a manager, they do their best for an inspirational leader.  Leaders must create a corporate culture that inspires, empowers, and energizes employees.

To inspire, you must both create resonance and move people with a compelling vision.  You must embody what you ask of others, and be able to articulate a shared vision in a way that inspires others to act.  You must offer a sense of common purpose beyond the day-to-day tasks, making work exciting with fun.

Inspirational leaders have an important role to play in their organization as defined below: 

10 Roles of Inspirational Leaders

1.  Provide an inspiring vision and strategic alignment, launch a crusade

2.  Help people connect their personal goals to business goals
3.  Make relentless innovation a religion
4.  Encourage entrepreneurial creativity and experimentation
5.  Involve everyone, empower and trust employees
6.  Coach and train your people to greatness
7.  Build teams and promote teamwork, leverage diversity
8.  Motivate, inspire and energize people, recognize achievements
9.  Encourage risk taking
10. Make work fun

The ability to inspire and motivate workers to high performance is one behavior that separates top-performing leaders from the rest of the pack.

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