Lean Quote: Priorities and the Rule of Three

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.

"If you have more than three priorities, then you don’t have any." — Jim Collins

You can not have too many priorities. By definition. Priorities are those top few tasks that deserve attention next. If you have too many, you have none. You have to know your top few priorities at any time.

If you have 2-3 priorities, you will complete 2-3 tasks. If you have 4-10, you will complete 1-2. If you have more than 10, you will complete none. I saw this on a Franklin-Covey video and I totally agree. The more items on your list, the more time you spend messing with the list, jumping from task to task, and feeling paralyzed by indecision.

No matter how many different things you do in a week or a month, there are only three tasks and activities that account for 90% of the value of the contribution you make to your business. This is known as the “Rule of Three”.

Before you begin work for the day, take some time to think slowly, make a list, select your most important task, and then start work on that task to the exclusion of everything else. Time management starts with you being able to make a list and identifying your top tasks.

Lean Administration: Time based Improvement Not Cost Savings

If you are simply using Lean principles to improve manufacturing processes you are sub-optimizing your business and will not resolve the bigger issues. Every business has administration processes that include engineering drawings, invoices, purchase orders, production orders, production scheduling, etc.. Therefore, developing an integrated Lean business system to support the manufacturing processes will benefit any company.

Lean Administration or Lean Office is the application of the LEAN philosophy to the office and administrative processes. Implementing Lean administration will improve the traditional methods and provide more useful, real time information that will allow a business to be run more effectively. This real time data will clearly demonstrate how the company is performing, and be able to highlight any systemic weaknesses or issues.

So how does Lean administration differ from Lean manufacturing? In my experience applying Lean in the office differs because:
        • Business processes are not as well defined.
        • Harder to identify the customer, product, service, and 
          customer value.
        • Waste is harder to see in the office.
        • Traditional focus is on the factory first.
        • Costing based on direct labor.
        • Office lead time not measured.
        • Company has cost based mindset which they associate 
          to less people.

Ever tried to do Lean in administration? Not easy, right? How do you move past these differences? In my opinion by focusing on the process with the improvement measureable based on time improvement can be made. It is important to recognize the difference between cost savings and time. I think we would all agree if we compress the time it takes to service a customer then we save money. However, cost savings don’t necessarily translate to less time.

When an organization can create an environment that allows it to develop a lean business culture it will have the capability to transform itself into a lean business enterprise. This will create the potential for any business to improve its productivity and profitability over the long term.

Guest Post: The Best Online Kanban Board Tools for Project Management

Do you want to empower your team? As a CEO growing your business, of course you do. But, if you’re experiencing high overhead, issues with managing inventory and a rising number of errors among employees, it sounds like you need a Kanban project management system.

The Benefits of Using a Kanban Project Management Tool

Do your employees feel overwhelmed? A Kanban project management tool has features that can limit the number of projects assigned to each employee.

Over time, you can collect information to help you continuously improve the way you manage your workflow. In addition, it should offer continuous improvement, increased productivity, and a reduction of wasted work.

When key stakeholders request an overview of your initiatives in the system, your workflows will be easier to view in one centralized place. It will allow you to limit the use of other communication tools (i.e., email, software) and set up notifications that update employees on what needs to be completed.

Let’s look at a few platforms:

1. Trello

In Trello, users can set up a separate board with tasks needed to complete projects.  Employees can add documents and ideas throughout the process.  You can invite users to the board and assign tasks with due dates labeled by color to signify importance.

2. Asana

Asana is easy to use software for the management of to-do lists for the team. Assigned tasks can then be managed by each employee. Asana also allows you to set up contacts based on their location in a list format.

3. Wrike

Wrike has a visual interface to set up a Kanban Board for a multitude of tasks like:

●      To-do lists

●      Items pending

●      Items reviewed

●      Items completed

A dashboard of tasks per department can be created with filters with a different status of the project.

4. LeanKit

Set up a wait queue by pulling and dropping work into the system. A parallel process is available for an entire team to see what work is available in a “To Do” or “Done” lane.

A series of horizontal swimlanes for a variety of projects can be segmented based on business need, production, routine, and issues with the project.

5. KanbanFlow

The Kanban board can be designed into different columns with an overview of the status of a project. You can set up WIP limits (work-in-progress) to motivate team members to finish tasks instead of working on a new one.

Subtasks can be included to view the progress of each team member. You can use the software on your cell phone, laptop or tablet at any time of the day.

6. Volerro

In Volerro, you can schedule and coordinate calendars for your team to access by milestones. You can drag and drop content and tasks that can be converted to HTML5 for the team to preview it in a web browser. It will help employees to estimate and track the time it will take to complete an assignment.

Volerro will eliminate the time in scheduling and aid in more productive team meetings because a chat session function is available. Also, you can share your screen with team members for training sessions, if the team works remotely.

7. Jira Software

The Kanban boards in Atlassian can be color-coded to signify importance when completing an assignment. It can be set up by “To Do,” “In Progress,” “In Review” and “Done.” Real-time agile reports can be created with insights into the performance of each team member in line or bar graphs.

8. Kanbanchi

Kanbanchi offers an unlimited dashboard and card system with any number of collaborators to have access. You can leave comments for other employees to read and manipulate a dashboard connected to Google Drive.

Users can integrate Trello Boards in Kanbanchi in addition to adding text tags or color tags to projects. You can create Gantt charts and schedule a time tracker for you to monitor the progress of your team. At an extra cost of $5 per month per user, you can add the logo of your company in Kanbanchi.

9. Yodiz

You can expect to see issue trackers, product backlogs, agile project management with an integrated feature for Zendesk and GitHub. Yodiz works well with IT teams with a reliable customer support system.

10. Kanbanize

You can move project cards on your Kanban board with WIP limits prevent bottlenecks and employees from feeling swamped with work.  Kanbanize can help with setting up custom roles to set permissions based on seniority. 

You can ping a user when a deadline is coming close and set up custom fields by date, multi choice, text or numbers.

______________

In conclusion, these Kanban project management tools should be reviewed or tested before your final purchase. If you believe your team is wasting time on current projects, the communication lines are crossed, and you need a better way to improve efficiencies, purchasing a new project management tool is the way to go.

About the Author: Brad Mishlove, CEO and founder of Catapult Groups, an executive coaching organization is committed to inspiring business owners and entrepreneurs by keeping them accountable for their own success through peer advisory groups and one-on-one executive coaching.

Lean Quote: Lean Goes Beyond Tools

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.

"We are stuck in the tool age." — Jim Womack (2010)

Lean is not about the tools it’s how they are applied. A large number of organizations have failed to produce the desired results from the direct and prescriptive application of Lean tools. The tools themselves have been proven to work in many situations. The difference must then be in how the tools were applied, their appropriateness, but not the tools themselves.

There are thousands of Lean tools, because each problem requires its own unique tool to help solve it. However, tools do not solve problems but rather people do. People are needed to apply tools. Basically, leaders have to learn to think differently and see their customers and business differently, that’s people development, not tools development.

One of the most common and most difficult to eradicate beliefs is that “Lean” is just a bunch of analytical tools and methods. By knowing and applying them, organizations often believe they will automatically — and forever more — increase their profitability. If this were the case, why are so many companies, institutions and agencies that have applied Lean tools not experiencing sustainable differences? Why is it that in many instances organizations, once started down the road of Continuous Improvement (with varying degrees of success for sure), break away and refocus on other initiatives the moment a new CEO or plant supervisor comes onboard? Are the tools not working? Is it just another consultant’s ruse, where the theory sounds great but doesn’t work in real life? Or, are the means and methods not being used properly?

Toyota's view is that the main method of Lean is not the tools, but the reduction of three types of waste: muda ("non-value-adding work"), muri ("overburden"), and mura ("unevenness"), to expose problems systematically and to use the tools where the ideal cannot be achieved. From this perspective, the tools are workarounds adapted to different situations, which explains any apparent incoherence of the principles above.

Lean goes beyond the tools to challenge our way of thinking. It is about learning to see opportunities and continually improving them. Lean is a system of tools and people that work together.

Lean Tips Edition #116 (1741 -1755)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #1741 - Focus On Your Highest Priorities

Every day, organize your to-do list with the five highest priority items at the top, and have your employees do the same. Having an unorganized task list keeps you from tackling the most pressing items and dampens corporate morale when little seems to have been accomplished. Just make sure that your daily “top five” list is doable – you may need to break down your larger deliverables into smaller tasks.

Lean Tip #1742 - Hold More Efficient Meetings

Communication is the number one success factor in keeping your operations flowing smoothly. With that in mind, hold a daily huddle with your team of employees and share everyone’s top five priorities for the day. Keep the meeting brief though: Anything longer than 10 minutes might be wasting more time than you’re saving. If you’re having trouble finishing in less than 10 minutes, try standing instead of sitting.

Lean Tip #1743 - Make Process Control More Visual

Visual control systems include signs, displays and devices in your operations’ workflow that help you identify the current step in a process, the schedule for the next task in a project or any current problems in the process. Visual controls vary for every setting, but the interface of your visual control system should be intuitive and help employees work more effectively.

Lean Tip #1744 - Don’t Try a Solution before You Really Understand the Problem

You might start out believing you know where the problem is in your processes. You might already have a solution in mind. However, if you start out by changing processes without analyzing the problem, you may find that the problem isn’t what you thought it was. You may even make it worse.

Bring together people with different perspectives on the problem in your process. Talk about what everyone thinks is going wrong and listen to their ideas about solutions. It’s likely you’ll get insight you didn’t anticipate so you can make better solutions.

Lean Tip #1745 - Management Must Model the New Rules

This should go without saying, but nothing will undermine the effectiveness of but nothing will undermine a new business process faster than management not following the new rules. The rules are either there for everyone, or they’re there for no one.

Once management starts to “cheat” on the new process, people take it as a sign that the process is no good, and everyone will look for ways to cheat. Chaos will result as everyone is looking for shortcuts and doing things the way they want them done (often the way that sloughs the most work off their desk and onto someone else’s).

Lean Tip #1746 - Look for Quick Wins

Tremendous work goes into the process of planning for, designing, and implementing new practices. The team, the sponsors, and you will need some quick wins to help you look for—and even sometimes wait for—the long-term results that will unfold from your efforts. Set achievable interim goals to gain quick wins, and they will keep you going, providing crucial momentum that enhances the likelihood you will ultimately realize the full benefits that come from continuous process improvement.

Lean Tip #1747 - Plan for Long-Term Continuous Improvements

The greatest benefit can come from a continuous process of improving the way work is done. It takes time for people to learn and solidify new practices, recognize that their world does not end because certain old ways of working have been eliminated, and to appreciate the benefits that change can bring.

Lean Tip #1748 - Keep Track of Successes

Success stories can be useful when you’re trying to shore up stakeholder support and bring along reluctant members of the team. They serve as evidence that you’re on the right track with your overall plan, and they remind everyone that all the hard work pays off in the end.

Lean Tip #1749 - Give the New Process a Chance

A new process takes time to show its value. A new process will seem harder to many employees at first because it’s different, and it may seem slower for a while as everyone is learning their new roles and responsibilities. You have to stick to your new process long enough for everyone to learn it thoroughly and follow it smoothly before you can truly assess its impact.

Lean Tip #1750 - Implement Standard Work

Standard work is one of the most powerful but least used lean tools to maintain improved process performance. By documenting the current best practice, standardized work forms the baseline for further continuous improvement. As the standard is improved, the new standard becomes the baseline for further improvements, and so on.

Lean Tip #1751 – Measure the Effectiveness of the Process.

Ask yourself how you can measure things such as service levels, productivity or throughput. Match these metrics to your processes and ensure they are measured during regular intervals. Set targets for each metric and inform your staff on what is expected in terms of performance. Re-visit these metrics and increase the targets as your business grows and operations change to encourage continuous improvement.

Lean Tip #1752 - Display Metrics to Reinforce the Process Improvements

Metrics play an integral and critical role in process improvement efforts by providing signs of the effectiveness and the efficiency of the process improvement itself. Posting “before and after” metrics in the work area to highlight improvements can be very motivating to the team.   Workers see their hard work paying off. It is important to keep the metric current because it will be one of the first indicators if your process starts reverting.

Lean Tip #1753 - Define Your Current Processes.

To understand where you want to be, you have to understand where you are today. By obtaining a step-by-step description of each process, including all the people, documentation and systems involved, you can get a better idea on how to improve the processes. This activity is best tackled by involving everyone using with the process.  It can be a great way to team-build and set a future vision for the company.

Lean Tip #1754 – Determine Customer Value.

Now that you understand how your processes are currently working, you can brainstorm ways to make them better. A key question to ask at this stage is whether each activity is value-adding? Value-adding activities are the activities that your customer wouldn’t mind paying for as they are either part of product/service delivery or are considered to be necessary ‘overhead.’ If you were a customer, would you want to pay for it?

Lean Tip #1755 - Strive to Continuously Improve.

Business process improvement is not meant to be an ‘overnight’ fix that occurs in singularity. It requires the continual and aligned effort of your entire team. Make improvement activities fun and reward your staff for their effort. Collect suggestions, identify change champions and celebrate your successes. This will help build a culture of continuous improvement.

As you grow, keep in mind that Business Process Improvement is all about the journey, not the destination. Your processes are the highways to delivering value to your customers; don’t get stuck in the slow lane!

Lean Quote: Lean is Meant to Involve the Whole Company

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.

"Lean isn’t Lean if it doesn’t involve everyone." — John Shook

Lean is meant to involve the whole company. It is not intended to be put into action in only one area. It is a management philosophy which should include every part of your organization. This helps promote the concept that everyone in the company is part of the team. True Lean manufacturing needs the involvement of everyone coming into contact with the company’s product and its customer.

Lean doesn’t work unless everyone is involved and has input. We must involve employees in the continuous improvement process because the people actually carrying out the job know how to do that job better. The best companies in the world tap the creativity and talent of the whole organization and not just a select few.

The lack of ongoing employee involvement at the shop-floor level has been identified as a major reason for the non-sustainability of Lean in the organization. When there is a lack of staff involvement, and management fails to seek employee input on critical decisions, employees may feel dejected and detached from the organization.

Employee involvement cultivates an atmosphere of collaboration, increases retention of talented staff, and intensifies dedication and commitment. Employees develop a sense of ownership over proposed changes when they are involved.  Employee engagement can not only make a real difference, it can set the great organizations apart from the merely good ones.

2 Second Lean 3rd Edition Book Review

Paul Akers, founder and president of FastCap, has published his first book 2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture at Work and at Home. I have been following Paul for several years as he has built FastCap into one of the model Lean Companies in this modern age. So now that Paul has published his story I was delighted to take the opportunity to learn more.

2 Second Lean is different than most books on the marketing written about Lean manufacturing/thinking. This book isn’t really about Lean or continuous improvement but rather the transformation of a leader. The story chronicles one man’s personal journey with the discovery of Lean and how he implemented it in his business and personal life. This personal touch makes the lessons Paul presents more relevant and lasting.

Paul describes his personal journey beginning with a total ignorance of Lean thinking, all the way to being one of Lean's greatest success stories. Paul illustrates the struggle many organizations face when their understanding of Lean is centered only around tools. To quote Paul, “Using Lean as only a tool will leave you disappointed. It is much more than that.” He learns from Domo Arigoto, Vice President of Lexus, “The most important thing for Toyota is people – teaching and training people in a culture of continuous improvement.” This is the turning point for Paul and FastCap.

In 2 Second Lean Paul outlines the steps that he personally used to transform the culture of FastCap. His approach may be a bit unorthodox as he advocates starting in the bathroom but it is simplicity that he is after. Throughout the book Paul breaks down the concepts and thinking into simple easy to understand lessons. 

This book is a very quick read but offers a number of great resources buried within its covers. There are lots of colorful photos and examples throughout the book. If that wasn’t enough Paul even uses QR Codes to link to information and videos on his websites for more detailed learning. The end of each chapter concludes with “The One Thing” which is a synopsis of what you just learned which is followed up by questions to make you act on your own situation. This reinforces the lessons and substantiates the learning for readers. 

There is an audio version of the book that recorded. This is a real treat to listen to since Paul is such a passionate personality. Anyone who knows Paul knows the energy he brings to this topic. Paul goes off script from the book but adds great value. Since the stories are so personal he ad libs throughout the recording adding some new tibits to ponder.

Paul says’, “At the end of the day everyone is a process engineer.” If you want something to stick as a leader you must expect it, inspect it, and reinforce it. Paul has simplified a rather complex process down into a simple phrase: "Identify what bugs you and fix it." Paul shows us that Lean can and should be fun.

In the 3rd edition Paul added 5 new chapters which basically answer common questions he gets. There a is a chapter on Lean Leadership why you want a Lean All-Star. Paul talks about the use of videos to put Lean on afterburners. He also shares his new building and how Lean thinking was incorporated in the design. There is also a chapter on touring his company FastCap.

I highly recommend reading this book and even further endorse the audio portion. You will find 2 Second Lean a fun, memorable, and valuable account into Lean. This story and its lessons is something everyone can benefit from personally and professionally.