Grassroots Change

Little’s Law goes a long way

Joey Valdez — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:10:50 +0000

One of the most useful equations to understand in process management is Little’s Law, which ties together the concept of lead time, work-in-process, and completion rates. Lead time (LT) is essentially the time it takes to deliver one’s service/product, once it has been requested. Work-in-process (WIP) refers to anything that is currently waiting to be finished–people in line, requests/reports to be finished, etc. Completion rate (CR) is the time it takes to finish processing each item (i.e., minutes, hours, days, weeks). Simply put, Little’s Law states that:

Lead Time (LT) = Amount of Work-in-Process (WIP)
Average Completion Rate (CR)

This is extremely useful in understanding and improving processes–we can reduce lead time by reducing WIP or increasing CR. The simple act of tracking lead times allows us to see, understand, and reduce variations in our processes, which is the foundation of quality control.

Imagineering at work

Joey Valdez — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:01:47 +0000

Most of us in the working world have heard the term “think out of the box” many times, because we are asked – implicitly or explicitly – to apply this principle in our work all the time. Rather than get foolishly frustrated by the lack of team creativity, organizations should provide visual cues in the work place to help people generate innovative ideas as well as provide an atmosphere that fosters creativity. People can be taught to be more creative, and the best way is to make it a daily habit. An iBoard (ideas, inspiration, or imagination?), where people can regularly post and share materials – from photos and magazine clippings to lists of words and websites, as well as personal observations, experiences and stories – could help stimulate creative thinking in groups and individuals. That way, people get excited about that next brainstorming session, which translate to more and better ideas generated.

Agile learning

Joey Valdez — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 13:13:28 +0000

The Agile Manifesto summarizes the underlying philosophy and approach behind one of the hottest new computer programming languages called Ruby on Rails:

individuals and interactions over processes and tools
working software over comprehensive documentation
customer collaboration over contract negotiation
responding to change over following a plan

These principles easily map onto how change should be managed in organizations. Just like a programming language, organizations need to be agile in order to accommodate changing needs and environments, or face the prospect of being obsolete and outclassed by the competition.

From Deming to Wooden

Joey Valdez — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 04:52:52 +0000

“Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership.”
As one of the pillars of W. Edward Deming’s 14 KEY PRINCIPLES for management, leadership is perhaps the most critical, and the most difficult to learn. John Wooden, easily the most celebrated coach in college basketball, developed the PYRAMID OF SUCCESS, where we can glean the attributes, behaviors, and values for successful leadership. Coach Wooden won ten championships in a dozen years of coaching at UCLA–we can certainly learn something useful from someone who successfully managed all those huge egos within a competitive environment.

Hit the road, Jack?

Joey Valdez — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:20:55 +0000

The July 11 issue of Fortune magazine turned a critical eye on Jack Welch’s formula for corporate success, identifying the “new” rules, which include the need for organizational agility, innovation outsourcing, niche-making, and customer-orientedness, among others (CLICK HERE to read the article online) . Younger CEOs are embracing a paradigm for success and improvement that de-emphasizes measurement and no-nonsense management in favor of “softer” attributes such as passion, creativity, and vision. Sometimes it seems like a no-brainer, but it’s much harder to motivate people without the profit incentive.

Barriers to successful change

Joey Valdez — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:51:07 +0000

Some of the barriers to success in improvement efforts include:

there’s just no time to do it
competing priorities and agendas
no buy-in from key decision-makers and opinion leaders
staff resistance to change
change proposed is too big and ambitious
change proposed is not exciting nor relevant
poor team communication
people fear change
lack of evidence of effectiveness
roles are not well-defined
added work
too many (unproductive) meetings

Which of these are the most significant, and how could we overcome the challenges they provide?

Dimensions of change

Joey Valdez — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 18:00:56 +0000

What are some of the more difficult questions organizations face? There are some – like how to balance productivity and creativity, how to encourage more conversations, or how to make measuring performance less of a burden – that can be solved by reallocating resources or by changing the system’s environmental parameters. The toughest ones deal with how to make strategic tradeoffs, how to lead effectively, and how to understand and predict users’ needs, because these are all influenced directly by forces outside the organization. Answers to these questions have a direct connection with the external aspects of an organization—both perceived and real.

Of course, experience also plays a key role in the search for answers, and making big mistakes often provides the greatest opportunity for learning.

Getting things done

Joey Valdez — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 22:12:56 +0000

Many improvement projects drag on for months with no clear direction or outcome, wasting organizational resources and damaging group morale. They fail not because of lack of innovation or managerial support, but because of poor execution. Basketball offers a powerful analogy on how to get things done. What happens both off the court—during timeouts and half time breaks—and on the court influence how well a team executes during a given game. Meetings and planning sessions are the off-court activities that need to be productive in order for a change team’s “on-court” performance to be well executed.

Design matters

Joey Valdez — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 21:43:16 +0000

Here are some useful principles, approaches, and concepts culled from (human factors) design:

The Don’t Make Them Think Principle. Standardizing processes, creating rituals, and the K.I.S.S. concept go a long way.
The Boomerang Principle. Providing good system feedback to users – like “you are here” or “the road ahead” maps -and ensuring the primacy of user safety is non-negotiable.
The Ctrl-Z Principle. Creating a system that is error-forgiving – where you provide a way for people to retrace their steps and undo the “oops” and “uh-ohs” – is important because we are wired to make errors and mistakes.
The Woah! – Bang! Principle. Start (woah!) and end (bang!) well – first impressions and first encounters matter more than we think, and ending with an uptick makes people remember the experience better. Having unexpected extras in between also enhances the experience.
The Coffee or Tea? Principle. Providing users a choice builds commitment, and makes people invested in the process.
The Don’t Mess with Mr. In-Between Principle. Just like the song, accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative – especially waste. Behavioral scientists also suggest to lump up and do away with the bad things first, and to release “goodies” at intervals.
The 800-Pound Gorilla Principle. Use metaphors, analogies, and themes to communicate ideas and concepts effectively. Is your organization a lemon, or is it the 800-pound gorilla everyone tries to emulate?

Fishy musings

Joey Valdez — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 21:58:46 +0000

Some things amateur marine aquarists learn (the hard way):
1) make sure the specific needs of each specimen are met (otherwise, they’ll waste away); 2) the fish are compatible with one another; 3) the tank has enough room for them to swim around; 4) temperature fluctuations are kept to a minimum; 5) there is vigorous water circulation; 6) there is good water quality by checking chemical parameters and replacing dirty water with fresh water on a regular basis; 7) they are fed properly, on schedule.
The direct analogies with our working environments are plenty and somewhat obvious. It’s also interesting to note that the success rate for novice aquarists is quite low. As in all things, patience and constant conscientiousness pay dividends.