Lean For Everyone

Lean Language: Did you know there was a government mandate on "Plain Language"?

We confuse each other so often that President Clinton actually mandated simple language usage in government documents back in 1998.

 

 
I didn't know this ....did you?

In addition to being a great folk singer my brother-in-law Matt Watroba also taught high school English for several years.  We were having a discussion about lean and he mentioned this memorandum to me.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear about it.

"The Federal Government's writing must be in plain language. By using plain language, we send a clear message about what the Government is doing, what it requires, and what services it offers. Plain language saves the Government and the private sector time, effort, and money." - President Clinton's Memorandum.

 

Take a page or two from the government on how to write clearly.

Plain Language.gov has a ton of information about clear writing.  I was very impressed with their guidelines that they provide both in Word and PDF formats.

The guidelines are large font, wide spaced, concise, informative and very clearly written.  They are about 100 pages total but filled with useful information.

The basic guidelines remind me of how many web and blog pages are formatted these days.  A good example would be CNN which appears to use many of the same simple language techniques to distribute news to a wide audience.

 

How you distribute and convey important information to others is as critical as the information itself.  By simplifying your words you can remove the wasted effort of explanation and add more value to your conversations.

Looking at your entire process in a VSM is just like a scrambled word.

As lnog as you hvae the erinte prosces mepapd you wlil be albe to undnaretsd it.

"According to a researcher at an English university, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that first and last letter is at the right place.  The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without problem.  This is because we do not read every letter by itself but the word as a whole."
 -Languagehat

Always look at your process as a whole.

When beginning any improvement activity you should first have a view of your entire process.

Many companies just focus their attention on "squeaky wheel" issues and never understand their entire system.  By looking how value moves through an entire process stream you can then make informed decisions on how to improve it.

If you are only looking at part of the process, then you are only understanding part of the problem.

 

Wehn careintg a vaule stearm map alawys strat form the end and wrok bkcdawars.

When doing a VSM you start from the end of your process (the customer or shipping dock) and work upstream,  mapping each part till you reach the beginning.

Starting from the end is crucial so that you have that "last letter" in your VSM.  If you need some help doing your VSM use SIPOC diagramming to get you started.

By creating a current state Value Stream Map (VSM) you will be able to see the beginning, middle and end of the process.  This leads to a solid understanding of you  system and the foundation for improvements.

 

If you want to scramble your own words here is the link to a good scrambler application. If you want to unscramble your process then start with a Value Stream Map.

The secret to Lean is as easy as counting the number of "F's" in this sentence.

Count the number of 'F's in the following text:

---------------------------------------

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS

--------------------------------------

 

Old habits are hard to break.

Did you come up with 3 "F"s ?  I did when I first tried this little test.

If you answered 3 like most people,  then you made the same simple mistake the rest of us did.

Why?  Because your brain has been trained to interpret words a specific way.

 

Train your brain to solve problems in an alternative way.  Lean Thinking!!

By teaching your brain to see things from a different perspective you will quickly uncover issues that have been plaguing your company for years.

Once you realize that mass production, batch processing, silos, inventory, over production and work in process are wasteful items, you will have your "A-Ha" moment.  This is called seeing with "lean eyes".

ANSWER:

There are 6 "F's" in the sentence.

How certain were you that there were 3?  Do you have the same certainty about your company's processes?  Maybe it's time for some alternative thinking.

Use some lean thinking before giving someone directions to your house.

Your goal is to get someone from point A to point B so try and make it as concise and simple to do as possible.

I am geographically inept.  At any given moment I DON'T know east from west and I can get lost in the blink of an eye.

Because of this I am also an expert on confusing and poor quality directions.

The shortest driving distance between two points is not always the best route.

Directions that have me cutting through subdivisions and taking confusing turns are not helpful.

Driving a 1.5 ton vehicle and looking at every distracting street sign to see if this is the correct turn is how most drivers training films begin. 

How is this helping me?  How is it impacting the safety of the kids playing kickball in the neighborhood?

"A little while", "not far" and "aways" are NOT units of time or distance so why are you using them?

When giving directions it's ok to say 3-5 miles or 5 -10 minutes if your not 100% sure.  I just need to know that if I've been on the road for 10 miles or 30 minutes....I've definitely gone too far.

I recently had to tease this information out of someone when getting directions.  Example:

• They said "aways"
• I said "2 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles"
• They said "at least"
• I followed up with "35 miles"?
• The reply..."don't be silly.  It's about 10 miles."

I felt like I was playing " The High Low Game" on the Price is Right.

Before you start giving me 6 alternate sets of directions ....STOP.

I do not need to know every option available to me to get to the destination.  I need only 1 set of simple accurate directions.  Having options available to me is great however my ability to pick and choose my decision tree of options while driving at 65 mph in heavy traffic is not safe for anyone.

Write them down before saying them out loud.

I'm listening intently to the directions when I hear..."turn right at road X" followed by "no don't go that way". 

When this happens 3 or more times in one set of instructions I'm officially confused.  While driving I won't be able to remember which roads I am or am not supposed to take because they all sound familiar now.

BTW:  I've learned the hard way to write down what people tell me and then read the instructions back to them.  This is especially fun because they always change the directions when they hear them out loud.

Next time you go to give someone directions try to take the lean approach. Remember:  the goal is the destination, remove decision trees and simplify the instructions.  FWIW- All I need is an address these days...I own a navigation system.

Lean for the Home: Learn why mulching your lawn is much leaner than traditional bagging.

For 5 years I've bagged the grass clippings from my lawn.  Why?  Because that's how I always did it.  Now I'm realizing how silly I've been all these years.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the VOC and having a 45 mph lawn which got me thinking about my own yard.

How can I make mowing the lawn easier?

I first thought about mowing every 10 days instead of every 7 days or sharpening the blade every month. 

The next thing I did was immediately stop jumping to solutions.

Instead of "spitballing" I decided to take a Lean Six Sigma approach and  look at mowing the lawn as a process instead of a job.

I started by mapping the process.

Using SIPOC diagramming and Value Stream Mapping I mapped out my process and quickly came to the conclusion that bagging the grass clippings accounted for more than 50% of the work.

I had never realized this before because I had never looked at mowing the lawn as a process before.

Next I did a little brainstorming.

I looked at the map and thought about ways to simplify the process.  While thinking about easier ways to bag the grass clippings I had my "A-ha" moment.  WHY do I bag the clippings? 

I mentally replied the same answer I hear from most people when doing a 5 Why's....because that's what I've always done.

Mulching is a perfect alternative to bagging.

Here is a list of the biggest benefits.

• No more cost of lawn/leaf bags
• Less stopping of the mower thereby increasing flow
• I can cut any day of the week for easy scheduling (I used try to cut Thurs for Friday trash pickup)
• No lawn/leaf bags stinking up the garage
• No having to remember to buy lawn/leaf bags
• No hauling of lawn/leaf bags out to the curb
• I can cut the back and the front on different days (Since I'm not trying to make Friday trash pickup)
• Time to cut decreased by 65%

The only drawback I found was that I need to cut the grass about every 5 days as opposed to 7 days.

I've been cutting this way for about 3 weeks now and I love it.  My wife K. even noted that she can't tell that I mulched instead of bagged.   Now I just have to find a way to simplify picking up the dogs poop.

If you enjoyed this post please check out my entire series about "Lean for the Home"

Why you need to have a "lean eye" when doing any Merger and Acquisition deal.

Finding a "diamond in the rough" is the dream of any good M&A strategy and spotting where you can apply lean is a great place to start.

I've visited a lot of biotech companies and been taken on the "Disney Tour" of their facilities.  I've even given a few myself and they can be the most enlightening in regards to operational efficiency.

What is always readily identifiable is the presence or lack of lean methods being utilized.  This is a huge advantage when estimating the upside of a deal.

Part of any M&A deal is estimating the future growth potential of the company being acquired.

Most businesspeople focus on financial statements and sales forecasts coupled with marketing and industry data to scope a future deal.

All of these are needed to assess the possibility of an M&A but if these are taken into context with the current operational flow of the company,  you now have an excellent forecasting model. 

It's essentially a gemba walk for assessing the current state and/or future possibility of a lean implementation.

When you look at the numbers in context with their operations management you will see the future.

Here are some scenarios to ponder:

 

If all the financials look good and the company is not lean then the upside potential is very good.  Using lean methods would lead to and even more profitable company by reducing waste and increasing customer satisfaction.

If all the financials are just ok and the company is not using lean then the upside could still be very good.  Not only would you get the company at a reduced price but also have a huge upside from a lean implementation.

If the financials are just ok and the company is already using lean to keep costs low then the company might not have as much upside.  There could be a fundamental flaw in their business model where they missed the VOC or need additional lean implementation.

If the financials are terrible then the company is either using lean improperly or not at all.  You then have little upside unless your looking to acquire some type of proprietary technology or the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole of the company.  The only time this is a good value is if the poor financials are due ONLY to operational costs.

The presence or absence of lean in an organization can be a great indicator as to the future viability of any investment  So the next time you're going on the "Disney Tour" it might be worthwhile to bring a lean expert along for some additional guidance.

Book Review: The No Asshole Rule- Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton

Everyone has worked with an asshole at one time in their career but wouldn't it be great if you could identify them before they are hired?  How about a survival guide to working with them?

I recognized  past co-workers in this book.

The book contains several real life stories where the names were changed to protect the innocent. 

There were times I thought that the book was written by an insider in one of the companies I had worked at in the past.

 

It's almost like having a therapist  who understands your predicament.

The author makes you realize that you are not alone and that assholes are rampant in many organizations.

He even gives some examples of famous assholes and how they operated. Steve Jobs is probably the most recognizable to some of us.

 

How to Avoid "Asshole Poisoning" was my favorite section.

Being an asshole can be contagious.  Just by being in a room for a short period of time with an asshole can transform the nicest person into a temporary tyrant.

This is why it's important to keep assholes out of the work place.  If you have the flu you shouldn't go to work and infect others so if you have an asshole in your organization show him/her the door ASAP.

Other favorite sections include:

• Calculating a TCA (Total Cost of Assholes to Your Organization)
• Self-test: Are you a certified Asshole (Signs that your inner jerk is rearing its ugly head)
• Tips for Surviving Nasty People in the Workplace
• Why Assholes Fool Themselves

 

This book was recommended to me by Jim Baran a couple of months ago.  Since then I've recommended it to at least 25 others and used it to help a few people through some tough situations.  Give it a read...you won't be disappointed.