By Pascal Dennis
Ithaca, the famous poem by Cavafy expresses this idea beautifully.
Cavafy is referring of course to Odysseus, one of literature's greatest heroes, who fickle gods condemned to wander for twenty years.
Here's a link to a fine reading by Sean Connery (!) with music by Vangelis.
Powerful, no?
Let's keep Ithaca in mind as we embark on the adventure of change.
Odysseus' journey took twenty years.
Ours may take as long, or even longer.
But think of all we'll learn & experience.
Cheers,
Pascal
Monday, January 14, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Poke Yoke – Preventing Inadvertent Errors
By Al Norval
We talk a lot about the House of Lean with its foundation of Standards & Stability and the two pillars of Just In Time and Jidoka supporting a roof of Customer and Strategic Direction which together encompass engaged Team Members continually solving problems.
All of this makes sense but what is this Japanese word – Jidoka?
It’s built in quality at the source. Rather than try to inspect and test quality in by looking for defects on finished product, a losing cause at best, lean organizations build in quality at the actual value added operation. That way defects can be caught early and they don’t have to reply as heavily on final inspection testing.
The big advantage to Jidoka is that by catching defects early in the process, they are closer to the actual process conditions that caused the defect and therefore closer to root cause. They can launch problem solving faster with a higher chance of getting to root cause since the process conditions wouldn’t have changed as much.
Jidoka has four parts:
This is where Poka Yoke comes in. It’s about the final step in Jidoka of preventing the re-occurrence of the defect. Lean organizations realize that errors are inevitable. Human beings make errors that cause defects. By eliminating the possibility of the error being made, defects could be eliminated. Poka Yoke is used to prevent these errors being made. Translated it means “Preventing inadvertent mistakes” since it’s believed people don’t make mistakes on purpose. This is consistent with the lean principle of “Respect for People”
The best Poka Yoke devices are physical devices that eliminate the possibility of an error occurring. Weaker Poka Yoke countermeasures would be signs and warning systems but these could be overridden and the error could still occur.
Organizations are always looking for ways to get employees involved and having teams develop Poka Yoke devices that prevent errors from being made is a great way to do this. It’s a win-win. Employees are engaged in problem solving, quality gets better for customers.
For more on Poke Yoke, see The Lean Pathways “LEAN MANIFESTO”
Cheers
We talk a lot about the House of Lean with its foundation of Standards & Stability and the two pillars of Just In Time and Jidoka supporting a roof of Customer and Strategic Direction which together encompass engaged Team Members continually solving problems.
All of this makes sense but what is this Japanese word – Jidoka?
It’s built in quality at the source. Rather than try to inspect and test quality in by looking for defects on finished product, a losing cause at best, lean organizations build in quality at the actual value added operation. That way defects can be caught early and they don’t have to reply as heavily on final inspection testing.
The big advantage to Jidoka is that by catching defects early in the process, they are closer to the actual process conditions that caused the defect and therefore closer to root cause. They can launch problem solving faster with a higher chance of getting to root cause since the process conditions wouldn’t have changed as much.
Jidoka has four parts:
- Detecting defects
- Alerting or signaling a problem
- Immediate response - temporary countermeasures to get running again
- Root cause problem solving and countermeasures to prevent the occurrence of the defect.
This is where Poka Yoke comes in. It’s about the final step in Jidoka of preventing the re-occurrence of the defect. Lean organizations realize that errors are inevitable. Human beings make errors that cause defects. By eliminating the possibility of the error being made, defects could be eliminated. Poka Yoke is used to prevent these errors being made. Translated it means “Preventing inadvertent mistakes” since it’s believed people don’t make mistakes on purpose. This is consistent with the lean principle of “Respect for People”
The best Poka Yoke devices are physical devices that eliminate the possibility of an error occurring. Weaker Poka Yoke countermeasures would be signs and warning systems but these could be overridden and the error could still occur.
Organizations are always looking for ways to get employees involved and having teams develop Poka Yoke devices that prevent errors from being made is a great way to do this. It’s a win-win. Employees are engaged in problem solving, quality gets better for customers.
For more on Poke Yoke, see The Lean Pathways “LEAN MANIFESTO”
Cheers
Monday, January 7, 2013
Lean Design is Hard Work
By Al Norval
I was talking to a VP of Research recently who espoused the idea that “You can’t schedule inventions”. While I agree with him, he went on to say “Therefore, there is no merit in applying lean to design work”. That’s the part I disagree with him on. While the odd invention happens in a flash of brilliance most are the result of tirelessly applying the scientific method. For every discovery of penicillin as moldy bread there are a hundred others that are the result of a process of experimentation and testing the results against a hypothesis.
Experimentation, testing and trialing are processes and all processes are made up of both value added and non-value added steps. In design processes, like most processes, the vast majority of the lead-time is waste. Lean enables the elimination of waste in these processes so the time to cycle through these processes is reduced. The cycle time for an experiment may be reduced from 4 weeks to 2 weeks and eventually to 1 week. While no one can predict how many experimental cycles will be needed, what is certain is that the shorter the experimental cycle, the faster we learn and the faster we’ll reach our end goal.
Thomas Edison had a wonderful quote that captures this beautifully.
Using lean in design work allows us to reduce the amount of perspiration required.
Design is hard work. Using lean to eliminate waste in design processes allows us to focus more of our energy on things that truly drive value add to our customers. Isn’t that the purpose of design in the first place?
Cheers
I was talking to a VP of Research recently who espoused the idea that “You can’t schedule inventions”. While I agree with him, he went on to say “Therefore, there is no merit in applying lean to design work”. That’s the part I disagree with him on. While the odd invention happens in a flash of brilliance most are the result of tirelessly applying the scientific method. For every discovery of penicillin as moldy bread there are a hundred others that are the result of a process of experimentation and testing the results against a hypothesis.
Experimentation, testing and trialing are processes and all processes are made up of both value added and non-value added steps. In design processes, like most processes, the vast majority of the lead-time is waste. Lean enables the elimination of waste in these processes so the time to cycle through these processes is reduced. The cycle time for an experiment may be reduced from 4 weeks to 2 weeks and eventually to 1 week. While no one can predict how many experimental cycles will be needed, what is certain is that the shorter the experimental cycle, the faster we learn and the faster we’ll reach our end goal.
Thomas Edison had a wonderful quote that captures this beautifully.
“None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”
– Thomas Alva Edison
Using lean in design work allows us to reduce the amount of perspiration required.
Design is hard work. Using lean to eliminate waste in design processes allows us to focus more of our energy on things that truly drive value add to our customers. Isn’t that the purpose of design in the first place?
Cheers
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Children or Raccoons - Economy II Gone Mad?
By Pascal Dennis
Our neighbourhood is infested with destructive, aggressive raccoons.
Raccoons are neither cute nor lovable. They're nasty, aggressive & dangerous.
Raccoon poop contains parasites deadly to children.
Parents are afraid to let their children play in backyards, for fear they'll be exposed.
Raccoons destroy property & impose costly repair bills - which fall disproportionately on people who can least afford them.
As in many cities across North America, Toronto's raccoon population is expanding and becoming more aggressive.
Other jurisdictions (e.g. California, Germany) have taken firm measures to reduce the risk posed by urban raccoons.
But in Toronto, if you harm a raccoon you'll be charged and could be imprisoned. Even if you're a poor man driven to distraction by the damage they wreak.
Who is the City of Toronto's customer?
Clearly, it's not Toronto citizens & their children.
In fact, the City will go to great lengths to ensure the safety & comfort of raccoons - at the expense of citizens & their children.
We need to help Economy II - (public services, health care, education, NGO's...) - improve customer service (i.e. Safety, Quality, Service), while reducing Cost.
The first step in this essential journey is asking, "Who is my customer?" and "What do they need?"
(The underlying value is Respect for People.)
Toronto's raccoon fiasco suggests the City isn't interested.
How do we get their - or any public mandarin's attention?
Regards,
Pascal
Our neighbourhood is infested with destructive, aggressive raccoons.
Raccoons are neither cute nor lovable. They're nasty, aggressive & dangerous.
Raccoon poop contains parasites deadly to children.
Parents are afraid to let their children play in backyards, for fear they'll be exposed.
Raccoons destroy property & impose costly repair bills - which fall disproportionately on people who can least afford them.
As in many cities across North America, Toronto's raccoon population is expanding and becoming more aggressive.
Other jurisdictions (e.g. California, Germany) have taken firm measures to reduce the risk posed by urban raccoons.
But in Toronto, if you harm a raccoon you'll be charged and could be imprisoned. Even if you're a poor man driven to distraction by the damage they wreak.
Who is the City of Toronto's customer?
Clearly, it's not Toronto citizens & their children.
In fact, the City will go to great lengths to ensure the safety & comfort of raccoons - at the expense of citizens & their children.
We need to help Economy II - (public services, health care, education, NGO's...) - improve customer service (i.e. Safety, Quality, Service), while reducing Cost.
The first step in this essential journey is asking, "Who is my customer?" and "What do they need?"
(The underlying value is Respect for People.)
Toronto's raccoon fiasco suggests the City isn't interested.
How do we get their - or any public mandarin's attention?
Regards,
Pascal
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