Can Lean & Agile Help to Fix Our Courts? Part 1

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Number 1 daughter, Eleanor, is a first year Law student at McGill University. She spends a lot of time in court, and is appalled at the hassle & confusion.

“It’s awful, Dad! I spend hours trying to find and make sense of things – and I’m a Law student! How do regular folks feel?” We've had some fine discussions, the gist of which I'd like to share today and over the next several blogs.

As it happens, I have some personal experience. A few years ago, I spent several days on a jury panel, waiting to see if I'd be picked to serve.

A handful of countries including U.K., America, and Canada have been lucky enough to inherit the British system of law & order.

Let me begin by saying I strongly believe it's our civic duty to support it.

The judge was a learned, humane and articulate man, who spoke eloquently of this same duty, and contrasted our system with those of other, less lucky countries.

Nonetheless, despite his eloquence, my commitment & that of my fellow jury panel members, our three days felt largely wasted...

Wasted in the Toyota Production System sense -- we experienced unnecessary delay, errors, over-processing, transportation and motion waste.

In the end very few of us were called as jury members. Many were frustrated by all the waste, and unlikely to want to serve again.

Our experience was no exception. Across America and Canada, court back-logs are reaching two & three years, and bad guys are getting off.

As ever, the problem is in the system, and not the people, who I found to be courteous & capable.

Here’s our challenge: How to preserve the integrity of a humane & splendid 19th century system -- while satisfying the needs of a 21st century society?

Can the principles of Lean and Agile, (both ‘children’ of the Toyota Production System) help?

If so, how?

More to come.

Best regards,

Pascal

Is Lean a Set of Principles or a Set of Tools?

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

“What is your thinking way, Pascal-san?”

Thanks all, for your thoughtful replies to the above question. Fine insights from many good people.

I’m reminded of a gemstone, that when held to the light reveals an array of color.

I suggested that Lean is a set of principles that turn into methods & tools, and that the latter may vary with the application.

Principles are ideas; methods are the action that bring them to life. To quote my friend & colleague, Skip Steward, “Principles and methods work hand in hand. Without one, the other will fail…”

A core principle like ‘Make Problems Visible’ will entail different methods in different situations. Different methods in, say, a consumer goods supply chain, than in a hospital pharmacy.

Much of my personal practice entails coaching senior executives. I start with the principles, which immediately gets their interest. Underlying message: “Lean is a transformational strategy, hard to do, but a game-changer.”

Starting with tools sends a different message. “Lean is like a skilled trade – helpful, useful, worth doing, but not a game-changer.”

Many of you wrote that Lean is a culture, a way of thinking. Well said, and I would add: we create a culture when a large group of people understand, absorb and consistently practice a set of principles.

Our Toyota senseis emphasized principles above all. A common question: “What is your thinking way?”

Lean principles (thinking) are the road to transformation. They open the door for elegant, intuitive and useful Lean methods, and help senior leaders understand Lean’s full potential.

Best regards,

Pascal

Reprise – You Respect Us

By Pascal Dennis

When I read about the seemingly endless trouble in Middle East, I think of all my friends and colleagues there, and hope they’re okay.

And I remember being in Egypt, a few years back, working with a famous international company.

It was just before the demonstrations in Tahrir Square that led to the Egyptian Spring and all subsequent turmoil.

My Egyptian colleagues were gracious, hospitable and hungry to learn. Dozens of questions on standardized work, visual management, problem solving, strategy deployment.

I answered as best I could, pleased to have such eager students. After each session, team members came up to shake my hand.

"We are so happy," a young fellow told me," to meet somebody like you."

"What do you mean - someone like me?" I asked.

"You respect us," he replied.

Somehow, sadly, this was an abnormality.

Lean principles, like Respect for People, seem to connect with fundamental human yearnings. The desire for safety, security and respect.

The desire to have a hand in designing, and improving, your work, and to creating value for your customer (both internal & external).

The desire to be part of a team, in a great enterprise.

During the same trip, I asked the senior executive sponsoring our work, about extremism in the Middle East.

"Invest and give people decent jobs," he replied, "and all that crap would disappear in no time."

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Does Lean Really Apply Outside of Manufacturing?

By Al Norval

Is Lean just a Manufacturing thing or does it apply outside of the factory? Many companies have made great improvements in Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost by applying Lean principles and techniques to their Manufacturing operations. But do we see the same huge improvements when we apply Lean outside the factory?

I often come across organizations that have made huge gains in their Manufacturing operations but are reluctant to go farther and apply the same Lean principles outside of Manufacturing. Some go so far as to apply Lean to their Warehousing and Transportation networks as they connect their Manufacturing operations to their Customers but most fall short of making a true value stream where value is flowed from Suppliers all the way through to Customers.

They are happy with where they are but unfortunately can’t reap the benefits of applying Lean to the other main parts of their enterprise including Design & Engineering processes, Sales & marketing processes and to their support operations like Finance, Human Resources, and Information Technology. They never get to form a true value stream and they limit their ability to drive increased value propositions to their Customers.

Make no mistake about it, there is synergy that comes from applying Lean to all areas of the enterprise. The improvements are multiplied and new ways are constantly found to reduce waste in all parts of the enterprise driving more and more value through to Customers.

Why do companies behave this way, when the potential gains are so huge?

I don’t have any definitive research but my instincts tell me, that driving improvements in manufacturing processes that we can see in one thing and people can grasp it but driving improvement in invisible office processes is another thing and most people, no matter how smart they are, have trouble with this concept.

How do we see a Design process? How do we see a product promotion process? How do we see a year-end close process? We need to make these invisible processes, which reside mainly in the computer - visible.

I like the old mantra:

1. All work is a process
   


2. All processes have waste
   


3. Therefore all processes can be improved
   

The trick is to make office and knowledge work processes visible. Try getting a team together and mapping them out. You’ll be amazed at the waste you find and after you take that waste out, you’ll be amazed at how much more waste you find.

A value stream is both material & information flow. If we only improve the material flow, we’ll reach a point where materials flow faster than the information they need to go to the next operation. Information becomes the bottleneck and so becomes the next area of improvement.

Does Lean apply outside of Manufacturing? Absolutely! We just have to learn to see and make visible the waste in these processes.

Cheers

Government – the Land of Waste?

By Pascal Dennis

Canada's legal system is in crisis.

The Seven Deadly Wastes -- delay, over-processing, errors, inventory and so on -- are reportedly at epidemic levels.

As for Knowledge waste, don't even ask...

Are things any better in the US or UK?

My American & British chums tell me it's pretty much the same in their countries.

What's the effect of all the waste in Canada's legal system?

Cases are being thrown out of court because of excessive delay.

Bad guys are getting away with theft, assault and worse.

The situation begs a question:

Can we apply Lean principles to 19th century institutions such as government and its affiliates?

And it's corollary: Can we engage civil servants in continuous improvement?

In my view, we have no choice -- good governance is more important than ever.

Governance, in my view, has always been the "secret sauce" of Western democracies.

As inept as our governments have often been, the alternatives were always much worse.

Historically, we've been able to muddle through, doing just okay, while avoiding the worst.

Given our competitive challenges, Is muddling through good enough today?

Contrary to popular opinion, I believe civil servants are, for the most part, honest and dedicated.

Like most people, they want to do a good job. They deserve the right to pride in their work.

But they're often trapped in antediluvian management systems that lack professional leadership and oversight.

(A senior deputy minister once told me, "There is no Check or Adjust phase in government...")

So, let me ask the question again:

"How will we engage civil servants in continuous improvement?"

Our safety, security and prosperity depend on it.

Cheers,