Professor, IThe University of Michigan President Liker

Lean as Mindset Change through Daily Practice

Jeffrey K. LikerProfessor, IThe University of Michigan President Liker Lean Advisors

Lean Forum BreakoutOlso, NorwayOctober 24, 2014

Even educated, intelligent people can assume they understand the problem and jump to solutions

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

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Problem: Humans Prefer Fast Thinking

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Whack a Mole!

Source: Mike Rother

Source: Mike Rother

New Moles will pop up faster then we can eliminate them!

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Source: Mike Rother

IMPROVEMENT THROUGH PDCA IS HIGHLY FOCUSED

THE IMPROVEMENT KATA MODEL

Understandthe Directionor Challenge

Grasp theCurrent

Condition

Establish theNext TargetCondition

CC

TC

1 2 3 4Iterate

Toward the Target Condition

Planning Executing

It starts with planning before acting. 1. What is the next big business challenge? (1-5 years)2. Where are we today?3. What is the next target condition we will strive for? (2-6 weeks)

Source: Mike Rother

Deliberate Practice Requires Repeated Patterns

Kata are structured routines to practicedeliberately, especially at the beginning, so their pattern

becomes a habit and leaves you with new abilities

To Learn any Complex skill• Break down to component skills• Practice drills for each step• Build effective routines and

mindset in a team or organization.

“Let’s begin by practicing it this way for a while.”

Source: Mike Rother

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VIDEO - A Way the Brain Learns(2 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87gAlso available on the IK/CK YouTube Channel

Strive Toward the Target Conditionthrough Iterative Learning

SMALL, RAPID EXPERIMENTSADVANCE YOUR KNOWLEDGE QUICKLY

Current Condition

Target Condition

Zone ofUncertainty

Source: Mike Rother

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GET FROM HERETO THERE!

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Forms available on theToyota Kata Website

Learner's Storyboard Mirrors Improvement Process

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html

HP Tronic(contract electronics manufacturer in Sweden) 

• 3‐year Challenge: Production volume 50% higher with the same personnel and floor space. 

• 2014 started four areas: Sales, Purchasing, Engineering and Quotation Group

• Conducted 150 PDCA experiments so far• Daily activity in each area with coaching cycles

One Example Target Condition

• Quotation Process– Defined work process for better integration sales, purchasing engineering

– 85% Requests for Quote complete within standard time 

Story Board In Action

MAKE VISUAL THE ITERATIONS

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Forms available on theToyota Kata Website

Learner's Storyboard

Recording Experiments

PDCA CYCLES RECORD

Visualization of Quotation Process

Results of Experiments

• Daily seven‐minute meeting in front of visual management board, a set meeting agenda 

• Participants feel more control and far better communication

• Achieving standard lead time increased from 60 % to 85% (May 2014) and 90% (June 2014) 

THE FIVE-QUESTION CARDUSED BY THE COACH

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Card is turned overto reflect on the last step / experiment

Back of card - Reflection Section

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What a Coaching Cycle Looks Like

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Learner

Coach

Coach and learner meet for at least one coaching cycle every day, related to Learner‘s target condition

The Learner's PDCA Cycles Record is not explained in this SlideShare

DAILY PRACTICE VERSUS EVENTS

In the EVENT-BASED Pattern Below What are we Learning?

Source: Mike Rother

Business as Usual