7 WA S T E S O F C H A N G E M A N A G E M E N T

W W W . L E A N C H A N G E . O R GJASON LITTLE

@JASONLITTLE

7 WASTES OF LEAN

INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION

EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION

WAITING

DEFECTS

MOTION

Raw materials, un-finished work, stuff not required to deliver customer orders

Re-work, extra manufacturing steps, handling as a result of defects or too much inventory

Queuing, idle downstream processes which leads to downstream teams doing non-value added activities

Continuing with operational processes when they should have stopped

Un-necessary movement of materials that are in progress (WIP)

Extra steps due to inefficient process layout, defects, re-work, over-production or inventory

Products or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specshttp://www.leaninnovations.ca/seven_types.html

7 WASTES OF SOFTWARE

INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION

EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION

WAITING

DEFECTS

MOTION

PARTIALLY DONE WORK

RELEARNING

DELAYS

EXTRA FEATURES

HANDOFFS

TASK SWITCHING

Un-finished features require extra processing (code management etc)

Defining too many requirements too soon causes relearning

Long feedback cycles, waiting for teams to be available, too much work in progress (WIP)

Building stuff the customer doesn’t want or need

Handing work off between functional groups

Products or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs

Too much work in progress (WIP), people working on multiple projects

http://agile.dzone.com/articles/seven-wastes-software

7 WASTES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION

EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION

WAITING

DEFECTS

MOTION

PARTIALLY DONE WORK

RELEARNING

DELAYS

EXTRA FEATURES

HANDOFFS

TASK SWITCHING

OVERPLANNING

UNVALIDATED CHANGES

HMM? TOUGH ONE!

TOO MANY CHANGES

CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATION

FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESS

UN-PREDICTED OUTCOMES?

INVENTORY, PARTIALLY DONE WORK

LEAN - INVENTORYRaw materials, un-finished work, stuff not required to deliver customer orders

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - OVER PLANNINGCreating plans too far in advance and over-producing documentation to adhere to non-value added process and governance. !Symptoms include time spent on updating documentation that isn’t useful, “analysis paralysis” by spending too much time thinking about a change. !Solutions include producing documentation that is useful and by planning more frequently, and in smaller batches. Also consider stopping changes that fall off the rails instead of “trying to make them stick”.

“The change team can become exhausted by too much

change too!”

SOFTWARE - PARTIALLY DONE WORKUn-finished features requires extra processing (code management etc)

OVER PRODUCTION, EXTRA FEATURES

LEAN - oVER PRODUCTIONContinuing with operational processes when they should have stopped

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - TOO MANY CHANGESCreating, and executing, too many changes simultaneously leads to thrashing, chaos and change fatigue. !Symptoms include planning too far in advance, possibly to satisfy stakeholders’ needs for the illusion feeling of certainty. !Solutions include visualizing changes on a big-visible board which leads to the realization that too many changes are in progress. Also include more frequent feedback loops and leaving the ‘plans’ for changes that are further away lighter on detail.

“Sometimes executing change is a ‘wait and see’ process”

SOFTWARE - EXTRA FEATURESBuilding stuff the customer doesn’t want or need

EXTRA PROCESSING, RELEARNING

LEAN - EXTRA PROCESSINGRe-work, extra manufacturing steps, handling as a result of defects or too much inventory

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - UNVALIDATED CHANGESAssuming the changes being executed are the right ones because of ‘best practice’ thinking. !Symptoms include focus on ‘change resistance’, working on big changes that are risky and have extremely uncertain outcomes. !Solutions include co-creating change by involving the people affected by the change in the design of change. Visualizing changes on a big visible wall and using change canvases to build and communicate changes.

“People resist change when they don’t feel they have a choice”

SOFTWARE - RELEARNINGDefining too many requirements too soon causes relearning

TRANSPORTATION, HANDOFFS

LEAN - TRANSPORTATIONUn-necessary movement of materials that are in progress (WIP)

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATIONCreating changes in isolation without any feedback from the people affected. !Symptoms include spinning on which changes to do as a result of no feedback. Falling into the “expert trap” results in constant redesign of changes when there is no feedback to validate their the right ones. !Solutions include making changes that are being designed visible to the people affected by the change. “The plan” doesn’t always have to be perfect, some outcomes of change are unknowable unknowns.

“If you’re doing change management in the office with the

door closed, you’re doing it wrong!” - Heather Stagl

SOFTWARE - HANDOFFSHanding work off between functional groups

WAITING, DELAYS?

LEAN - WAITINGQueuing, idle downstream processes which leads to downstream teams doing non-value added activities

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - THIS IS GOOD THING!Not waiting for changes to show an outcome is the problem! !Symptoms include knee jerk reactions to not getting results soon enough. That leads to the desire to pile on more changes. Another symptom is the desire to keep the change team busy because idleness is perceived to be inefficient and costly. !Solutions include understanding the natural pace of change by using the outcomes of previous changes as input to new changes. Also, use hypotheses and experimentation thinking. Time-box experiments…and make that visible!

“Change fatigue happens when the change team feels they need to

‘keep busy’”

SOFTWARE - DELAYSLong feedback cycles, waiting for teams to be available, too much work in progress (WIP)

MOTION

LEAN - MOTIONExtra steps due to inefficient process layout, defects, re-work, over-production or inventory

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESSESBest practice thinking leads to the change team following a process and doing ‘busy work’ such as over-producing documents and updating Sharepoint sites to satisfy non-value added governance processes. !Symptoms include talking about following processes (“but the process is…!”) instead of focusing on change outcomes. Not measuring the effectiveness of communication programs leads to doing low-value work such as sending out newsletters no one reads. !Solutions include creating your own change management process based on picking practices that make more sense for your organization.

“Following process causes change teams to stop focusing on

outcomes”

SOFTWARE - TASK SWITCHINGToo much work in progress (WIP), people working on multiple projects

DEFECTS?

LEAN - DEFECTSProducts or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - UNPREDICTED OUTCOMESSolely focusing on numerical measurements that don’t tell the whole story. !Symptoms include updating the business case ROI when the change project is done to match what actually happened or blaming people affected by the change because they resisted the change. !Solutions include mixing qualitative, quantitative, leading and lagging indicators as well as diagnostics that accept the uncertainty of organizational change.

“Organizational change is extremely difficult to predict, mix measures

with diagnostics”

SOFTWARE - DEFECTSProducts or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs.

7 5 WASTES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

OVERPLANNING

UNVALIDATED CHANGES

WAITING IS GOOD!

TOO MANY CHANGES

CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATION

FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESS

CRYSTAL BALL?

Balance plan-driven and feedback-driven approaches. Challenge your governance process.

Avoid change fatigue by limited the number of simultaneous changes and break down big changes into smaller chunks.

Avoid assuming the change you want to implement is the right one based on “best practice” thinking.

Avoid the ‘expert trap’ and talk to the people affected by the change before implementing it.

Following “best practice” processes leads to focus on process, not meaningful change.

Outcomes will take a while. Relax! This isn’t waste, this is a good thing! Avoid keeping ‘busy’ for optics purposes.

Gut feel based on experience will help you “know” the change you’re working on is the right one. But! Try as you may, you cannot predict the outcome to a reasonable degree of certainty and more importantly you can’t get predictable results every time.

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