How To Scope A Lean Event

How to Scope a Lean Event

Abstract

As we all know, anything poorly scoped can create chaos,

uncertainty and failure to achieve a goal – this certainly

applies to Lean events. When we bite off too much, we may not get off the starting line because there’s too much to talk

about. If we do get moving we tend to go in many different

directions and accomplish little. If our scope is too small,

we waste valuable resources and miss the target.

We’ll look at how to get started, how to identify and avoid

common mistakes, and what tools might be helpful.

© 2009 Guidon Performance Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved. Guidon Performance Solutions is a licensee of LeanSigma®, a service mark of TBM Consulting Group.

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Project Selection

When selecting a project, most organizations will use one of two

methods to decide where to start…

Strategy Pain


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Project Selection

STRATEGY DRIVEN:

• Based on other projects or initiatives currently “in-

flight”

• Based on a Value Stream analysis of the organization

• Based on new rules or regulations that take effect in

the future

PAIN DRIVEN:

• Based on process problems – backlogs, high defect

rate, overworked staff, missed deadlines, etc

• Based on organizational concerns – not meeting

regulatory guidelines, budget cuts, complaints, etc

Project Selection Key Steps

• Ensure project aligns with agency mission / strategy

• Assess project desirability

• Impact

• Effort

• Probability of success

• Select projects that are visible and capable of getting the

attention of the organization and other departments


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Agency Strategies and LeanSigma®

Strategic

Tactical

PerceptionB

ased

Data

Based

Hoshin VOB

VOC

Brain

Storming VOP


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The desirability of a project increases as you move from the

lower right to the upper left, and as the circle gets larger

Low

Med

Hi

Low

Med

Hi

Low Med Hi

EFFORT REQUIRED

AG

EN

CY

IMP

AC

T

PROBABILITY

OF SUCCESS

Project Desirability Matrix


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Definition of Impact:

• The effect change will have on the process in terms of improving service – cost - quality

Typical Little or No Impact:

• Creating or revising a report

• Installing a measurement system

• Quantifying the performance of a process

• Reducing cycle time of a non-bottleneck operation

Impact on Process


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Definition of Effort:

• Your time, time required of the team members, and any expenditure of money

Typical High Effort:

• Installing a new computer system

• Requires changes to regulations or statutes

• “Fixing” the annual planning process

Effort Required


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Assess the various risk factors:

• Time - uncertainty of the completion date

• Effort - uncertainty of the investment required

• Implementation - uncertainty of roadblocks

Typical Low Probability of Success:

• Won’t show the benefits within a year

• Depends upon completion of other risky projects

• Requires help from extremely busy people

• Is not aligned with your objectives

Definition of Probability of Success


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Characteristics of a LeanSigma® Project

• Is linked to a critical agency goal and will positively

impact the goal’s metric

• Is in line with the project selection criteria used by

Executive Leaders

• Deals with an issue or problem that is linked to a process

with clearly defined begin and end points

• Has easily identifiable internal or external Customers

who use or receive the output from the process

• You’re able to find out how the output is used by the Customer

• You’re able to find out why the output is important to the

Customer

The Project:


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Characteristics of LeanSigma® Project

• Has a measure you can clearly identify and impact

• Is one in which you can show how improvements will

impact service, cost and quality

• Has the organizational support to make it happen

• Has a champion who cares about the improvement and has the

authority to approve time and resources

• Has identified process owner(s)

A Project:


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Identify Initial Scope of the Event

Answer these questions to

prepare for next steps:

• Why was this area / project

chosen?

• Whatspecific process or

piece of the process will

we focus on?

• What are the measures of

success?


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Identify Key Participants

Event Sponsor:

• This person typically owns the process where the event is taking

place

• Helps team members get time away to do the event

• Removes roadblocks and supports the process 100%

Team Leader:

• Best if this person is from an outside department or agency

• Has had previous continuous improvement experience

• Helps with logistics and planning of the event

• Helps lead the team during the event

Team Members:

• Key managers and staff who work in or with the process


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Scoping Event (Pre-event Meeting)

• This should take place 2 – 5 weeks prior to the actual

event and will take 3 – 4 hours

• The following should be completed during this time:

• High level review of Lean concepts and what to expect during the Kaizen week

• Refine the scope (Use SIPOC if necessary)

• Develop objectives and goals

• Determine pre-work and data collection required to

understand current state / baseline metrics

• Finalize participant list and roles (dedicated, on-call, etc)

SIPOC

• Definition

• Documents a process from the suppliers to customers.

• The name comes from the column headings on the form: Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers

• Purpose

• Identify and balance competing (internal and external) customer requirements

• Identify gaps in requirements and the process outputs or inputs

• Identify suppliers of the process inputs

• Aid in identification of data collection needs

• Establish the right metrics and improvement priorities

• Use as a tool to continuously verify customer requirements


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• Definition of a Process

• A series of activities that transform a set of inputs into a specific set of outputs. Everything we do is a process.

• Components of a Process

• Inputs: Inputs are man / person, method, material, machine,measurements, and mother nature / environment (referred to as the “6M’s”)

• Transformation: Series of steps or tasks that change (transform) the inputs.

• Outputs: Goods, services, or consequences


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SIPOC

• Process: Description of a process that provides outputs to meet the needs (expressed or implied) of Customers

• Input and output boundaries: Define the start and stop boundaries of the process

• Outputs: Delivered products or services that should satisfy the Customer expectations and meet or exceed the customer requirements

• Customers: The people who receive the outputs, and those who put requirements on the outputs, but do not receive the output


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Who is the Customer?

SIPOC Elements

Who is the supplier of

each input?

What Inputs are required to

enable this process to

occur?

What does the process

expect from each input?

What is the process?

What are the outputs

from the process?

What does each customer

expect from each output?

Who is the customer

of each output?

How does the

process start?

How does the

process end?

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6 8 1

2

2

3

5

4


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DEQ - Office of Compliance and Enforcement

Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer Inspectors Evidence Document

of Violation 3 - 6 Weeks

FERA Public

Lab Complaints Refer Case 1 - 2 Months

Final Order EPA

Public Regulatory

Interpretation

Develop

(Issue) FEA 3 - 6 Months

News

Release

Violator

Other

Agencies

PEN Appeal 3 - 4 Months

Ref. Program

Program Review Final Order 2 - 4 Weeks

PEN Media

HR Labor OCE

Violators Guidance


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SIPOC Example

Defining Project Objectives / Goals

• The project objectives selected need to be documented in the charter

• An objective includes • The goal

• Associated output (CTQ) measures

• Targets

• Timeframes (if possible)

• Metrics • Time...what is the lead time for this process?

• Cost...how much does it cost for people and supplies?

• Quality...how much rework is there?

• Capture Voice of the Customer to better understand improvement opportunities


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Refining Goals and Objectives

• Initially, you may not be able to define specific quantitative objectives because you do not have the data available

• In these cases

• Set general goals and objectives (i.e. make a general statement like “improve productivity by 10%”)

• Collect additional data and analyze it – Use best available data

• Examples of well defined goals

• Reduce the number of incomplete referrals by 40% starting Q2 2009

• Improve the first time quality to 98% of applications received by end of Q2 2009

• 100% of permit evaluations performed within 60 days starting June 1, 2009


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• Data collection prior to the event will be driven by

previously defined goals and objectives

• Reduce incomplete referrals by 40%...Collect quality data (how many incomplete referrals come in today?)

• Improve the first time quality to 98%... Collect quality data (what

is our current first pass yield-FPY?)

• 100% of permit evaluations performed within 60 days... How

many evaluations take longer? How long?

• Bring copies of all reports, logs, screen shots, SOP’s, etc

• If required data is not available, you may need to perform

“real-time” data collection for the weeks prior to the event

Event Pre-work


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Finalize Participants and Determine

Roles

• Start with the “Thirds” rule of thumb –

• 1/3 of the participant work directly in the process

(SME’s)

• 1/3 of the participants are managers or supervisors in

the process

• 1/3 of the participants are “outside eyes”. These may be

customers or other external stakeholders

• Make sure the team is not heavily loaded with one

department or group. A cross-functional team that

represents the entire process is most effective


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Finalize Participants and Determine Roles

(cont)

• If the process uses support functions such as IT, HR,

accounting, legal, etc. – invite them

• Some resources will be “on-call”. This is usually driven by their availability to give a full week.

• Keep the team size in the 10 – 14 range if possible.

• Event observers are acceptable but cannot actively

participate in the improvement event

• All team members should manage their time away as if they are out of town. They should be dedicated to the

event.


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Key Takeaways

• Involve sponsors and stakeholders from the beginning and get buy-in

• Build a cross functional team including customers of the process. Review and modify team if scope changes significantly

• Establish clear boundaries – what is in scope / out of scope

• Understand where the “buckets of time” reside in the process so you don’t miss opportunities

• Set clear, specific and measurable goals

• Identify and collect data to define current state and support goals

• Communicate – Communicate - Communicate

Questions


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Business

How To Scope A Lean Event