Put Away The Stopwatch

As I’ve participated in leader standard work, I’ve noticed that leaders are often very quick to begin collecting time observations once they’re at gemba.  This is understandable since this generates real data (genjitsu) about the process that can be used to help in problem solving.  However, I’ve long maintained that at least 80% of the value in time observations can be derived without ever using a stopwatch.  Simply watching the standard work unfold can often provide the leader all the information he or she needs to troubleshoot a problem or find opportunities for improvement.  There are a couple of reasons for this:

1.  The process of collecting time observations – watching the stopwatch, recording times, trying not to miss anything – requires a certain amount of concentration.  This can distract the observer from obvious abnormalities or opportunities.

2.  The desire to get “good” data often steers us toward ideal situations when the process is running in steady state.  We might even disregard aberrations we see, just to get through with the time observations.

I think there are a couple of good rules-of-thumb that can be applied when doing time observations:

1.  Spend at least 10 minutes (or more depending on process cycle times) just watching.  Don’t start the stopwatch.  Don’t even write anything down.  Just watch and try to visualize the flow.  If you can’t see it or it isn’t repeatable then you need go no further.  It’s time to stop the process and start asking questions.

2.  Write down the sequence steps in order, making sure to have a clear understanding of what the task is, why it’s done, and how you know when it’s finished.  Not only is this a prerequisite to performing the actual time observations, but it can help to root out process issues beforehand.

3.  Make sure to do observations across start-ups, changeovers, and runs of “problem” parts.  Often these are where the real opportunities hide, and only observing during steady state can cause lead you to set unreasonable expectations.

I’ve found that if I take care in trying to understand the nuances of standard work execution and ask questions about the exceptions, I rarely even get to the stopwatch.

Some Great Advice

If you haven't read Michael Ballé's latest Gemba Coach column yet, please do so. The question is from yours truly, and the thorough and thoughful response provides a wealth of great wisdom for kaizen leaders and facilitators.

http://www.lean.org/balle

Keeping Score

Some time ago I began using a project kanban to organize my work life.  It went through several iterations, but after relentless reflection I decided that I just wasn’t happy with it.  The biggest problem was that I couldn’t look at it each day and immediately tell if I was winning or losing.  I could tell what things I should be working on and in what order, but there was never a clear way to gauge my effectiveness in completing those task.  (I will add that my own projects are few enough and simple enough that I probably never got the full benefit of this type of tool.)

Since figuring out what I needed to work on wasn’t the problem, what I needed was a way to measure the effectiveness of the work that I was doing.  So I borrowed an idea from manufacturing and created my own hour-by-hour scorecard.  It’s an absurdly simple idea.  I just fill in what I plan to do each hour (or half-hour) at the beginning of the day, starting with what’s on my Outlook calendar.  Then I carry it around with me and track my progress through the day.  This has several advantages:

1. It forces me to break project and other tasks up into manageable segments with clear timelines, helping ensure that things are started and finished in a timely manner.
2. It also forces me to take a few minutes each morning to plan out my day, rather than rushing into the first task of the day and letting things unfold naturally on their own.
3. It gives me a daily PDCA cycle with which to improve my process.  Each day I can develop a plan, execute the plan, check my results at the end of the day, and then learn what any gaps have to teach me about my process.
4. It gives me a daily measure of success.

But my scorecard was missing just 1 element.  A score.  So I came up with a way to measure the amount of productive time I’m spending at work, using equivalent units (EU’s).  I consider, for example, an hour spent at gemba (problem-solving, daily management, etc.) to be productive; so each hour at gemba counts as 1 EU.  Meetings, as a rule, I do not consider productive time so each hour spent counts as 0.5 EU.  And I have other EU’s for things like conference room kaizens and what I call “administrative tasks”, the daily at-my-desk stuff (like blogging).  Each day is generally a mix of these things, with a goal of 6 productive hours spent each day.

The idea is to track progress against this goal and then look for ways to improve my own productivity, i.e. fewer meetings and more time at gemba.  (And publishing my scores for all to see adds a little extra incentive.)

So for the time being I am suspending use of my project kanban and experimenting with the personal scorecard approach.  I will post again as I learn more.