Move Yourself into Excellence

I chose to write this blog for two reasons.  First to laugh at myself and second because there was a very important point someone made in an article that came up in an Internet search.

I was Internet searching this afternoon to see how my wesbushby.com and wesleybushby.com was doing (just linked it to my blog yesterday), along with finding out if I could Internet search on the blog I just wrote titled “Where do you start Lean?”  The dot com link worked, and my blog title was nowhere in the search.  However one finding in the search jumped out at me as potentially interesting so I read it.  The title, “Where to Begin with Lean: A3 Analysis”.

I have to pause here and state that I view myself as being able to “see” problems in processes whether visual or hidden, whether manufacturing, service, or information. I “see” waste.  I “see” broken processes.  What I do not “See” is what is right in front of me.  So let us now move on.

As I read the article, I heard a clear voice and thought in the writing.  Every sentence I read added more excitement, thinking “someone seems to have gotten this right, about time.”  One key point right at the beginning, to describe where to begin implementing the Toyota Production System, was a quote from someone at Toyota, “Start by analyzing the work to be done.”  I truly believe this.  And will support that belief one more time by quoting something Dr. W. Edwards Deming once said: “If you emulate Toyota you will always be less than Toyota.”  You need to solve Your problems.  Do not implement a “canned solution” to your problems.

The article went on to define the 3 categories of waste.  I must say I was impressed.  In the back of my mind I could not help but think this person copied from someone, because it was too correct.  The article then went on to describe how in manufacturing it is easy to place categorized steps from a manufacturing environment onto a value stream map, and how today Lean thinkers try to apply their manufacturing experience to service and information and loose their Lean as it were.  That today’s Lean thinkers can easily become confused given the dynamics, constant change in direction, which service and information throws at you.  Meaning, claims of “creative work” now pop up and that the outcome of steps is not predictable.

I am not here to re-write the article.  I am here to say the thought in the article is stupendous.  At the end of all this “seeing” the statement was made, “. . . we need to use the standard process of value stream mapping with A3 analysis.  This is the real role for creativity at work.”   That statement blew me away.  During my short experience in healthcare I found myself solving problems in that same fashion, never realizing that given my manufacturing background, I was doing the right thing in applying what I felt was the obvious for healthcare.

Here is the big laugh at myself.  The last two sentence of the article hooked me.  I wanted to read more from this person.  And the person was . . . drum roll . . . (wish I could put this on the back side of the page so you could flip it over and be surprised) . . . James Womack!!!  (The person who coined the word Lean and the phrase Lean Thinking.)  All I could say to myself with great respect to Womack was, “it figures” and then laugh at myself.  (Click here to see the article.)

I believe James Womack to be one of the Guru’s of our time.  At least I think there are others currently out there.  As I find out more from Womack I find he “sees” with clear thought as I do.  He is a hell of a lot more experienced than I am.  So I cannot even think about being in his realm of genius.  The top of my list is still Dr. W. Edwards Deming.  To me it is because Deming had revolutionized the focus in quality, greatly challenging the status quo in his era.  I, and perhaps we, have a long way to go to take what these two gentlemen have given us and to move it forward, let alone understanding the many changes that take place over time and to improve upon their thought.

What you should take away from all this is that you need to solve Your problems.  You need to “see” Your waste.  Though I am not experienced at value stream mapping (want to be), I am an experienced problem solver and believe in PDSA and A3 analysis.  Value stream mapping and A3 are common tools that crossover from manufacturing, to service, to information.  However you need to “see with new eyes” and solve Your problems.  Not apply solutions found by others.  How else are you going to move yourself into excellence?