A Formula for Success

Recently, there have been a number of posts on various visual scheduling boards like Jon Miller's agile kanban board or Xaiver's kanban boards for example. With all these visual task ques it makes me wonder how we prioritize. There are several prioritization tools you can use to prioritize your day-to-day tasks and goal specific action items.

Note that it is commonly recognized that 20% of your activities will account for 80 percent of your success (The Pareto Principle). Hence, if you have 100 tasks in your task list, probably about 20 of those will be the key ones to focus on. Hence, whatever prioritization method you use, you should ensure it helps you pinpoint these tasks.

Stephen R. Covey the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People described a high-level prioritization scheme by assigning a level of ‘urgency’ and ‘importance’ to all tasks.




It is human nature to instinctively act on tasks that are ‘urgent’, whether these are tasks are important or not. Dr. Covey notes that highly effective people make time for the QII activities and that doing so can reduce the time spent in other quadrants.

After you identify what quadrant your tasks belong in you can prioritize your tasks by working from QII to QI to QIV to QIII like this:






Based on Covey’s Urgent/Important Priority Matrix there is a simple priority planning model that everyone can use for success:

IMPORTANCE (I) * URGENCY (U) = SUCCESS (S)

Follow these five steps to prioritize your tasks for Success:

1) List your tasks or activities.
2) Identify the IMPORTANCE (I) for each task, with 1 being the most important.
3) Assign a numerical value for the URGENCY (U) of each task (1=Urgent, most time-sensitive; 2=Important, needs to be done; 3=Important, but can wait).
4) Multiple IMPORTANCE time URGENCY to determine the SUCCESS (S) factors for each task.
5) Rank each task from highest to lowest by SUCCESS factor.

What techniques/tools do you use to prioritize your day-to-day task and goal orientated activities?

115,000 Miles in Your Lifetime

I heard an interesting statistic today that makes you think about waste and it's compounding factor.

How many miles does the average person walk in their lifetime?

Well, it turns out to be about 115,000 miles or more than 4 trips around the world. (You can confirm by a quick search on the Internet.)

Here is the math for those you like to see the rationale for the answer.
The average moderately active person takes about 7500 steps a day. Assuming every day the person walks, an eighty year old person who began walking at one year of age, would have taken 216,262,500 steps in their lifetime. An average person, with an average stride, living to this age of 80 will walk about 108,131 miles.

That is a lot of transportation. Is all of that necessary? Does this add value? Some may argue this is exercise and therefore valued from a healthy perspective. There are a number of ways of maintaining an active and healthy life style. So given that statement you might be more inclined to think at least there is some opportunity for improvement.

Just consider the time involved to walk 115,000 miles:
115,000/3mph (a decent speed) = 38,333.33 hrs
38,333.33 hrs/29,200 days (=365*80 years)= 1.3 hrs/day of walking

Now, that might not seem like a lot at first glance. Consider some of the other things you do with in a day like sleeping and eating for example and this starts to be a larger percentage of your time.

If you commute a relatively long distance you have probably thought about the value added time versus non value added time of your trip. This probably why so many people listen books on tape and other learning media while driving.

Have you considered the walking you do everyday? In lean wasted transportation of all sorts is very much considered. This is a key measurement in spaghetti diagrams for example. In our daily life we often do what we need to do without considering these wastes and whether there could be a better more effective path.

Manufacturing is the Answer to the Economy Just not a Career

A recent survey by Deloitte LLP and The Manufacturing Institute shows that Americans view manufacturing as the most important industry for a strong national economy. Americans also believe that a strong manufacturing base is important to our standard of living and national security. Manufacturing ranked higher than technology, energy, healthcare, financial services, retail, and communications in terms of industries essential to a strong national economy. This probably comes from the belief that we can’t spend our way out of this recent economic downturn.

However, only 3 out of 10 Americans would encourage their children to pursue a career in manufacturing. This view is possibly due from an opinion shared by one third of Americans that manufacturing pay is lower than other industries and not a clean and safe place to work. The survey further shows young Americans are less likely to think manufacturing is high tech or requires educated, highly skilled workers.

"This survey sheds light on a massive disconnect we are facing in manufacturing," said Emily DeRocco, president of The Manufacturing Institute. "People have an outdated image of manufacturing and the career opportunities available. Cutting-edge technology has transformed manufacturing in ways that are hard to imagine if you haven’t visited a factory lately. Jobs now require postsecondary education, skills certification and credentials across a broad range of high-quality, middle-class career paths. The reality is that manufacturers offer high-paying jobs and rewarding careers for American working men and women. Our job is to close the gap between perception and reality, which will help fuel the industry’s growth and prosperity."

Manufacturing only ranked 5th out of the above 7 industries as a career choice. This is unfortunate since 30% of employers surveyed worldwide say they still face skilled-workforce shortages despite the slow economy and rising unemployment. Manufacturing-related occupations including skilled trades, technicians and engineers rank among the top five positions that employers are having the most difficulty filling.

The survey found less than 2 out of 10 schools encourage students to pursue manufacturing as a career. Some educational institutes have recognized that academic and customized training programs must align with the needs of business and industry. To meet these needs, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system plans four steps: strengthening programs to ensure students have the necessary skills; expanding internship and apprenticeship options and on-the-job training; adding more online education and flexible programs; and continuing to work and communicate with local businesses. Some celebrities are even joining efforts to motivate students in America to consider careers in the unlikeliest of places – the factory floor.

While manufacturing is a priority most American (with the exception of young people, 18-24) want to see a more strategic approach to developing manufacturing in the US with further investments. Only 60% of Americans believe that the US manufacturing industry can compete globally. Americans also believe that various government policies including trade and taxes are creating a disadvantage for US manufacturers in the global market place.

Is Your ERP System Working For You?

I have never really been an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or a Material Resource Planning (MRP) fan since they are really push systems based on sales forecasts. Some recent failures of our system have made me re-visit Lean vs ERP solutions.

With traditional manufacturing resource planning (MRP II, the planning engine in most ERP systems today), manufacturers base production levels on sales forecasts. In contrast, lean manufacturing -- also called flow -- ties production levels to actual customer demand.

Nor does the conflict end with production levels. Lean emphasizes getting the manufacturing process right and then continually improving it; with ERP the emphasis is on planning. The former has the goal of eliminating all wasted time, movement, and materials; the latter seeks to track every activity and every piece of material on the plant floor. Lean is action-oriented; ERP is data-dependent. One has workers doing only things that add value to the product; the other has them recording data and bar-coding to keep track of inventory and labor.

I believe that ERP and Lean are compatible and beneficial if done correctly. The problem is we often let the ERP solution run our business instead of making the software suit our business needs.

How is your ERP solution helping you meet today's challenges of rising material costs, increasing competition, and ever-changing customer requirements?

A colleague recently sent me an interesting article which describes the warning signs that an ERP system is killing a business, causing bottlenecks, excess cost.

Check these 10 warning signs to see if your ERP system is killing your business.
1. The ERP system can’t integrate mission-critical business data.
2. Changes to the system are costly and time-consuming.
3. Your disaster-recovery plan involves tapes.
4. Beefy PCs or “fat clients” are needed to run the system.
5. Maintenance fees are high.
6. You can’t access the data easily if you are traveling.
7. Upgrades are disruptive to the business.
8. Trading partners can’t easily interact with the system.
9. New employees need time to learn the system.
10. Globalization is too difficult.

Your company may experience some of these issues and you might decide to find a new ERP solution or upgrade that would resolve these challenges so you can get back to innovating and manufacturing products. But before you do that you may want to review CIO.com's brief and semi-chronological history of 10 famous ERP disasters, dustups and disappointments as a warning. Whatever you do make your system work for you and not the other way around. Taichi Ohno often said “Never put the solution or tool in front of the problem…follow the scientific method and you’ll come out better in the long run.”

Lean Values Explained by Amazon CEO

In the news yesterday Amazon.com announced its intention to acquire Zappos.com. Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com says this acquisition brings together two companies who share common values.

Thanks to my fellow bloggers Ron Pereira and John Hunter for sharing these values with us. In a web video by Jeff Bezos to the Zappos employees about the acquisition he explains everything he knows. Click here to view Jeff's values.

While Jeff doesn't mention Lean in these values that he explains is exactly the same principles we are familiar with in Lean. Lean embodies customer focus, innovation, long term thinking, and continuous improvement. Not surprising these principles mirror Jeff's values.

I also like how Jeff admits to making mistakes. He understands the importance of making failure acceptable. Without failure there can not be success. Learning from mistakes is the essence of problem solving and continuous improvement.

I am glad Jeff Bezos has shared these values with all so we can all learn these important tenets.

The Rudolph Factor and the Eighth Waste

In the Lean community the eighth and often hidden waste is unutilized talent or resources. I especially like to highlight this since human capital is the vital engine needed to support a business. It is this talent where innovation and continuous improvement comes from. The challenge for all business management is learning how to tap into these resources effectively.

Cyndi Laurin and Craig Morningstar have co-authored a book called “The Rudolph Factor: Finding the Bright Lights that Drive Innovation in Your Business” where they talk about how to empower your innovators.

"The recession has underscored it in bold double lines, and added a string of exclamation marks for good measure. Bright, empowered, innovative people – the people we're calling 'Rudolphs' – have always been important. Now they're imperative."

"An innovative culture is the antithesis of the 'we pay you to work, not think' mentality that defines many companies and causes employees to mentally check out," adds Morningstar. "Unless all employees are fully engaged and empowered to solve problems, you'll never be able to think your way out of a financial morass."

So here's the real issue: How do you infuse this magic ingredient into your culture? The Rudolph Factor answers that question. Along the way it tells the story of The Boeing Company, one of America's oldest and best aircraft manufacturers, zeroing in on its C-17 Progam's spectacular turnaround at the edge of collapse.

The authors use the holiday character Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer as an analogy to delve inside a corporate culture that reinvented itself in record-breaking time. In the process, they share lessons Boeing learned about innovation – lessons that can be applied and replicated in any business.

Laurin and Morningstar say Rudolphs account for 10 percent of an organization’s people. These are people who can identify the root cause of problems and determine countermeasures quicker than others. These are people who have more answers than questions. They tend to see things that others can’t.

The authors recommend a system to identify, foster, manage, and leverage today’s uniquely creative and involuntary thinkers in business continues to be the missing link in the quest for sustainable, global competitive advantage. Five ways to empower the Rudolphs in your company:

1. Lead in ways that don't force people to check their red noses at the door.

2. Embrace the AVTAR approach to creating a Rudolph culture.

--- Awareness: Generate awareness of a proposed change.

--- Value: Share information that inspires employees to find value in a proposed change.

--- Thinking: This "shift in thinking" requires managers to let go of their own agendas

--- Actions: New actions and behaviors begin to appear based upon new ways of thinking.

--- Results: Results flow organically.

3. Learn to recognize Rudolphs. (16 Ways to Recognize Rudolphs)

4. Identify (and meet) your Rudolphs' unmet needs.

5. Put systems in place to encourage innovative thinking.

Creative thinking, breaking down barriers, identifying talent/resources, empowerment, encouragement, reward, and recognition is what the “Respect for People” pillar and the eighth waste is truly about. This is something you can’t ignore if you want to be successful especially with this recent downturn in the economy. It often does not require using or spending any additional money or resources. So what are you doing to find your Rudolphs and making them lead your sleigh of innovation and continuous improvement?

Doofus and Leanie - A Lean Style Cartoon

Mark Graban introduced a new "Lean Style" cartoon series called "Doofus and Leanie". Many in the lean community know Mark as the founder of http://www.leanblog.org/ and a shingo prize winning author for Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Satisfaction published in 2008. Now he is adding to his collection of literary works a site for a lean cartoon series. This cartoon is based on the "Goofus and Gallant" series from the "Highlights for Kids" magazine. Mark's series features "Doofus" who represents the bad kid or the tradtional company model and "Leanie" who is the good kid, sybolic of a lean company model. In this way Mark is able to clearly contrast the non-lean approach to the lean approach in a simple, clear, and focused example. This is a must see for all in the Lean Community.