During the 16 years I have been optimizing, troubleshooting and developing process, I learnt about the phases a team can go through. I saw it in action as well as in theory.
It actually is quite interesting to see how teams can follow the 4 well known steps - forming, storming, norming and performing. Until recently though, I had never known about the 5th phase - adjourning.
For those of you not familiar with Bruce Tuckman's model, when a team first gets together, people are feeling each other out, trying to figure out what is acceptable and what the team is about. This is known as "forming". It can also be known as the polite phase.
Then the gloves are taken off and along comes the rocky stage or "storming". By this time the team is starting to challenge each other, push the boundaries and start pushing their own perspectives. Sounds scary and even like something you don't want, but it is actually great for getting things out in the open, getting the creative juices flowing and pushing the team. The trick though is getting the team through this phase and out the other side.
The other side is the "norming" phase. Now that the team has worked out some of the issues, there is an understanding of how to work together and the productivity levels start to increase, moral starts to improve and synergies form. Since this is often drawn as a plateau (forming), followed by a downslope (storming) and then a gentle upslope (norming), you can imagine there may be some sliding backward into the valley of storming! But, the recovery can (or should) be a lot quicker.
Eventually (and can be quite fast), the team moves into "performing". Now that the environment has been set and people are working together, conflict is seen as productive, collaborative and respectful. The synergies of the team are creating very powerful results.
And that was all I had been taught. Now I have learned there is another phase; "adjourning" or "mourning". Actually it makes a lot of sense. This assumes that a team is only together for a specific purpose and that purpose has been fulfilled. Now the team needs to get closure and be ready to move on. It is about celebrating success and recognizing growth.
In this day and age where there is so much fluidity in roles and projects though, this should be considered on an individual level as well as the team. Sometimes a person is moved onto a new challenge before the team has completed the old challenge. This can end up with someone feeling in limbo as their work was never quite done. A simple meeting between the team leader and the individual reflecting on contributions can ease this.
On the other hand, new peple can join a team. This can actually put the group all the way to the norming stage depending on the amount of distruption the knew person can bring. Knowing these dynamics, while stressful going through them, can be helpful because you know what comes next and now you can work towards getting to the performing stage!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Value vs Cost
How do you value your product? Is it a fixed value or a variable value?
This IS a different question that saying how do you cost your product. It also gets at the question of what comes first, the chicken (cost) or the egg (value)?
Value is a more ephemeral than cost and can be broken down into 2 types of value - the value it brings to the business and the value it gives the customer. Cost is a measure of the transformations that occur to the product on its way from conception to eventual destruction (though this is often shortened to the cost up to when the customer takes possession of it).
If the cost exceeds the value, then a business needs to consider continuing production. If the value exceeds the cost, then the business should be making a profit. Tying these two together is the price.
Back to the chicken and the egg and price. And this is where sales, marketing and manufacturing can be at loggerheads. Does the price reflect the cost (chicken) or the value (egg) and which is the constraint? Therefore, which does a company work on when the cost exceeds the value? Smart answer is both (cost and value), the easy answer is cost and the tricky answer is value. Manufacturing is told to reduce cost, sales and marketing are told to increase perception of value. Both sides of the organization though need to look at what value they are adding and how to transform that into an actual value for the customer and not just a perceived value.
Fundamental to all approaches to make value more than the cost is that proper understanding of the values and costs of the transformation process. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Value Stream Analysis (VSA) attempt to capture the value and highlight areas of cost. It is more than just showing all the steps, from order placement to order fulfillment, it is about highlighting time, effort and waste streams.
It can highlight areas were low value steps can either be eliminated or modified to become high value. Sometimes this is by speeding up the process, smaller lot sized, exchanging a raw material for another or by finding a different use for the waste (think whey, was a waste now a premium item in health food stores!)
Value is variable, though price may not. Cost is merely a reflection of the value someone else places on for their own product or service. What would your process look like if you focused on increasing value throughout your processes and merely used cost to measure that success?
This IS a different question that saying how do you cost your product. It also gets at the question of what comes first, the chicken (cost) or the egg (value)?
Value is a more ephemeral than cost and can be broken down into 2 types of value - the value it brings to the business and the value it gives the customer. Cost is a measure of the transformations that occur to the product on its way from conception to eventual destruction (though this is often shortened to the cost up to when the customer takes possession of it).
If the cost exceeds the value, then a business needs to consider continuing production. If the value exceeds the cost, then the business should be making a profit. Tying these two together is the price.
Back to the chicken and the egg and price. And this is where sales, marketing and manufacturing can be at loggerheads. Does the price reflect the cost (chicken) or the value (egg) and which is the constraint? Therefore, which does a company work on when the cost exceeds the value? Smart answer is both (cost and value), the easy answer is cost and the tricky answer is value. Manufacturing is told to reduce cost, sales and marketing are told to increase perception of value. Both sides of the organization though need to look at what value they are adding and how to transform that into an actual value for the customer and not just a perceived value.
Fundamental to all approaches to make value more than the cost is that proper understanding of the values and costs of the transformation process. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Value Stream Analysis (VSA) attempt to capture the value and highlight areas of cost. It is more than just showing all the steps, from order placement to order fulfillment, it is about highlighting time, effort and waste streams.
It can highlight areas were low value steps can either be eliminated or modified to become high value. Sometimes this is by speeding up the process, smaller lot sized, exchanging a raw material for another or by finding a different use for the waste (think whey, was a waste now a premium item in health food stores!)
Value is variable, though price may not. Cost is merely a reflection of the value someone else places on for their own product or service. What would your process look like if you focused on increasing value throughout your processes and merely used cost to measure that success?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
SMED - Single Minute Exchnage of Dies
Well, it has been awhile but a lot of things can happen in a short time!
Which is precisely what we decided to talk about when Eva and I finally met up again! In this case though, she wanted a lot of things to happen in a short time - as in let's reduce the time it takes to do changeovers from one line-up to another.
What she was taking about is called SMED or, single minute exchange of dies. It goes like this. The carton packaging equipment (cartoner) is going to go from packaging a 250 ml milk carton to packaging a 500 ml chocolate milk carton. In order to do so, there are many things that have to happen, starting with line flushes, labeller changes, carton changes etc. The goal of SMED is to reduce the time it takes to make all these changes, thereby decreasing waste, increasing flexibility and increasing profits.
Using SMED is basically a 4 step process:
Step 1 - determine all the steps associated with the changeover, including all prep work and all clean up work and outline them in the order they currently occur.
Step 2 - assign each step as being internal (can only be done when equipment is down, or in time between product runs) or external (can be done offline, before or after the change and not during)
Step 3 - change the order of the steps so that all the external steps occur first (or last) and the internal steps occur second.
Step 4 - reduce the time it takes to do either certain steps or to do all steps.
Simple right! That's what Eva thought and for the most part it was. It just required us getting people to look at their work differently. Some steps did take a little imagination though and some change management but at the end of the day the changeover time dropped 50%, bumping up production quite significantly!
Which is precisely what we decided to talk about when Eva and I finally met up again! In this case though, she wanted a lot of things to happen in a short time - as in let's reduce the time it takes to do changeovers from one line-up to another.
What she was taking about is called SMED or, single minute exchange of dies. It goes like this. The carton packaging equipment (cartoner) is going to go from packaging a 250 ml milk carton to packaging a 500 ml chocolate milk carton. In order to do so, there are many things that have to happen, starting with line flushes, labeller changes, carton changes etc. The goal of SMED is to reduce the time it takes to make all these changes, thereby decreasing waste, increasing flexibility and increasing profits.
Using SMED is basically a 4 step process:
Step 1 - determine all the steps associated with the changeover, including all prep work and all clean up work and outline them in the order they currently occur.
Step 2 - assign each step as being internal (can only be done when equipment is down, or in time between product runs) or external (can be done offline, before or after the change and not during)
Step 3 - change the order of the steps so that all the external steps occur first (or last) and the internal steps occur second.
Step 4 - reduce the time it takes to do either certain steps or to do all steps.
Simple right! That's what Eva thought and for the most part it was. It just required us getting people to look at their work differently. Some steps did take a little imagination though and some change management but at the end of the day the changeover time dropped 50%, bumping up production quite significantly!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
RASCI and You
During projects and in day-to-day activities, work sometimes doesn't get completed as expected because no one thought it was their job to do it. Or, worse, it was done twice or even three times. And the worst, the task was done but it failed because it wasn't sustained or was just the wrong thing to do. Generally the last two happen because the proper communication didn't occur. In fact, all three of these happen because people don't know what their role is and what other people's roles are in getting a task accomplished.
One of the tools available in clarifying tasks is RASCI. This stands for Responsible, Accountable, Subject matter expert, Communicate/Consult and Inform. Though it is used most frequently on projects, the concept is a great one to consider when running any meeting that generates action items.
Consider a project. A meeting is held and the team decides that Task A needs to be performed. No one on the team has the skills to complete the task. Someone on the team needs to make sure the task is done though. He or she is the person who finds the available resources, ensures the task is completed on time and in budget and as required, and lets the necessary people know if it can't be done. She or he is A - Accountable for the task.
The person that gets assigned the task of doing the work (aka a doer) is R - Responsible for the task. Sometimes this can overlap with the person who is also Accountable.
There are times when the Accountable or Responsible person does not know enough about how to accomplish the task or needs more specific information on the peculiarities of the task. Then they would call upon a Subject matter expert - S. Again, these roles can overlap with the Responsible and Accountable person.
What is the difference between Communicate (C) and Inform (I)? Essentially two things. Communicate (C) would occur with someone or someones that you need to have a 2-way interaction with (i.e. Quality needs to let production know they will be taking extra samples and could Production help out), whereas Inform (I) is someone who needs high level details and needs to know the impact. Also the C person would generally be informed before, during and after the task. The I person may know before and will know after but rarely during. I.e. CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) is informed a test is occurring and when it was complete and the product from the trial was quarantined and the results came back negative for spoilage.
One piece of advice; Never assign accountability to someone not present in the meeting or at the decision-making time. Accountability may be transferred later on, but someone present at the decision needs to take accountability to see that the communication occurred and that the accountability was transferred correctly.
One of the tools available in clarifying tasks is RASCI. This stands for Responsible, Accountable, Subject matter expert, Communicate/Consult and Inform. Though it is used most frequently on projects, the concept is a great one to consider when running any meeting that generates action items.
Consider a project. A meeting is held and the team decides that Task A needs to be performed. No one on the team has the skills to complete the task. Someone on the team needs to make sure the task is done though. He or she is the person who finds the available resources, ensures the task is completed on time and in budget and as required, and lets the necessary people know if it can't be done. She or he is A - Accountable for the task.
The person that gets assigned the task of doing the work (aka a doer) is R - Responsible for the task. Sometimes this can overlap with the person who is also Accountable.
There are times when the Accountable or Responsible person does not know enough about how to accomplish the task or needs more specific information on the peculiarities of the task. Then they would call upon a Subject matter expert - S. Again, these roles can overlap with the Responsible and Accountable person.
What is the difference between Communicate (C) and Inform (I)? Essentially two things. Communicate (C) would occur with someone or someones that you need to have a 2-way interaction with (i.e. Quality needs to let production know they will be taking extra samples and could Production help out), whereas Inform (I) is someone who needs high level details and needs to know the impact. Also the C person would generally be informed before, during and after the task. The I person may know before and will know after but rarely during. I.e. CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) is informed a test is occurring and when it was complete and the product from the trial was quarantined and the results came back negative for spoilage.
One piece of advice; Never assign accountability to someone not present in the meeting or at the decision-making time. Accountability may be transferred later on, but someone present at the decision needs to take accountability to see that the communication occurred and that the accountability was transferred correctly.
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