What You Do Doesn’t Have to Define You

My 8-year-old daughter has been playing soccer for more than 4 years.  And she’s been playing at a competitive level for over 2 years.

Put another way, she’s played the beautiful game for more than half of her young life.

The picture to the right was taken during her first season playing with the mighty Little Angels! She’s in the middle.

I’ve chronicled many of her successes – and challenges - before on the blog.

Don’t Be One of “Those” Dads

I’ve always said I wasn’t going to be one of “those Dads” who lived vicariously through their children’s athletic success.

But, being truthful, I failed miserably.

You see my daughter has won more trophies during her 8 years on this earth than I have in my entire life.

I’ve lost count of how many tournaments her and her teammates have won… and when her team successfully defended their “3v3” Championship at Disney World against teams from all over the United States this past January… well, let’s just say I was one proud father!

The Bombshell

That’s why the bombshell my daughter dropped on us during this past season nearly tore my heart out.

She told us she wanted to take a break from soccer. Wow. Jaw meet floor.

At first her Mom and I listened but figured it was just a phase she was going through. It wasn’t.

As the season progressed she continued to play hard and do her very best… but it was obvious she was ready for a break.

Soccer Doesn’t Define my Daughter

I’ll be honest; I really struggled with the idea of her not playing the game I know she loves at a very high level.

But then my wife told me something that really resonated with me. She said, “Honey, ‘B’ is so much more than soccer. Soccer doesn’t define her.”

And with those simple words I realized how right my wife was (and is).

Jiu-Jitsu Here We Come!

My daughter is so much more than a soccer player.

In fact, she’s always wanted to try other sports, which has been difficult with her hectic soccer schedule.

So, now that she’s officially done with soccer, she’s started a Jiu-Jitsu class with two of her siblings and is having a complete blast.  She also does recreational gymnastics which she loves.

And most importantly, B has one of the kindest souls and is, without a doubt, one of the most spiritually rich people I know. She loves our Lord with all her heart and all her soul. To me and my wife this obviously transcends anything she could ever do on a field.

So who knows what the future holds for B (or any of my children). All I do know is what they do will never truly define who they are.

What About You and Me?

The question is… what does this story say about us grown-ups?

Are we defined by what we do? Or perhaps we define our children, or our co-workers, or really anyone in our lives by what they do?

I was going to try to tie this topic into how we lean and six sigma practitioners often close our minds to other continuous improvement methodologies… but, in the end, this topic is so much larger than continuous improvement.

In fact, one could argue this topic touches on the meaning of life.  After all, we all have a finite time on this earth.  What do we hope to accomplish with the time we’re given?  And how, exactly, will we go about doing it?

What do you think?

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Now, to be honest, we’re far from perfect (who is?) but we’re always trying to find better ways to take care of our customers and develop better products and services.

A Day in the Life at Gemba Academy

Much of our daily work is computer based.

For example, our content development team shoots and edits video using several different programs.

Our website development teams uses several different systems and programs in order to do what they do.

And our sales and customer service teams use many different systems and software to do their daily work.

Documenting our Processes

And even though our team is in constant contact via daily “virtual morning meetings” and through cloud based systems like Basecamp and Highrise, documenting our work so others could do what we do (if needed) isn’t easy.

We’ve created written procedures which have been helpful… but, honestly, a 29-step thesis for how to render a high definition video isn’t all that fun to create or follow.

Video Based Standard Work

So, we’ve started to document many of our important computer based processes with screen capture video.

In other words, we plug a microphone into our computers and use programs like Quicktime and Camtasia to record our screens as we do the work.

As a result of this just about anyone could sit down and watch these “tutorials” and do the work.

Now, to be fair, some of the videos – like the highly technical ones our website folks produce – do require some prior knowledge.

In other words, a knucklehead like me, who can barely spell HTML, wouldn’t be able to watch all of the videos and immediately “get it.” But someone experienced in this sort of work most definitely could watch these videos and make immediate sense out of the information.

What about you?

So, I’m curious to hear what you think about the concept of “video based” procedures. Have you ever created a screen capture video explaining how to do a computer based activity?

Or perhaps you work in an environment that allows you to shoot a traditional video with a camera… if this is the case have you ever done this in order to document your processes?  If so, how did it go?

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I had many responsibilities but, ultimately, my most important job centered on ensuring all of the equipment was producing cell phones that worked the first time.

Go to Gemba

We lean practitioners often preach about the importance of going to gemba, or the place the work is done, in order to understand what’s really happening.

I’m happy to report that I did a pretty good job at this as a young process engineer. You see, I had no choice; my desk was on the production line!

This meant if a production operator had a question they could turn from their machine and be at my desk in seconds.

This also meant if an andon light, or buzzer, went off I was close and could respond immediately if needed.

And because I was constantly at gemba, I knew the processes.  I could hear, and many times feel, when something wasn’t right just like a parent can hear or sense when their child isn’t feeling well.

And, most importantly, I was able to build a strong bond with production operators, supervisors, and technicians.  We were like extended family members all working together.  I still consider many of them friends to this very day… I even got a LinkedIn message from one yesterday as fate would have it.

So, to be sure, “working at gemba” had tremendous upside.

Statistical Analysis

Another aspect of my job focused on preventive maintenance and built in quality.

As such I was constantly performing Process Capability studies across all of the equipment to ensure things were running smooth.

We also used extremely high tech optical inspection equipment to examine the circuit boards as they moved down the line.

Well, as with any sort of measurement equipment we needed to perform MSAs (Measurement Systems Analysis) to ensure the equipment was working in a repeatable and reproducible manner.

We also leaned heavily, no pun intended, on Statistical Process Control in order to alert us of any special cause variation that may have snuck its way into the factory.

And, finally, I performed hundreds of DOEs during my days at Nokia.

Many were small, 2^2 full factorial designs, that took very little time to complete. But I also performed some pretty awesome, and rather complex, Central Composite Design (CCD) DOEs in order to really dial a particular process in.

Best of Both Worlds

So, the point of this article is simple. I was successful at my job because I worked at gemba and also knew how to do more advanced statistically based analysis.

I could have stood at gemba all day long and watched our processes spin out of control without a clue as to how to help. I could have even asked why a million times and, sometimes, never identified the root cause of the problem.

Likewise, I could have sat in an isolated office somewhere studying my Cp and Cpk results from afar and sounding an alarm when something went wrong.

Had I done either of these in isolation I’m convinced I would have failed miserably at my job.

But, because I did both – lived and worked at gemba and leveraged statistical analysis – I was able to do very well. I also had a tremendous amount of fun.

You Don’t Have to Choose

Sadly, I often sense so-called “lean folks” feel as though they’re selling out if they use or learn statistically based tools.

And I also sense so-called “six sigma folks” feel as though they’re too good or too smart to spend a lot of time at gemba. Instead, they feel like they can perform some Minitab magic and solve all of HRs problems without talking to a single person.

Both of these “purist attitudes” are dangerous, wrong, and extremely short sided in my humble opinion.

Honestly, I could care less what you call yourself. Call yourself a Black Belt if you want… but make sure you’re at gemba more than your office.

Or call yourself a Lean Practitioner or Lean Consultant…. but make sure you know how to perform basic statistically based tests since being at gemba to see defects running off the end of the line may not be much help.

As continuous improvement practitioners the good news is we don’t have to choose. We can learn everything there is to know about making things better.

Do You Agree?

Do you agree with me?

Perhaps you’ve seen folks constantly at gemba without a clue as to how to help or perhaps you’ve seen people whipping up all kinds of fancy charts and graphs but never stepping foot onto the shop floor.

No matter the situation I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think?

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What they learned

The team discovered that the distance the employee drove to work seemed to impact how likely they were to quit.

Put another way, there seemed to be strong correlation between the distance of the employees commute and how likely they were to quit.

Sure, people can nitpick sample size and whether there truly is causation… but, really, the analysis seems sound.

Revamp the interview process

As a result of what they learned this team decided a potential countermeasure was to revamp the interview process. Specifically:

The manufacturer’s HR department used the results of Parks’ analysis to revamp the interview process for manufacturing positions. They began to look more closely at the potential employee’s commuting distance and took this into account before making hiring decisions.

Are they missing the mark?

When I first read this I couldn’t help but ponder whether this company was really addressing the root cause of the problem.

Sure, driving 45 minutes to work may stink and could lead to folks wanting to find another job.

But is the best answer to simply not hire them? Should the HR team seek some additional countermeasures?

Obviously, an assembler or machine operator can’t really work from home… but could their hours be shifted to avoid traffic? Perhaps there are other things at work here in addition to the long commute?

What do you think?

This is not an easy situation to assess and I’m sure this team put a lot of thought into this particular problem… but is it possible they’re missing the mark with their “don’t hire based on commute length” countermeasure?

What do you think?

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Why do I say this? Simple.

It’s Just a Piece of Paper

The A3 report, in and of itself, is nothing more than a piece of paper.

But, for some reason, many people believe that the A3 report – by itself – will magically solve problems on its own.

I’ve even heard people say things like, “Yeah, my boss wants me to do an A3 in order to solve this problem.”

A3s Don’t Solve Problems

The problem with this statement is that you don’t “do an A3” since, again, an A3 is nothing more than a piece of paper.

Instead, problems are best solved by the deliberate application of PDCA or other improvement methodologies like DMAIC.

Just like the horse must come before the cart… PDCA, or some other form of critical thinking, must come before the A3 report.

The A3 Report is Powerful

Now, to be sure, the A3 report is one of the best reporting tools available to continuous improvement practitioners since teams are able to tell their problem-solving story on a single piece of paper.

The A3 report can also add tremendous value for other “non problem solving” situations such as when a team uses it to share the thinking and rationale of why they believe adding 3 associates to the night-shift makes business sense.

I’ve also seen A3s used to share the analysis done in order to justify capital expenditures.

In other words, the A3 report can be an amazing story-telling vehicle when properly leveraged by a team of critical thinkers.

Update

As usual, there have been some awesome comments to this article.  Thank you for this!

And, upon reflection, one thing I wanted to stress is that the A3 report, or document, or whatever you prefer to call it isn’t written after the PDCA or problem solving process is complete like a traditional PowerPoint slide deck may be prepared to report out on a kaizen event.

Instead, the A3 most definitely grows and develops during the PDCA, or other critical thinking, process.

But, to be clear, the power isn’t found in the A3… instead the power comes from the collaborative efforts of the team that happens to be documenting their improvement journey using an A3.

Do you agree?

Do you agree with me?  Have you seen people struggle with the use of A3s since they believed this particular sized paper wielded magic powers all by itself?

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This individual works in a MRO environment meaning he deals with very high mix and low volume.

This person is struggling to understand how to create a value stream map since their process is anything but static.

In other words, what takes 30 minutes today may take 3 hours tomorrow. So how do you document this sort of variability on a value stream map?

What problem are you trying to solve?

I did my best to explain that everyone deals with variability and that a VSM will never be a perfect snapshot of the process.

For example, traditional producers of widgets will experience the same sort of problem since there may be 110 units between process A and B today but only 92 units between process A and B tomorrow.

Which one should they document on their VSM? My thoughts? It doesn’t matter.

You see, the point of a VSM, or any “tool” for that matter, is to improve the process. It’s meant to help us solve a problem.

So, in this traditional producer example, the fact they’re obviously building in batches may, in fact, be the problem they should address.

In other words, attempting to construct a Monte Carlo simulation to model the variability in the process or spending days worrying about the exact figures we should note on a VSM is most likely a gigantic waste of time.

Remove the Handcuffs

Too often I see lean and six sigma practitioners handcuff themselves with tools.

They read a book about value stream mapping and then struggle with the concept since they don’t produce stamped-steel steering brackets with relatively stable demand!

Or they learn about regression and desperately try to fit some random data into a model and are bummed when their R-Squared value is 12%.

So, instead of worrying about how a particular lean or six sigma tool can be used to improve your process start by asking yourself the following question – what problem am I trying to solve?

Go to Gemba

And, really, the only way you’ll be able to answer this question is by going to gemba, or the place the work is done, and observing.

So, until we know what problem we’re trying to solve, it’s best to forget about value stream mapping. Forget Quick Changeover. Forget 5S. Forget regression. Forget “tools” in general.

Instead, go to gemba, observe, and question.

Then, once you have a good understanding of the problem at hand you’re ready to make the process better through the deliberate application of problem solving methodologies such as PDCA and DMAIC.

Tools are meant to serve

In summary, lean and six sigma tools are here to serve us… not handcuff us.

So if you ever find yourself struggling to find a way to make a particular tool work for your situation take a step back and ask yourself… what problem am I trying to solve?

Do you agree?

Do you agree with my take on this? Have you seen people, possibly yourself, become handcuffed with lean and six sigma tools?  If so, how did you handle the situation?

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For many of you, it may even be number 1.

Now, let me ask you… what if there was a way to save hours… and I do mean hours responding to emails each week?

Would you be interested? If so, read on.

Paul Akers: Lean Maniac

Paul Akers is a true lean maniac and I mean that in the nicest of ways.

For those that don’t know him… Paul is the President of a Washington based company called Fastcap.

Gemba Academy recently visited his factory to record our first Gemba Live! Series. It was awesome and I’ll be writing about this in more detail later.

My Introduction to the Audio Email

As we were planning the visit Paul and I exchanged dozens of emails. And this is where I was first introduced to one of the coolest productivity tips I’ve ever seen – the audio email.

Basically, instead of typing an email you record an audio message and send that.

What I’ve found is doing this is MUCH faster and really helps me get my point across much better than a written email ever could.

How much faster is it?

And while this will vary for everyone depending on how fast they can type I’m finding the audio email to be A LOT faster. Here’s an example.

Let’s say I want to send the following email to Kristin Snow, our sales manager over at Gemba Academy.

Hi Kristin, hope your weekend was great. I’d like your help with something… could you check in with Kevin King to see how things are going related to the proposal we sent last week? He and I exchanged voicemails and since I’m going to be traveling I may not be able to connect with him. Thanks!

This took me 1 minute and 10 seconds to type. I used my iPhone to time myself.

Now, to be sure, I’m not the world’s best typist… I make lots of mistakes so you may be able to type this faster.

But could you type it faster than 13 seconds? That’s how long it took me to record this same message as an audio email. Press the play button below.

But it’s slower for the end user!

So, obviously, this is much faster for the person sending the message. But what about the person receiving this audio message?

You can’t exactly “skim” an audio email so Kristin would have to spend at least 13 seconds listening to the audio message.

Now, when I read the message it took me around 6 or 7 seconds. In other words, the audio message took twice as long to listen to since it takes 13 seconds.

So, there’s definitely an impact to the end user.

Additionally, for some, the idea of not being able to skim through a long chain of emails may not be acceptable.  And, to be fair, it is important to be able to skim certain types of emails in which case breaking out the keyboard may be more appropriate.

And saving, or archiving, audio emails will take up more space than a plain text email.

And, for those that tend to be a little “long winded” sending audio emails could be dangerous since they may actually say more than they need to! That would be counter-productive.

And lastly, some people simply prefer to read things. My wife, for example, loves to hold a real book in her hands and very rarely ever listens to audio books.

So I don’t want to pretend this “improvement” is infallible. It’s not.

A Few Benefits of Audio Emails

But, the benefits I’m seeing far outweigh the cons. For example:

1. I send a lot of emails meaning I now save hours each week since I can talk much faster than I type.
2. I’m able to “personalize” audio messages. People can’t “read” sincerity as well as they can “hear” it.
3. People don’t have to struggle to understand if I’m upset, happy, or indifferent since the tone of my voice in an audio email makes this very obvious.
4. Written emails can sometimes be misinterpreted. If I end an email with an exclamation point someone may think I am yelling when, really, I didn’t mean to sound like I was yelling at all.
5. I find audio emails fun to create. That might just be because I’m weird!

How I’m Using Audio Emails

Now, to be sure, I haven’t ditched the written email.

For longer, more in-depth emails, I don’t use audio messages especially if a written “history” of what I’ve said is important to have.

But for short emails where someone asks me a quick question… I’m finding the audio email unbeatable… especially when the message is shorter than 30 seconds.

For example, a Gemba Academy customer recently sent us a short note thanking us for helping his organization. I replied to him with an audio message thanking him for the compliment!

Shortly after sending my audio message I received this email from this same person.

This gentleman seemed to like my “audio-gram” as he called it and even thanked me for the taking the time to create it.

For those skeptical of the audio email concept I’d humbly ask you… when was the last time a customer of yours thanked you for the taking the time to write them an email?

What do you think?

So, what do you think of the audio email idea?

Most of us are so engrained in the “way it’s always been done” that giving something like this a try is hard to fathom.

But, for those willing to give it a try I’d encourage you to go for it. Start small and send one or two to a friend and see how it works.

What do you think of this concept? Have you ever tried it? Have you ever received an audio message? If so, what did you think?

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Our Customer Service team, which is lead by Elaine Cressionnie, receives and sends hundreds of emails each week.

Many of these emails start as a template.

Minitab License Emails

For example, when someone orders a Premium Subscription to our School of Six Sigma they receive a free Minitab 16 license. This means we have to send an email with instructions on how to download Minitab 16 and activate it with a license key.

In the past these templates were stored on Google Drive so any of our Customer Service reps could access them.

Additionally, others that still work on PCs (most of us now use Macs) created MS Outlook templates that could be called up with the few clicks of a mouse.

These improvements were great and definitely made us more efficient… but nothing can beat the next improvement our team stumbled across.

Introducing TextExpander

And that improvement was our introduction to a program called TextExpander (Mac version) or TextExpander Windows (Windows version).

With TextExpander you’re able to create “snippets” that allow you to instantly call up specific templates by typing in a keyboard short cut.

For example, when one of our Customer Service reps needs to send Minitab license info all they have to do is type a shortcut such as ;m. In other words, anytime the shortcut ;m is typed the template they created will appear.

And while this is pretty cool it gets even better.

You see we still have to type the name of the person while also entering the Minitab license key in two different places. This takes time, even if you’re simply copying and pasting.

This is whenTextExpander really shines!

Easy to Use

The best way to demonstrate how this works is with a short video… if you’re reading this via RSS or email you may need to click through to the site in order to watch the video. Feel free to view it in full screen mode by clicking the icon in the lower right corner of the video player.

What do you think?

If you find yourself sending the same sort of email, or creating the same type of document (Word, etc.) again and again and don’t want to have to click through a maze in order to access a template I’d encourage you to give TextExpander a try.

Do you think a tool like this could help you improve your effectiveness? What other tips and tricks do you have that may be similar to TextExpander?

The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's copyright.

I’m obviously extremely biased… but I have to confess… I’m quite happy with the result.

The School of Six Sigma consists of 200+ videos covering topics ranging from Project Selection to Advanced Response Surface Design of Experiments.

We’ve also included several of our most popular, and critical, School of Lean courses such as 5S Workplace Productivity and Practical Problem Solving.

The Gemba Academy Difference

The thing I’m most excited about is the fact that both the School of Six Sigma & School of Lean follow the traditional Gemba Academy “site based” subscription model.

Traditionally, Six Sigma has been seen by some as an “elitist” methodology where only a few “chosen” people are selected to attend training.

Our sincere hope is that our site based subscriptions – which start at $1,295 for a one year subscription – will enable anyone interested in learning about Lean & Six Sigma the opportunity to do so.

For those interested, we’re also offering a certification option which will require both project work and the passing of an 80 question exam.

To be sure, we are not interested in becoming a certification mill where people essentially buy their certification.

Lean vs. Six Sigma

Additionally, another aspect of Continuous Improvement we hope to impact relates to the Lean vs. Six Sigma debate.

As many of you know, there are some “lean thinkers” who have less than kind things to say about six sigma.

And, to be sure, there are hard core “six sigma practitioners” who think lean is nothing more than laying tape on the ground and drawing value stream maps… which is obviously flawed logic.

True Knowledge

Socrates once said, “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”

It’s with this same spirit that we sincerely hope to spread the good news that is Lean & Six Sigma to as many people around the world as possible.

And by doing so we hope to bridge the divide between lean and six sigma since, in the end, the two methodologies can work together in harmony.

Sneak Peak

Here’s a sneak peak at one of the videos from the DOE section of the course. If you’re reading this via email or RSS you may need to click through to the site.

To preview other lean & six sigma videos please be sure to create a Free Preview Account (no credit card required).

The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's copyright.

Perspective

Now, to put this into perspective, my children know all about Gemba Academy and also understand many aspects of what lean is about.

This particular daughter even stars in our Gemba Academy Kaizen Overview video (she suggests moving the silverware tray closer to the dishwasher) at the 7:01 minute mark.

So, with this said, I knew I couldn’t offer a basic answer. So I paused. I pondered. What could I say to my 7-year-old daughter who already has some knowledge of what lean is about?

After a few moments… I replied, “Daddy tries to teach people how to work faster and make less mistakes. And, most importantly, we also try to teach people to be nice and respect each other… that way everyone can do their very best.”

As with anything related to continuous improvement I felt like my answer could have, and should have, been better.

What would you have said?

So, how would you have answered?  How would you explain what lean and six sigma and continuous improvement in general is all about to a 7-year-old?

The RSS feed content you are reading is copyrighted by the author, Ron Pereira. If you are reading this material on a site other than LSS Academy, the web site is likely infringing on the author's copyright.