Far from the Factory Lean for the Information Age

If you currently employ knowledge workers who do most of their work on computers or with computers, access the Internet, utilize internal and external databases, use e-mail or other new messaging technology, then this book is for you. Quite simply, this handbook is for any organization with a lot of Web DNA that wishes to cut costs, improve performance, and stay perpetually competitive. It is for change agents or managers within those organizations who work with information and want to leverage the latest crop of tool sets to deliver on the promise of Lean for the modern, information-rich office. … packed with new ideas … breaks new ground in so many directions … .— John Bicheno, Director, Lean Enterprise Research Centre, Cardiff Business School … excellent … on several levels … … teaches us how to visualize the depth of hidden wastes in our complex information flows and the large opportunity for improvement that this suggests.— Keith Russell, PhD, Global Continuous Improvement Leader R&D, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Very interesting view on operational excellence, helpful to readers without a background in this area of expertise.— Bert Nordberg, President and CEO. Sony Ericsson Congratulations to all the readers holding this book! ... These Lean ideas must be an integral part of the daily operations of your business. I am going to get each and every one of my management team a copy of this brilliant book at the start for our own Lean journey.— Lennart Käll, CEO, Wasa Kredit It’s one thing to develop a concept. It’s another to make it sing. This is the hymnal.— Dr. Don V. Steward, CEO Problematics, Professor Emeritus, Sacramento State University, inventor of DSM … a must read for CIOs everywhere." — Julian Amey, Principal Fellow, Warwick University

LEAN FOR THE KNOWLEDGE WORKER1 What Is Knowledge Worker Lean? The Role of Lean in the Invisible Office Lean and Web 2.0 Increase Productivity: What You Can Learn from Bricklayers about Lean ImprovementThe Impact of Company Size and the Shift to Knowledge Worker LeanContinuous Improvement: Theory Y, Generation X, and Info Pullers How to Implement Lean in the Information Age How to Adapt Lean Methodology to Different Environments2 It Came from the Factory: The Origins of LeanFrom Factory Lean to Information Age Lean Visualizing Waste: The Factory Process Seven Types of Lean Factory Waste Paper Office Lean Environmental Waste Enablers Prosaic Information Wastes Information Environment Waste Administrative WastesAdministrative Drivers of Waste Case Study: Applying Lean to Administrative Support Processes Communication and Transportation: Spaghetti Diagrams The Sad Fax FactsInformation Age Lean Visible Waste: The Parts We Can See Software Waste Software Expense Invisible Waste: The Parts We Can’t See3 The Perfect Information Storm The Evolution of Information Systems and the Impact on Lean The Recent Past: The Dim Days before the Web The Early Days: Longhand–Wang–Printer–Fax Case Study: Pre-Lean Communication How Information Circuits Create Waste Case Study: The Travel Authorization Process The Present: The Dawn of the Web Information: The Dark Matter of Business Process AnalysisThe Future: What Will Web 2.0 Bring? Day-to-Day Collaboration Tools Lean Communication Tools: Video and Desktop ConferencingMicrobloggingScreencasting and Recording Brainstorming and Design Collaboration Kaizen Sessions of the Future 4 The Great Modern Office WastelandThe Waste of E-Mail Case Study: When Words Are Not EnoughThe Waste of Excess Complexity and ProcessCase Study: Complexity and Process Defining the Process in Information-Intensive Work Complexity Psychology The Waste of Reporting Case Study: The Kremlin Effect The Green … Green … Red PhenomenonThe Waste of Multitasking Case Study: Theory of Constraints Multitasking: The Switching Penalty Multitasking: The Lean Waste Penalty Multitasking: The Project Penalty Multitasking: The Performance Measurement Penalty Case Study: Measuring a Process Multitasking: The Command and Control Penalty The Waste of Time Direct Productivity Time Management Activity Visibility Four-Step Program to Eliminate Wasted TimeThe Waste of High Utilization SMED and SMEW for the Information Age Office Overly High Utilization The Waste of Parallel Project Management5 The I in CIO: Information Transformation IT Tool Selection and Approval Automatic Process Discovery The As-Is Phase That Never Was: Why the Process Often Fails How Automatic Process Discovery Can Increase the Success RateHigh-Level Design Principles for Information Lean Case History: The Boss and the Rock Case Study: The Spiral Model Case Study: Waterfall Requirements Lessons Learned Knowledge Management Lean Code Management: Lean by IT for IT Business Model Wastes Development Wastes THE KNOWLEDGE WORKER’S LEAN FIELD BOOK6 How to Launch Your Lean JourneyAlternate Routes to the Lean Roadmap The Benchmarking and Best Practice Adoption Hop The Business Process Reengineering Leap The Statistical Process Control and Six Sigma Turn Case Study: Higher Quality, Lower CostCreating the Lean RoadmapPreparing the Road for Knowledge Worker LeanSelling Your Organization on Going Lean Argument 1: The Good Idea Argument 2: The Consensus Approach Argument 3: The Expert Opinion Argument 4: The Analysis 7 Model Information Flow: The Information Element and the Information Matrix The Difference between Information Flow and Process Flow The Impact of Modern Communications on Product Development High-Level Process Design and Its Implications for Information Flow How to Represent Information Flow: The Matrix Sequential Flow Parallel Flow Circuit Flow Multicircuit Flow How to Read the Information Matrix The Uses and Benefits of Infel Design Situational Visibility Task Resequencing Cost Reduction through Task Elimination or Exporting Identification of Independent Tasks Reduction of Rework Simulation Friendly Earned Value Analysis Organizational Design Using the Information Flow Matrix to Identify Lean Wastes Overproduction Waiting Defects Transportation MotionProcessing Inventory Infels and Therbligs 8 How to Implement Knowledge Worker LeanOverview Lean Methodology: A Snapshot Information MatrixProcess Improvement Maturity Model States of Maturity: Where We Are Now Practical Applications of the Lean Toolset Starting Off on Your Lean Journey: Your Charter, Your Customer, and Your Plan Lean Team Formation Team Process Risk Management Techniques Fact Finding and Discovery How to Retrieve Low-Level Process Performance Data Early Change Management Doing the Analysis: Developing an Understanding of the Process Measuring Performance via Cumulative Flow Discovering Root Cause through Aggregate Data Creating and Working with the Information Matrix View Kaizen Phase 1Kaizen Phase 2 Selecting Kaizen Phase 2 Ideas Implementing Kaizen Phase 2 Ideas Special Cases: Variable Dependencies, the Desire Path Approach, and Decision Bottlenecks Variable Dependency The Desire Path Decision Bottlenecks 9 How to Sustain Knowledge Worker Lean Overview of 5S 5Si Case Study Sustaining Information Age Lean Using a Visual Management System Short-Range Management Long-Range ManagementThe Mechanics of a Visual Management System Approach 1: Excel and SharePoint Approach 2: Intranet Status Board Approach 3: Customized-off-the-Shelf (COTS)The Lean Journal 10 Change Management: Practical Lessons from Monks, Generals, and Fashion Models Three Ways to Lead Lean The Rules of Success: People, People, People Performance Management Process Tip: Use the Socratic Approach Change Management: The Soft Part Is the Hard Part Case Study: The Reengineer, His Mother, and the Coffee Information Lean Is A Man-Machine System Overcoming Resistance to Lean Nonlinear Risk Aversion Case Study: Nonlinear Risk AversionTurning Your Lean Project into a Lean Culture: Measuring Performance 57 Don’t Rely on the 100th Monkey: Planning for Lean The PDCA Cycle 11 Knowledge Worker Lean: The Takeaway Challenge 1: Getting Up and Getting Going Step 1: Meet the Boss; Obtain Buy-inStep 2: Meet the Process Owner; Assess Commitment Step 3: Get a Feel for the Process and the People The Takeaway: How to Begin What Can Go WrongChallenge 2: Creating a Lean Team Preparing Your Team The Takeaway: How to Build a Lean Team What Can Go Wrong Challenge 3: How to See What You See; Fact Finding Searching for Clues Indicating Waste The Takeaway: Dig Deep What Can Go Wrong Challenge 4: How to Build the Lean Case; Doing the Analysis Breaking the News: How to Report Your Findings The Takeaway: If You Build It, They Will Come Around What Can Go WrongChallenge 5: How to Evaluate Information Flow Reporting Your Findings The Takeaway: How to Get Your Message Across What Can Go Wrong Challenge 6: Turning Lean Ideas into Results How to Create a Plan The Takeaway: Moving Forward What Can Go Wrong Start with the Quick Win: Low Hanging Opportunities What Can Go Wrong Scoping and Prioritizing Projects What Can Go Wrong Challenge 7: Sustaining Lean; Communications and Collaboration During the Lean Discovery Phase: Team Talk The Takeaway: Fundamentals of Early Success During the Sustain Phase: Ongoing Communication The Takeaway: Use Your Web Site to Sustain Lean Culture What Can Go WrongChallenge 8: Sustaining Lean; Policies, Procedures, and Metrics Sustaining Lean with Visual Management Systems The Takeaway: Use Policies, Procedures, and Metrics to Sustain Lean What Can Go Wrong

George Gonzalez-Rivas has been a process improvement consultant for most of his life and has worked with several consulting companies, most recently as a partner for PA Consulting Group. He has advised telecom, energy, and product development organizations, and is the inventor of the Infel Matrix approach to information modeling. He is continuously improving his Lean skills. He is currently the national director of AnyLogic America. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. Linus Larsson, until recently a partner at PA Consulting, is now pursuing new business ventures with The Quest Group while he is at work on yet another new book. As an advisor on strategy and performance improvement to large international corporations for more than 20 years, Linus has worked with high-performance companies in a range of industries, including manufacturing, financial services, health care, and business services. He has held senior management positions with several global business services corporations, where he has helped pioneer a number of Lean initiatives. His diverse experience and innovative approach, along with his record of success, make him a leading thinker, as well as a much sought after writer, speaker, and advisor on effective ways to apply Lean philosophy in a non-factory environment. Linus is based in Stockholm where he lives with his wife and three children."