Speed Review - Making Work Visible

Being a Lean practitioner, I am always excited to read new books and articles on such topics. I'm especially intrigued to see the concepts applied in different industries, such as IT or Medical, to contemplate what might be transferable to other industries. I was excited to be reminded of this book by a friend and quickly ordered it. In the second edition, there is a forward by Tonianne DeMaria. Her book is mentioned a couple of times in the book and I also ordered it for my next read: Personal Kanban: Mapping Work / Navigating Life by Jim Benson & Tomianne DeMaria Barry.

"Despite all our modern "conveniences," effective time management has for many become an uphill battle, an all-consuming if not quixotic goal. While the Information Economy ushered in 24/7 connectivity, it likewise begot round-the-clock expectations, and so, paradoxically, technology like mobile phones and email and video conferencing - tools that would ostensibly make life easier - often enslave us." (Tomianne DeMaria in Forward of Making Work Visiable)

While working with a fellow Lean Black Belt in a prior job, we always enjoyed the ability to discuss opportunities for improvement and devise methodologies for quantifying the current state and measuring successful outcomes. I was always learning new insights from this individual which made our collaborative support all the more intriguing. One element he ingrained in me was the importance of not casting blame or hiding problems but instead letting issues rise to the surface. This way they are transparent. I incorporated this with my own beliefs that employees do not try to do a bad job and that issues are firstly and mainly attributed to a flaw in the process. Additionally, ongoing issues, tend to be hidden as employees find "Band-Aid" solutions that mask them. Doing so often puts more work on the individual doing the cover-up in good faith but stifles their productivity in the process leading to poor performance reviews....at least until the errors rise to the surface.

"The aim of kanban is to make troubles come to the surface." - Taiichi Ohno

Another element of transparency that is a focus of the book through Kanban and visual management is that it is the best way to allow all to see what is being prioritized, what is in process, and measurements for completions. When first learning of lean management through some very large automotive and construction OEMs/Tiers, the leadership would emphasize how the process enabled constructive conversations and helped all know their part in each other's process. One GM taught me that he should be able to walk onto any floor or department and immediately be able to understand what is being worked on and the state of the work.

The chapter that imparts how kanban can be used to segregate (via swim lanes) elements requested by customers, internally, or the usually more interruptive demands from executive leadership, is one I cuvet as I like to emphasize to staff that it is equally important to manage the down as it is to manage up. The kanban process combined with this type of segregation along with WIP limits is an excellent way to allow parties to say NO to extra work while enough is in process. DeGrandis refers to these requests as "silver-bullets" and explains that they "probably require special communication with the boss, because it was likely the boss's boss, .... or someone higher up in the food chain... who made the initial silver-bullet request." and likely not considering the impact to existing WIP due to constraints in resources, etc. The suggestion is to limit such requests to one at a time.

Lastly, in the Afterward, DeGrandis talks about the Dunning-Kruger Effect; A cognitive bias where "the tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability, and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability. Two takeaways I enjoyed from this section are:

1. "We see confident people as competent even if they don't know what they're talking about. Without self-awareness, people cannot objectively evaluate their level of competence." ... "If you're incompetent, you don't know you're incompetent." .... "In contrast to high performers, poor performers do not learn from feedback."
2. The Skills Matrix she credits to Troy Magennis is a great method to highlight team gaps and advanced skills for any specific project. Well worth the look.

There is a plethora of other great topics to explore in this book and I recommend it as a reference tool to keep in the library for anyone serious about business process improvements. You will be sure to enjoy the chapters on managing by-products vs. projects, exposing dependencies, protecting your time, and flow metrics. Hope you enjoy the read as much as I have. All the best.