Build it wrong

Have you ever launched a production line only to start making bad parts instantly?

Have you ever launched a production line with a horrible PPM ranking after weeks of meticulous planning?




Product development is complex and demands a process of it’s own to ensure critical elements are considered and implemented. I could –and others have written, volumes on this topic, but today I want to focus and share a tried and true method of bullet-proofing your manufacturing line.


There is actually a trick.

Sure..

• You think you know how to assemble that part.
• You think you’re a good communicator and trainer to teach others how to put it together.
• You think you’ve balanced the line such that every person is done with their assigned tasks in 12 seconds.

You think.

Before you’re finished with designing fixtures and equipment for the production line and certainly well before you even consider a run at rate evaluation, host a ‘build it wrong’ day.

That’s right. Dare your team* to build the part wrong.

HOW TO:
*Collect a diverse group consisting of engineers, managers, team leaders, operators, and maybe even your staff assistant and assign them a ‘station’. At each 'station', provide them all the parts they'd need at that defined ‘station’ along with a few tools both necessary and completely useless, then tell them to put it together.

ie: say: "put this together", and walk away.

That’s right, provide no other instruction, no other words.

In addition, create a special ‘station’ where you have all the parts for the assembly and have someone try to assemble the whole thing by themselves (again without any instruction what so ever).


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER:
• Poke Yokes you’ll need to create; both design and process

• Operator instruction noteables

• Product design changes necessary to eliminate possible mis-builds

• Process steps needed

• Special tools required

• Ergonomic changes to the station including fixtures and tools necessary


THE BIGGEST LESSON?

You’ll discover what you don’t yet know.

I give up

I discovered a blog about Detroit recently that opinionates issues the city is experiencing.

Having served customers in the Detroit area for the last twenty years and visiting frequently, I was always aware of the decay of the city in addition to the phenomenal work there by several innovative persons.

The blog paints a much different picture though and offers perspectives from those who live out of state. Murder rates, foreclosure statistics, and business failures have been found more interesting to possibly pessimistic onlookers. Perhaps it was just my unabashed optimism, but I didn’t think Detroit (in spite of the failure of the automotive industry and incredibly poor city management) was that bad.

Like many of you, I have driven quickly via shortcuts, detours, and with wayward mapquest directions past abandoned houses, decrypted apartment buildings, and decomposing once grand public buildings. I had never seen this before however and it brought mixed feelings of sadness and curious inspiration; sadness for both the soul of the houses and the loss of the families who once roamed their halls and laughed around their dining tables. Curiosity in how a film company could utilize the houses as a movie set, an adventure through the jungle of the house, and in how the houses were now as tree-houses; images of kid’s imaginative stories and play acting bringing joy to my mind’s eye.

It would be easy to just give up.

It would be easy to simply ignore and further abandon the neighborhoods of Detroit and the neighborhoods in our own cities that have fallen into decay experiencing the biggest financial losses and community breakdown.

Ignoring would be easy.

2010 will be a year of creativity and finding different ways of doing business. 2010 will be more about entrepreneurship. Partnerships, giving of services, reaching out to others, including others for both profit and simple goodwill is what we’ll be all about.

It's not my job

A month ago Thanksgiving, I talked about being thankful to your colleagues. As the week of Christmas has arrived, I am thinking about what and how you give in your organization.

What are you giving back to your organization?

Ideally, your teams are made up of diverse skills and viewpoints complimenting each other on how they interact and what they bring to the table. Your teams are confident enough to counter view points for creative discussion leading to creative solutions.

We all have our role. We all have our job.

Having our role also means that there are roles that don’t belong to us; tasks and responsibilities that don’t fall under our umbrella – tasks left to others.. jobs that aren't ours.

Do you ever do things that aren’t directly assigned to you? Of course we all have to mindful of our immediate and long-term responsibilities to ensure our work is getting done without being overworked ourselves, but I’d like to explore what happens when we give of ourselves fully at work.

Let’s starting with making a list of things that we could give:

• Pick up any trash you come across that’s the size of a dime or larger on the floor

• Help a colleague pick up something that accidentally spilled

• Walk a strong pace to get to your destination quicker – to finish quicker

• Smile and greet every person you encounter in your office

• Listen respectfully to every person you interact with in your office

• Help someone do their job if you have idle time

• Research and brainstorm on products, services, or just plain ideas that will help your company to do more.

• Contribute in discussion at meetings

• Prepare for meetings you’ll attend

• Finish your work when you’ve committed to finishing it

• Continuously think of ways you can do your job better

• Continuously think of ways your company can service its clients better

• Choose to share the positive verses complaining or dwelling on the past

• Support the team decision and make it successful even if you disagree with the method (within moral limits obviously)

• Go the extra step, put on the finishing touches, and do a little more proudly to delight your clients (or the colleague you’re delivering to)

• Be proud of what you deliver

• Understand the ‘why’ of decisions so you can support them fully

Wouldn’t you like someone who did all these things to work for you?

What more would you add to this list?

Lions, tigers, and bears..

Actually, more like: lions, beavers, and golden retrievers.

At my previous company I would periodically take those little self-evaluation tests to figure out my general personally type. This was typically done during a team off-site and the results would be anticipated.

Of course Larry is a “Retriever”.

Sure enough, the test results showed that Mary is a strong driver but with a tall yellow bar too.

For myself, I was always a driver but like reading horoscopes, I saw a little of myself in each description of the lion, otter, golden retriever, and beaver.

Sometimes we’d have to wear these little personality name tags in the office and when we’d tire of this display; we’d hang them in our office for people to see. Supposedly this would help others work with us better.

How exactly am I supposed to give a Retriever information?

How do I more effectively ask a Beaver to do something?

Wouldn’t it be easier if I just knew what to get from others to do my work more effectively?

We all go to work wanting to do a good job. Everyone there, like everyone you might notice in your neighborhood, at church, or in the grocery store, is a mixed bag of nuts. We’re all different. We all have our own idiosyncrasies. We all have our own perceptions based on our upbringing. Some even have their own agendas.

How can we work together better?

While understanding your colleagues and knowing them personally always benefits, one doesn’t always have the opportunity to understand how someone works.

• You could be new on a team.
  

• Your team could be located at several locations.
  

• Understanding someone else’s personality type might not be your gift.
  

There are many reasons why knowing yourself better is the key to getting information presented to you as you need to do your job more effectively verses leaving it to someone else's interpretation. Things like:

• What questions should you ask to fill in the gaps in your mind?

• How should you lay out your work for your brain to process quicker?

• When should you slow down to let others catch up?

Just as in personal relationships, understanding your very own unique way of processing information, will make you more effective in all you do.

Managing time verses productivity

I like to talk about time manage- ment because it's a phrase that I grew up with in my corporate career. But let's be straight:

Just as 2+ 1 does not equal 4,

Managing Time does not equal Productivity.

I'm not saying you won't get a lot of things done by understanding all the things you want to do, all the things you're getting paid to do, then breaking down those projects into actionable tasks. you could be super busy doing all those tasks and more having lots of 'checks' in your planner.

By working and even finishing tasks that don't get you closer to reaching your goals - work or personal, you'll find yourself perhaps more stressed and feeling like you don't have enough time in the day because what you are working on isn't in harmony with what you ultimately want to do. Perhaps what you choose to do everyday (even following your to-do list) isn't getting you any closer to the end of your project.

Huh?

If you're not working on the right stuff (- on what's important to you -) deep down you know it. Deep down you know what you should be working on. This knowledge you carry deep down inside of you is screaming for attention and this is causing you stress.

Important tasks support both your values and your goals. These goals could be work related and assigned. These goals could be personal ventures. The same rules apply.

UNDERSTAND.
Understand the big picture of what you're trying to achieve. From this you can define the path to get there: what needs to happen, who you will work with, how to do it, and what you don't know.

Understand what it is you really want to achieve. We have a lot of ideas in business and it is all our job to ensure that what we do supports the corporate vision. Has your project deviated? Perhaps it's time to stop - or redine the corporate direction. Is the corporation you?

FOCUS.
Focus on showing up for yourself. If you've gone to the trouble of understanding how your direction supports the project that supports the vision of the company and you know how to get there, what are you doing continuing research for that old project this morning - or worse, checking your email and twitter accounts 25 times a day? (go ahead, track how many times per day you look - it may surprise you)

The constant review of your plan and important tasks you've assigned yourself each day will remind you how you can be best productive. You will work on your important stuff.

You can always procrastinate tomorrow.

KEEP MOVING.
Rarely do I start a project where I know everything about what I need to do and the technology required.

What do you do when you don't know?

Building momentum for yourself is equally important as building and maintaining momentum for a team. Momentum inspires, energizes, and creates believers. Sometimes it's necessary to make a decision when all the information isn't present. To quote an old manager, you "reserve the right to get smarter." There will always be things you don't know. Building time into your schedule and planning to learn may help remove your personal "this road ends" signs.

Show up for yourself. Cherish your day. Do More.

Extra: I like the way Dr. Manlowe talks about TIME in her recent article. She also echoes the assignment by the book, The Artist's Way by recommending writing every morning to both clear your head and align your vision with your day's agenda. I do this as both a writer and an engineer. It works.

Image credit, Jeff Morrison. Symbol # indicating 'does not equal' used as blogspot.com does not recognize input of actual symbol 9April2009

It doesn't take a rocket scientist

If statistics show that 88% of people leave a job because of how they feel they are being treated, would building an organization with people who had excellent soft side skills help raise employment retention rates and keep everyone staying put longer?

Long ago I found myself interviewing with a small private company anticipating the landing of my first job out of college with a highly respected firm. During the final interview, I got an early and abrupt taste of their culture when I got slapped in the face.

And by slapped, I'm talking about hearing the following:

• "We start at 7am here

• We work most Saturdays, minimum two per month

• There is no swearing. Ever

• We pray at every company meeting

• You'll be expected to put in on average 60 hours per week

• And OH, don't worry about looking up for your next job, your manager will constantly be on the look out for you to grow within the company"

At that time, I had already worked four years in industry at four different companies and never had I heard or experienced such things. Not being a morning person, my mind was still stuck on the 7am part; I just kep smiling and nodding my head robotically.

Knowing I still had much to learn and wanting to work at this firm, I took the job; slap and all.

I won't deny the mornings were tough but soon I began to welcome the 7am starts because of the smiling faces of all the staff that would greet me during our morning stretch routines. Gratitude exuded from all in that we were showing up for each other.

Saturdays were a whole other ball game. It was difficult at first, but it changed for me also. Reluctantly I dragged myself in weekend after weekend to donuts, more smiling faces, and sometimes an on-site cooked breakfast by other colleagues and managers. Rather than the cold slap in the face feeling I had in the interview process, I was experiencing welcome, appreciated, and a part of something bigger. These mornings became great catch-up times where the week days were fast paced and business-only venues. The Saturday mornings were a chance to reset and decompress as well as spend more time on the production floor learning about the lives of team-mates.

Some perspective

This company is a leader in its industry with a reputation of a high standard of quality. Although also a leader in developing and delivering high tech products, problems arose there just as they do in any other company. There was one difference here though: problems were looked at as opportunites for success rather than opportunities for blame. When a problem arose, it was a time to demonstrate strength in character, not a hot-head full of steam. When "issues" happened, rarely were voices raised. Product issues were simply product issues because it was never interpreted as anyone's fault. It was always seen as a process oversight or a machine failure, not as personal failure by someone or a team, nor an opportunity to degrade people.

So what made the difference?

Respect for each other's abilities, values, and contribution made the difference between finger pointing and getting our work done. The attitude cultivated by leadership to respect and be present for one another enabled focus on solving the issues at hand.

Some how there always existed the skill set to solve any problem. Ironically there was always a solution to any problem. Pretty good, huh?

Consensus doesn't necessarily mean a solution that "kinda fits." It is something that is borne of constructive open dialog between trusting colleagues.

Were we just a bunch of rocket scientists who could fix anything? Likely and most definitely not. It is likely that the company heavily hired engineers that had the people skills first, technical ability second.

Did it make a difference?

I'll ask my question again: If 88% of people leave a job because of how they feel they are being treated, would building an organization with people who had excellent soft skills help raise employment retention rates and keep everyone staying put longer?

What would you do?

What works best in your organization and why?

This article was originally posted by me on L2L Blogazine, April 8th 2009 * Image credit to Jim Wilson for The New York Times, Gerlach, Nevada, October 14, 2006, www.nyt.com

When do you work?

Don't worry, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty if you happen to be reading this at work, but if you said 8 - 5 or some derivative thereof, think again.

I'd like to know when you do your best work.

I'm not talking about when you go to work. We all go to work. We go typically at a time predetermined by either our boss or society. We show up when it's expected. Because we're not drones however, turning our brains on or off is not necessarily something someone else can control. Frankly I'm not sure we can either. Sure I can influence my brain to start working whether it's with coffee, bribe of an impending vacation, threat of missing a deadline and the anger of a client, or with a shiny new computer, but let's face it, our mind works when it wants to.

I started thinking today about how I wanted to write about time management and how to be more effective at work but as I started writing and rewriting several times, I realized that describing making the most of our time in a short post was fruitless. For today, I just want to focus on when to show up.

I'd like you to think for a moment about a time when you recognized your brain fully engaged and you were really groovin' on an idea and the creative juices in your head.

Got one?

ok, now think of another one. Just one more.

There's a lot of this whole work better, smarter, faster dynamic, but for today, I'd like you to consider what time of the day do you recall experiencing real brain power? Of those two moments you just recalled, what time of the day did they occur? What did the room look like during those power sessions? Maybe you weren't even stationary; perhaps you were in a plane, train, or automobile?

The point is that there are certain times of the day and there are specific surroundings that enable your brain to get into overdrive. What happens in overdrive?

W O R K

Good work Break.throughs Solutions Ideation Gro.wth Passion Momentum E*n*e*r*g*y

Below I provide you with a snapshot of my week to give you an idea of how I work within my zone. I've discovered that while I'm not a morning person, once I've got up and went, it's the most productive part of my day while the afternoon is more focused on the sunshine and what's next. You'll see that for the most part I try and schedule my brainiac time in both the mid-morning hours and later evening hours.

When are you the most productive?

Call it a time journal, call it a pain, but record your activities and how you feel brain-power wise throughout the day for a few weeks and see if you can define your personal brainiac time.

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