M-Files Serie
Optimize the IT department operation with
Lean management
by Emmanuel Jaunart
Optimize the IT department
operation
Nowadays and far more than in the past,
organizations are looking for more efficiency and
agility when one speaks about restriction and budget
cuts. Emphasis is often put on the IT department for
providing better services allowing the business to
better perform on their markets.
Therefore, acquiring an
enhanced IT performance
becomes a critical
success factor for many
organisations, large or
smaller. And the IT
manager’s position
becomes more and more
complex.
Lean has been recently introduced into the IT world
because it is a bottom-up approach focusing on
people empowerment and delegation. The benefits
are a better involvement into the transition and a
rather pragmatic way to solve operational problems,
compared to a traditional top-dowm process
implementation approach.
The concept is not that new indeed.
Most of the time, the
LEAN introduction
means rather intrusive
audits, quite theoretical
recomandations, 12
weeks waves with a low
level of coaching for the
IT teams, … In a few
words: the continuous
improvement culture
proposed by LEAN has been forgotten. A new “data
collection driven dogmatism” (SixSigma approach)
has just replaced the ITIL framework. This does not
provide an added value to the IT operations if applied
bluntly as it is often the case.
« In many cases, the way a LEAN
management approach is put in
place, to improve IT organisations,
is quite questionable»
An approach frequently used for improving the IT
department is to deploy tools and/or processes in the
field of service management. It is often an action
coming from the IT board with a relative enthusiasm.
in the field.
Aware of those implementation issues, Mielabelo has
built an integrated system aiming at improving IT
departements efficiency. The framework is built
upon best of both worlds:
•
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Best practices and standards (ITIL, CobiT,
CMMI, Agile, ....),
Lean tooling.
LEAN tooling
Recently, a new way for improving the IT department
operation has been introduced within several
organisations. The approach is based on “kaizen”
initiatives directly inspired from the LEAN tooling.
LEAN management is a quality management system
including tools frequently deployed in the
manufacturing and logistics domains.
LEAN management purpose is to:
•
Copyright Mielabelo 2013
Identify and highlight inefficiencies and
wastes,
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Bring operational solutions based on multidomains analysis (Fishbone, 5M, Pareto, …),
Get teams autonomous by coaching them and
leading by example.
•
•
Workflows and activities management
according to a Kanban sequencing,
Primary visual display and Obeya room
implementation for piloting improvement
initiatives and kaizens through KPIs control,
« Revisiting Lean management tools and adapting them to the IT context is
required to better fit to operational and human constraints. »
Stricto sensu, the LEAN management approach is not
that straightforward for IT environments because:
•
•
•
•
IT activities are not as repetitive as
manufacturing ones, by example,
The IT department is a services factory,
Agility requirements and needs fluctuations
reach a very high level due to business
constraints and an increasing dependency to
IT solutions,
IT workflows are more complex and less
standard than in manufacturing or logistics
for instance.
•
Value Stream Mapping for operational
processes based on ITIL v3.
On top, it is of paramount importance to strongly
involve operational teams at the very beginning of
the initiative: it will definitely help to involve people
and increase the success rate of the improvement
plan. That is the preferred method used by Mielabelo
consultants.
Roll-out approach
More and more, Mielabelo introduces LEAN
management for improving IT operations efficiency.
Generally, it is required to perform an “AS IS”
analysis based on an Ishikawa based COMPAS
method.
It is about meeting operational IT and Business
people and speaking about their pains. “TO BE”
targets are then defined and ranked in priorities.
Operational teams are then exposed to the lean
management principles and tools. This is the
It is therefore mandatory to deploy
the lean way to manage IT
operations with a sound expertise
in IT service management contexts
Mielabelo combines three major
pillars:
•
A “Cause-Effect” analysis
approach based on the
traditional 5M/Ishikawa
tool but adapted to the IT
context (known as
COMPAS),
Copyright Mielabelo 2013
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preliminary approach for developing the future IT
quality teams.
Specific kaizens or more complex initiatives are then
deployed with IT members using a coaching mode,
over short periods (1 to 3 months).
The IT team itself will run those improvements
(under some guidance) and get autonomous for
applying the Lean concepts.
Application domain
The beauty of the method is to be able to:
•
Rapidly work with operational stakeholders
on their daily worries,
•
Directly address pains identified on the field,
•
Build the start of a solution with IT members
and therefore,
•
Facilitate the transition process and increase
people’s enthusiasm for changes.
The following topics can be easily addressed with the
COMPAS approach:
Such a LEAN implementation approach may be
applied to several areas ranging from very broad and
complex subjects (like building an IT strategic plan)
up to very specific problems (as improving relations
between operations and development teams)
•
The analysis phase is a key step in order to correctly
identify and address actual pains. This is why
Mielabelo has developed an IT specific “5M” method
to do so. This is the COMPAS variation around the
Ishikawa/Fishbone diagram.
•
•
Optimize the IT projects portfolio by fitting
to the specific business and regulatory
requirements, sticking to management
priorities and aiming at producing an IT
strategy. This also includes reference to the
CobiT framework,
Organize a software factory and put
applications development projects under
control (in-house, near/off shore teams) and
creating a quality driven SDLC (based on
Kanban, Obeya, Vmodel/Agile/Scrum, GMP)
Improve the service level of a contact center
by insuring a better follow-up of tickets
(major incidents, problems, change) and a
more adapted communication towards end
users (based on Kanban, obeya and ITIL).
More information ?
Emmanuel Jaunart, Mielabelo,
+ 32 496 55 65 81
emmanuel.jaunartmielabelo.com
Register at www.mielabelo.com
It is quite a powerful tool allowing for diagnosing
actual pains and inefficiencies (based on revealed
symptoms) but also for building a team spirit and
federating the stakeholders throughout the
continuous improvement program.
Follow us @mielabelo
©Copyright Mielabelo, 2013
Do not forget:
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Lean management implementation results strongly depend on the management involvement
and its quality culture maturity
Without such a quality driven attitude at the IT department level, those efforts will be lost
One key success factor is to train IT teams and expose them to practical cases solving with a
professional and adapted coaching.
Copyright Mielabelo 2013
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