LEAN IT - LEANING OUT YOUR IT
PROCESSES CAN SAVE MONEY,
REDUCE TIME TO DELIVER SERVICES
AND HELP YOU FOCUS ON THE
PROJECTS THAT MATTER TO THE
BUSINESS.
Dr. George Royce Ph.D, PMP
University of Nebraska at Omaha
groyce@unomaha.edu or george.royce@gmail.com
Website: http://roycesite.com/george/index.html
Also on LinkedIN and Facebook
Agenda
Topic
Time
Welcome and Introductions
8:30 – 8:40
Discuss Lean Concepts as it applies to Information Technology Processes and concept of
customer value and waste in existing processes
8:40 – 9:00
Team Activity 1: Examples of Waste in IT Processes – Your team 5 minutes!
9:00 - 9:10
Kaizen Event Overview and Voice of the Customer
9:10 – 9:40
Team Activity 2: Build a SIPOC for the EFS New Hire Process or your process
9:40 – 9:55
Swim Lane Map and Value Stream Map and Value Add Verses Non Value Add
9:55 – 10:30
Break
10:30 – 10:45
Team Activity 3: Build a Swim Lane Value Stream Map
10:45 – 11:15
Review the Value Stream Maps from each team and discuss Lean Metrics and Methods
11:15 – 11:40
Team Activity 4: Teams Brainstorm analysis, additional data collection and experiments.
Teams review/complete the Kaizen Charter
11:40 – 12:10
Teams present the their analysis and recommendations for additional data collection,
experiments and improvements.
12:10 – 12:30
Summary and Wrap-up
12:30 – 12:40
Dr. George Royce
2
Lean
 Definition of LEAN: A business approach based on the goal of

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eliminating waste and maximizing flow in business processes.
Lean began as a methods of driving cost of out of auto
manufacturing. Toyota has been a leading user of the lean
approach since the 1950’s.
Goals: Henry Ford’s low cost, fast lead time, high Quality with
GM’s Variety of product.
Toyota Achieved these goals by the 1980’s.
Focuses on the elimination of Waste.
Reduction in waste leads to increased speed and reduced cost.
Value in products or processes should be viewed in the
eyes of the customer. What is the customer willing to
pay for?
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
What is Lean IT and why should we care?
 Lean IT is the application of LEAN principles
to all IT processes. – Steve Bell
 Why?
 “Technology is simply a vehicle for carrying out
processes. The power of your company is
contained in the processes themselves. The
most valuable opportunities for establishing
competitive differentiation are in how a product
or service is created, sold, delivered, and
supported.”
– Jack Welch, former CEO of GE

It is involved in all the above processes today in most companies
 Mutual of Omaha embraced Lean IT to eliminate
wasteful processes and low value or no value
software. We wanted to re-invest the savings in
strategic business projects for our customers.
Dr. George Royce
What Are the Information Technology Processes? – ask
your IT auditor! COBIT 5 Defines each process in detail.
Dr. George Royce
Source: COBIT® 5, figure 16. © 2012 ISACA® All rights reserved.
Why focus on Lean IT?
 Deliver more strategic projects and spend less time on service
and support.
 We still want “good enough” service and support that keeps us
safe and productive!
 IT can and will change our processes but to make this happens
the business needs to change as well.
Dr. George Royce
Lean out Project Management and Development – Adopt
Agile / SCRUM methods
“Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to
profit in a turbulent business environment.”—Jim Highsmith, Agile

Software Development Ecosystems
Early indication that Agile/SCRUM provides better results:


“In its 2011 CHAOS Manifesto report surveying the success of software
projects between 2002 and 2010, the Standish Group found that
projects based on traditional waterfall methodology succeeded 14% of
the time, whereas agile-based projects had a success rate of 42%”
IT really liked the collaboration with the business in
building a backlog of stories and working from the
backlog based on business product owner decisions.
Business also had to change as well:

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Needed to play a larger role in the form of Product owner verses
a sponsor. The required much more engagement and
accountability for projects
Subject Matter Experts on co-located teams.
“Developing and Succeeding with Scrum” by George Ogata, Computerworld July 17, 2012.
Dr. George Royce
Leaning out Service and Support processes
 Move to pull process
 Adopt Kanban
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Kan means "visual" ,ban means "card" or "board”
A signaling system to trigger action
Uses cards to signal the need for work to be done
Toyota Lean lesson focusing on Just in Time production
Dr. George Royce
Rules of Kanban and a Sample Kanban Board
 Strict Queue Limits
 Pull Value Through
 Make it Visible
 Remember – “Value” in the eyes of the customer
 Big changes for customers: fewer items actively worked on but completed more
quickly
Dr. George Royce
Leaning out Software/Hardware and support – Institute
Application Portfolio Management
 “Application Portfolio Management (APM) initiative will measure and justify the

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benefits of all software applications in comparison to their cost. The process will
allow the APM team to identify and eliminate unused or unnecessary applications
and ultimately save the company money and free up resources that will allow
Mutual of Omaha to sustain a competitive advantage.”
How: Class applications as: Invest, Tolerate, Migrate, Eliminate and obtain buy in
from customers explaining how much applications really cost using TCO. Set goals
in the business to eliminate or migrate applications.
A great time to do this is during a desktop upgrade.
A number of companies have reduced their IT software /hardware budgets by
millions as a result of this effort.
After the project, make it a part of your process going forward!
Return on Applications Retired- Annual Savings
Retired Applications
Time Model
$2.0
1000
Invest
$1.8
900
$1.6
800
$1.4
Tolerate
Migrate
Eliminate
Millions
700
600
500
400
374
300
0
$1.0
$0.8
$1.0
$1.1
$0.9
$0.6
$0.4
200
100
$1.4
$1.2
158
185 210
$0.2
$0.0
0
0
0
0
0
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct Nov
Dec
0
0
0
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011
2011 2011
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011
Dr. George Royce
Using Kaizen to help improve all your IT processes
 Kaizen means “a change for the good”
 Kaizen is an approach to continuous process improvement. It is a way
of thinking and behaving. It is about unleashing the creative power of
people actually doing the work, in order to design more effective and
efficient processes.
 Practicing kaizen on a daily basis promotes lean thinking
Dr. George Royce
Problems with IT Processes
 Customers complain that the process:
 Costs too much (they are not willing to pay for it)
 Takes too long
 Delivers a “gold plated solution or product when the customer
wanted something simpler, faster and cheaper.
 Processes can contain “hidden factories” – costly sub-
processes that were put in place due to a problem that
occurred years ago that has not re-occurred.
 Processes contain waste in the eyes of the customer and
need to be leaned out.
 Waste is something the customer is not willing to pay for
during a process.
 What are other problems of processes you have
encountered in your company or others?
Dr. George Royce
Lean Concept of Waste – Original 7 + 1
Intellect – any failure to fully
utilize the time and talent of
people
8
1
Overproduction – To produce sooner, faster
or in greater quantities than customer
demand
7
2
Over-Processing –
Processing beyond the
standard required by the
customer
Inventory – Raw Materials, work in progress
or finished goods which is not having value
added to it.
6
Rework – Not done right the
first time. Repetition or
Correction of a Process
3
Waiting – People or parts that wait for work
cycle to be completed
5
Transportation - unnecessary movement
of people or parts between processes
4
Motion - Unnecessary movement of people
parts or machine within a process
Dr. George Royce
Waiting and Over Production
Waiting – People or parts that wait for work cycle to be
completed
 People waiting on systems or machines – applications, copiers, etc…
 People waiting on others
 Sign offs
 Edit
 Client input
Overproduction – To produce sooner, faster or in greater
quantities than customer demand
 Extra Copies
 Unused storage, CPU Cycles
 Inventory stockpiles
Dr. George Royce
Inventory and Motion
Inventory – Raw materials, work in progress or finished goods is
not having value added to it
 Backlogs of work waiting on resources
 Retaining information not needed – documents, data files, etc…
 Creating product before there is customer demand
Motion – Unnecessary movement of people, parts or machine
within a process
 Looking to find information or supplies. – Poor search capability
 Mouse clicks needed to access information
 Customer suppliers too far apart
 Traveling verses conference call or Webex
Dr. George Royce
Transportation and Rework
Transportation – unnecessary movement of people, information
or parts between processes
 Wrong information
 Information that is relayed up and down the ladder
 Information handoffs
 Hand carried documents
 Complex information management
Rework – Not done right the first time. Repetition or Correction
of a Process
 Missing information and rework to collect it
 Correcting errors
 Extra manpower to check and redo
 Requirements not being met
 Reactive organization (firefighting vs prevention)
Dr. George Royce
Over-Processing and Intellect
Over-processing – Processing beyond the standard required by
the customer
 Endless refinements
 Redundant Approvals
 Reports with too much information
 Reports never used
 Excessive distribution
Intellect – any failure to fully utilize the time and talent of
people
 Few improvements
 Doing “MY” job mentality
 Lack of employee involvement
 Poor morale
Dr. George Royce
ACTIVITY 1 : IT Waste Examples
Intellect – any failure to fully
utilize the time and talent of
people
8
1
Overproduction – To produce sooner, faster
or in greater quantities than customer
demand
7
2
Over-Processing –
Processing beyond the
standard required by the
customer
Inventory – Raw Materials, work in progress
or finished goods which is not having value
added to it.
6
Rework – Not done right the
first time. Repetition or
Correction of a Process
3
Waiting – People or parts that wait for work
cycle to be completed
5
Transportation - unnecessary movement
of people or parts between processes
4
Motion - Unnecessary movement of people
parts or machine within a process
Directions:
 Work in Teams. List 1-2 forms of Waste in the IT processes.
 List on Flip Chart Paper
 You have 5 minutes. Begin now.
Dr. George Royce
Principles of Kaizen
 1. Say no to status quo, implement new methods and assume



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




they will work
2. If something is wrong, correct it
3. Accept no excuses and make things happen
4. Improve everything continuously
5. Abolish old, traditional concepts
6. Be economical. Save money through small improvements and
spend the saved money on further improvements
7. Empower everyone to take part in problems' solving
8. Before making decisions, ask "why" five times to get to the
root cause. (5 Why Method)
9. Get information and opinions from multiple people
10. Remember that improvement has no limits. Never
stop trying to improve – Continuous improvement
Dr. George Royce
Kaizen Event
 Are formalized activities that organizations use to achieve
rapid and dramatic improvements and progressively shift
their culture.
 The kaizen event may be a few days to a few weeks at the
most to
Determine the current state of a process (baseline)
Describe the problems
Agree on a future state
Conduct experiments to determine the future state can be achieved
by the improvements
 Define and accomplish the quick wins to gain most of the benefits
 Add remaining tasks to a backlog to achieve continuous
improvement




 Why Do a kaizen Event? – Establish, change and improve a
process.
Dr. George Royce
Steps in a Kaizen Event
Define Process
Problem
Develop 60 Day
Action Plan
Expose
Problems
Measure Current
Performance
Identify Waste in
Current Process
Conduct Gap &
Root Cause
Analysis
Source: Wyndham
Do
Standardize
Work
It
Find the
Root Cause
Implement
Changes
Define Should-Be
Process
Standardize
Operating
Procedures
Improve Current
Process
(This may include multiple
experiments
before implementing)
Develop
Measurements
for Success
Dr. George Royce
Define the Process Problems
Listen to the Voice of the Customer:
 Your competition is offering a similar or better product or
service for less.
 Customers complain about how long it takes to deliver a
product or service.
 Your site or code is not secure and customers don’t trust
your service or product.
 What are other problems customers my point out???
Dr. George Royce
Define - Voice of the Customer (VOC)
 Whenever you define a process, ask these questions about
the process:
 Who is the customer?
 What are their Requirements?
 How do we validate the requirements?
 How do these impact our process?
Dr. George Royce
Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Defining Value Added
Steps in a process
 Voice of the Customer (VOC) is listening to the actual
customers of the product you deliver and translating the
information into the needs of the customer.
 Value added Steps in a Process are steps that the
customer is willing to pay for.
Dr. George Royce
Define – Listening to the Voice of the Customer (VOC)
 Interviews
 Customer Observation
 Surveys
 Competitive Benchmarks
 “Be A Customer”
 Focus Groups
?? How does your company collect voice of the customer information?
Dr. George Royce
Value Add verses Non-Value Add Steps in a Process
Our customers can tell us what they are willing to pay for. Process cycle
efficiency is a measure of value added verses total time.
Dr. George Royce
Mapping an Information Technology Process
 How do we define a process that we find is broken or in need of
improvement?
 You need to understand the Internal and External customers in any
process.
 For example the Process is : PC Helpdesk Support
Internal
1. Clients/Customers
External
1. Field Clients/Customers
2. Internal Developers
 What are the inputs and outputs of this process?
Defining a Process - SIPOC
Dr. George Royce
Mapping a high level process - Use a SIPOC
 Suppliers
 The suppliers of work
 May be internal or external
 Inputs
 Products, information or other material needed for process.
 Process
 The steps used to go from the inputs to the outputs.
 Includes value add work and non-value add work.
 Outputs
 The outcome such as the service provided or product provided.
 Ensure you meet the Critical to Quality (CTQ) measures.
 Customers
 Customers of the process
Defining a Process - SIPOC
Dr. George Royce
Examples of a SIPOC for a PC Helpdesk Process
Suppliers
Client
Internal
Developers
Inputs/CTQ
Telephone
Call
• Answer call
within 45
seconds.
• First Call
resolution is 65%
Vendors
Process
Outputs/CTQ
Client places
Call on
Problem
Incident
Tickets
Service Desk
opens
incident/reques
t
Service
Requests
Connects to
client
desktop
Customers
Customers
Internal
Developers
• Meets
expectations /
needs of customer
Webform
• Problem
resolved and
email sent within
5 minutes or
phone contact is
made
SIPOC
Issue
Resolved or
Completed
Incident /Service
Request is Closed
Dr. George Royce
ACTIVITY 2 – Create a SIPOC for Sample
Problem
 Team should read the sample problem.
 From the sample determine the:
 Suppliers
• The suppliers of work
• May be internal or external
 Inputs
• Products, information or other material needed for process.
 Process
• The steps used to go from the inputs to the outputs.
• Includes value add work and non-value add work.
 Outputs
• The outcome such as the service provided or product provided.
• Ensure you meet the Critical to Quality (CTQ) measures.
 Customers
• Customers of the process
 Create a SIPOC for this process on a sheet of easel paper.
 Your Team has 10 minutes.
Dr. George Royce
Traditional Value Stream Map
 Value stream mapping is a lean manufacturing technique used to analyze
and design the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or
service to a consumer. At Toyota, where the technique originated, it is known
as "material and information flow mapping".
Rother, Mike; Shook, John (2003). Learning to See: value-stream mapping to create value and eliminate muda .
Dr. George Royce
Why Create a Value Stream Map?
 Helps everyone understand the current process.
 When preparing for a Kaizen event it helps determine what
additional metrics are needed to determine the value /cost
of each step in a process
 Helps create a vision for process improvement
 As more data for each task is identified, it can be easily
added to the Value Stream Map.
Dr. George Royce
Standard Swimlane Diagram
 Swimlane is a convenient way to show tasks as they move from one
department to another and can also illustrate the current and future
state.
WebPortal
Portal Customer
Customer
Web
Receive Order
Receive
Books
Revise Order
(order incomplete
ask customer for
more information)
(order rejected)
Credit Card Approval
Review Approve
Charge
Close
Order
(order accepted;
send work order
to shipping)
Review Order
Exceptions
Shipping Packaging
Packaging Exceptions
Shipping
Clerk
Clerk
Order
Order
System
System
Order
Process
CreditCard
Card
Credit
Approval
Approval
Order Fulfillments
Systems
Books Online: Order Fulfillment Process
Re-Review
Order
Books
Confirmations
Fill Order
Ship Order
Dr. George Royce
Swimlane Value Stream Map
 Add key metrics such as lead times and value added times for each
task. Add this on each task. Save room for costs of each task.
Dr. George Royce
Swimlane Value Stream Map
 Add key metrics such as lead times and value added times for each
task. Add this on each task. Save room for costs of each task.
Dr. George Royce
Swimlane / Value Stream Map created with Sticky Notes
Description
VA/NVA/RNVA
Cost
VAT
Task
Decision
Dr. George Royce
ACTIVITY 3 Create a Swimlane / Value Stream Map
of the Sample Problem using Sticky Notes
 Using the task descriptions in the sample problem, create a swimlane
value stream map using Easel pad paper (you may need more than one
sheet and sticky notes). Use the approach shown below to document
task costs and value added time. Leave room at the bottom of the
chart show a line indicating value added time and lead time. Total
these at the end of the line.
 Use an additional sheet of easel paper to document
 the current problems with the process,
 opportunities for improvement,
 any additional metrics you need to collect to ensure you are changing for the better.
 You have 25 minutes
Description
VA/NVA/RNVA
Cost
Time
Task
Decision
Dr. George Royce
Lean – Work in Process
 Work in process sound like manufacturing, but we should
think of them as things in process (TIP). This includes the
phone call you have to return, checks waiting to be
processed, applications for loans or insurance that need to
be processed.
 Delays/ Queue Time: If you have WIP, you have work that
is waiting to be worked on. Any time that work sits in a
queue you can consider that a “delay.”
?? What are examples of items you have or had in your jobs that had a
work in process queue? For example in insurance an important WIP queue
is the policy underwriting/issue queue.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Lean – Value Add / Process Efficiency
 Value –Added activities are those that add value in the
eyes of the customer.
 Non Value-Add activities are everything else.
 Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) relates the amount of valueadd time to the total lead time of a process.
PCE =
___Value-Add Time____
Total Lead Time
?? In registering for a class what do you as a customer think is a value
added activity? What is a non-value added activity?
?? Give another example of value add and non value add in bank or where
you work.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Calculate process cycle efficiency of your process
 Most processes are “un-lean.” 50% or more of work is non-value add.
 Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) is usually less than 10%.
PCE =
___Value-Add Time____
Total Lead Time
 To improve this:
 Look for non value added work and eliminate whenever possible.
 Reduce the lead time
 DIRECTIONS: using your data calculate the PCE for
your process and discuss ways to improve this.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Lead Time
 Lead time is how long it takes for you to deliver your
service or product once the order is triggered.
 Little’s Law
Lead Time = ____Amount of Work-In Process____
Average Completion Rate
 The idea is that you don’t have to track an item to know
lead time, so long as you know how many items you are
working on and how often you finish one of them.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Lean Lesson #2: Reduce Work In Process
 A primary goal should be to reduce Work In Process
 Lead Time = ____Amount of Work-In Process____
Average Completion Rate
 In any operation that doesn’t deal directly with customers – that is,
where WIP is orders or calls or emails or reports, not people –
controlling WIP is much easier than improving completion rate.
 Sample problem: A graduate admission office has 30
applications awaiting review. The reviewer has been able to
complete 5 files per day. What is the average lead time for the
graduate admission process?
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Lean Lesson #3: Creating a Pull System
In non customer-facing processes, WIP can be reduced by
using a Pull system.
 In any operation that doesn’t deal directly with customers –
that is, where WIP is orders or calls or emails or reports,
not people – controlling WIP is much easier than improving
completion rate.
 Whenever, and wherever possible, limit how much work
goes into a process queue at a given time.
 Work released into pull systems in a service environment
means making deliberate decisions about timing of work
released into a process For example, you may want to
triage bid opportunities based on
 Difficulty of bid
 Gross Profit dollars
 Competitive advantage
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Pull System For Sales Quotes
Pull System
Production
Moderate complexity quotation work cell
3
4
1
1
2
5
3
2
1
5
5
4
3
1
1
2
1
5
2
1
4
3
2
Exits = 20 Units/Day
Input/prioritization
1
5
3
4
4
WIP Limit = 48 Units of Work
1
2
3
4
Used to manage
staffing
requirements
Average Cycle Time = “Quote WIP” /Exit Rate
= 48 units/20 units per day = 2.4 days
?? How are work queues managed in your
company? How is it prioritized?
2
Dr. George Royce
Create Your Own Pull System
 Identify/confirm the service level you want to achieve (ask







your customers about this)
Determine your work group’s completion rate.
Use Little’s law to determine WIP.
Cap active work in the process to the maximum WIP.
Put all work in the incoming buffer
Develop a triage system for determining which incoming
work should be released into the process.
Continue with other process improvements so you can
improve completion rates and further reduce lead time.
Use a Kanban board with WIP limits to limit work in
process.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
What Is Kanban?
 Kan means "visual"
 ban means "card" or "board”
 A signaling system to trigger action
 Uses cards to signal the need for work to be done
 Toyota Lean lesson focusing on Just in Time production
 Example: 20 car doors, 5 left = “time to make more doors”
 Doors are requirements, requirements are inventory
Dr. George Royce
3 Rules of Kanban
 Strict Queue Limits
 Pull Value Through
 Make it Visible
 Remember – “Value” in the eyes of the customer
Dr. George Royce
Sample Kanban Board – Note Limits to each step.
Dr. George Royce
Lean Lesson #4: Quantify the Opportunity
 A Lean Process is one in which the value-added time
is more than 20% of the total cycle time of that
process.
Application
Continuous
Manufacturing
Business Processes
(Service)
Buisness Processes
(Creative/Cognitive)
Typical Cycle
Efficiency
World Class Cycle
Efficiency
5%
30%
10%
50%
5%
25%
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
Lean Lesson #5: Lean 20/80 Rule
 20% of the activities cause 80% of the delays.
 The 20% activities are called “Time Traps”
 Use Value Stream Mapping to highlight the wasted time
that usually isn’t apparent to people in the middle of the
process.
?? What are examples of time traps in your company for the work you do
or others do in your company?
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce
How do we know if a process is wasteful? Value Stream
Mapping and Process Cycle Efficiency
File
Away
Value Add time
Process Cycle Efficiency 
Total LeadTime
Fancy Carriage
Company
Supplier
Pocket
Pony
Inc.
Filing
Dept.
Customers
Q
Prod.
Depts.
240 min
Sales Order
Mail Room
BOB
Contracts
Manager
Q
CT 15 min
Q
103 min
Q
C/T 20 min
120 min
68
35
C/T 8 min
Jerry
Program
Admin.
120
15
Q
125 min
60
Judy
Secretary
Q
Q
195 min
20 min
CT 17 min
53 min
Sara
Finance
Manager
155 min
Q
C/T 6 min
50 min
Q
C/T 0 min
10 min
Q 35 min
10 min
10 min
Sue
Secretary
Q
5 min
145
10
C/T 22 min
22 min
Carl
Secretary
8
45
5 min
10
40
Q 50 min
184 min
195
480
270
C/T 2 min
5 min
Q
945 min
5 min
163 min
40
50
Q
90 min
Q
C/T 53 min
25 min
92 min
George Royce
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L.Dr.
George
1440 min
ACTIVITY 4A: Analyzing the Value Stream Map –
Suggest Improvements
 Your team should now determine what additional data is needed before you
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can conduct an effective kaizen event? Collect that before you begin the event.
What non value added steps can be eliminated? What can we stop doing?
Which steps can be streamlined or combined if they need to be done.
Where does inventory build up? Why? What can we do to avoid this backlog.
When is lead time longer than the time you promise your customer? Why is
that?
Use tools a like a Pareto chart to determine items to go after as quick wins.
 Your team should take 10 minutes and complete the analysis of the
value stream map and determine next steps and proposed
experiments to test your ideas before implementing in production.
Dr. George Royce
ACTIVITY 4B: Time to create your Kaizen Event
Charter!!!
 Create a problem statement:
 Explain what is wrong
 Where and when does it happen
 Explain how you know this
 Write the objective of the Kaizen event:
 Improve X metric from the current levels to Y by Z time.
Filename: Kaizen Event Charter
 Team should complete in 15 minutes
Dr. George Royce
Steps we have developed in preparation for a
Kaizen Event
Define Process
Problem
Develop 60 Day
Action Plan
Expose
Problems
Measure Current
Performance
Identify Waste in
Current Process
Conduct Gap &
Root Cause
Analysis
Source: Wyndham
Do
Standardize
Work
It
Find the
Root Cause
Implement
Changes
Define Should-Be
Process
Standardize
Operating
Procedures
Improve Current
Process
(This may include multiple
experiments
before implementing)
Develop
Measurements
for Success
Dr. George Royce
Summarizing Lean Thinking
Automating a bad business process just adds to cost without improving the
process.
 Lean is:

 More of a mindset, a cultural framework focusing on the customer and eliminating
waste.
 Lean applies to all types of work (knowledge work)
 Even though it became popular in manufacturing (Toyota Production System)
 Lean principles can be applied to virtually any process
 Lean project management is the use of Agile and Kanban for software
 Kaizen is an approach to continuous process improvement. It is a way of
thinking and behaving. It is about unleashing the creative power of people
actually doing the work, in order to design more effective and efficient
processes.
 Value added and non- value added processes are determined by the customer.
 Consider PCE (process cycle efficiency) in reviewing a value stream. Try to
eliminate as many non value added steps in a process.
 Use a Pull System where new work is released into the process only when work
has exited to the next process.
Lean Six Sigma for Service by Michael L. George
Dr. George Royce