THOUGHT LEADERSHIP WHITE PAPER
By Randy Clark,
Director Six Sigma
Upland Software
Replication:
Make Your Team Repeat Champs with
Project Replication
I grew up in and around the NFL. My father played for the 49ers, Cowboys and Browns.
When he hung up his cleats, he became the offensive line coach in Miami. Following two Super Bowl
wins in the 70’s he went on to be the Head Coach in San Francisco and Detroit. Being in the NFL is like
being in the Military. You move around a lot. My football career was far more humble as I played some
college football as a walk on at Western Michigan University. I decided to hang it up after my
sophomore year.
So how does this NFL background relate with Process Excellence and with Replication specifically. Let’s
look at some parallels. First off, there is one clearly articulated Big Y in football. That is to Win, and not
only to win but to win the Super Bowl. Teams pursue this Big Y with the rigor of Continuous
Improvement superstars. They Measure everything. They analyze data, and they act on that analysis.
Measurements include player statistics like height, weight, speed, strength, flexibility, and even things
like how large their hands are. Everything is filmed, studied, and scored; every practice and every game.
And finally, they apply situational trend analysis… that is knowing what your opponent’s trends reveal
about their play calling in certain situations like, 3rd and Long, or Goal Line short yardage.
So, with all this rigor and measurement and analysis, I asked my dad, why is it you coached the way you
did? Answer, “That’s the way Shula did it.”
Replication:
Make Your Team Repeat Champs with Project Replication
Don Shula, for those who don’t follow NFL, was the Head Coach in Miami; my dad’s boss during our
seven years in Miami. Shula is the winnigest coach in NFL history with 347 career victories. He is
arguably the best NFL coach ever.
My dad took his queues from a legend; observed, learned, stole,
and applied. That’s replication of successful practices, and that’s
what I want to talk about.
When we think about replication we can think of it in terms of
knowledge management. The most basic knowledge management
model starts with Producing knowledge, then Capturing that
knowledge, and finally Using that knowledge. Which Produces more
knowledge in a never ending loop.
There are generally two ways to use this knowledge replication
cycle. I’ll refer to them as Push and Pull. Let’s look at Pull first.
PULL
Pull strategies start with making it easy for people to search out and leverage knowledge. Giving people
the ability to “Pull” information and knowledge from multiple sources on demand. The challenge is that
it can be difficult for Project Leaders to access this knowledge, particularly across the dimensions of time
and space. Organizations that excel at Deployment Management are adept at capturing this knowledge
and making it accessible to the feet on the street. This starts with creating a database, a repository to
store active and completed projects, to store
documents, artifacts and lessons learned.
The key here is to characterize the knowledge, to make
searching easier. Categories might include:
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Benchmark findings
Process Maps
Work Stream or Value Streams
Addressed
Customer – VOC
Requirements or Specifications
Work Instructions, SOP
Location, Division, Plant
Stakeholders Affected
Goals and Strategies Supported
Best Practice Designation
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Replication:
Make Your Team Repeat Champs with Project Replication
Let’s take a little closer look at that last one, “Best Practice Designation”. PowerSteering software
supports the process of identifying and designating Best Practices. This allows the organization to
nominate Best Practice Projects as well as Documents. To review those nominations, approve them, and
make them available for simple searching. For example, if I’m preparing a SIPOC deliverable for my
project, I would want to search the database for
SIPOC that are designated Best Practices. With this,
I can pull that information, I can speak with the
“A growing and very exciting application of
team that created the SIPOC, and I can leverage
PowerSteering for deployment of Best
their knowledge and success.
Practices at JCI is the use of the Work
Also, Best Practices can be used in communication
Generation function to “Push” proven best
and recognition activities as well. I’ve seen clients
practices to selected locations.”
publish newsletters with the months Best Practice
Kevin Filcik, Manager of Continuous Improvement Projects
projects and Documents. You may even hear a Black
for Johnson Controls, Inc.
“Best Practice Deployment using PowerSteering (“CI Trac”) at Johnson
Belt boast, “Three of my projects and 12 of my
Controls” presented at Upland User Conference.
document deliverables are rated Best Practices,
how ‘bout you?”
Push
So we’ve looked at Pull strategies to make it easy for people to seek out and consume knowledge. Let’s
now take a look at the Push strategy.
Every day, organizations implement process solutions, fixes, and improvements that generate cost
savings and drive customer satisfaction. Many of those organizations have multiple locations engaged in
the same or very similar processes.
Take PowerSteering customer
Johnson Controls (JCI), for example;
a global manufacturer 170,000
employees in 1,300 locations
worldwide. A process improvement
in one location may be also be
implemented in hundreds of other
plants performing similar
processes. But to do that, JCI needs
to identify the project solutions to
Push and identify where they want
to Push them.
PowerSteering supports JCI’s Push
Replication process. They are able
to identify potential Best Practice
or “Replicable” projects. They
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Replication:
Make Your Team Repeat Champs with Project Replication
aggregate those candidates and decide which should be pushed. They pull together implementation
instructions, SOPs, training documents and other guiding materials to make it easy to implement the
solution. PowerSteering provides a mechanism by which a project can be Pushed to multiple locations as
a Replication Candidate. Each new candidate shows up in a Replication Hopper at the designated
location, and the owner of that hopper gets an email notification that a new opportunity has arrived.
At that point the location simply implements the solution. But wait! Here’s where we’ve seen major
problems with Push Replication strategies. “Not Invented Here” syndrome kicks in…and little or nothing
gets implemented. And in many cases the enthusiasm for replication soon dissipates.
What we’ve found in working with companies like JCI, Avis Budget Group, Molex and others are
methods to reduce “Not Invented Here” syndrome and increase implementation rates. One of the key
tools is to provide visibility and accountability to the replication process. What do we want to know and
report:
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How many projects were
Pushed to your location?
How many did you
implement?
How many did you decline to
implement?
Why did you decline to
implement the project?
What is each location’s
implementation ratio?
What percent of your total
annual savings are
“Replication” savings?
Running a project in one location is good
Replicating those benefits elsewhere is GREAT!!!
 Standardized process steps
 Faster project execution time
 Addresses unique issues at each location
Use a Formal method and tools to replication world-wide
Joe Hulseman, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt at Avis Budget Group
“Effective Strategies for Replicating Projects Globally” presented at PEX Network PowerSteering webinar.
Yes, there are perfectly reasonable explanations for why certain processes cannot be implemented in a
location. I was talking to a client the other day that has similar processes for manufacturing a chemical
compound in multiple locations. Yet each of those locations is utilizing equipment and processes leased
from different suppliers. In their case they don’t want people to share and leverage knowledge and
processes. There might also be labor agreements, and other factors that curtail a certain process
improvement from being implemented.
However, many times “Not Invented Here” is simply an easy and emotional rejection. When each
location knows they will appear on dashboards, where their implementation rate will be discussed and
compared with others, where a Replication team will dig into decline reasons… well, that sets an
environment where the easy way out is no longer so easy.
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Replication:
Make Your Team Repeat Champs with Project Replication
Wrap Up
Replication is really about sharing and leveraging
knowledge. It’s hard to go wrong when you learn
from the best of the best and act on your learnings.
There’s a reason so many of Coach Shula’s assistant
coaches went on to be NFL Head Coaches.
Replication works.
“Replication is a very important part of today’s
deployment. Management is challenged with
finding good projects to replicate. We run reports
though PowerSteering to identify these projects.”
Michael Higgins, Manager of Global Lean Six Sigma at Molex
“Lean Six Sigma Goes Global at Molex presented at PowerSteering webinar.
Organizations should look to optimize both Push
and Pull strategies. First make it easy for people to
Pull the knowledge, to seek it out. Second, build a process to Push Best Practice candidates to locations
for implementation. But don’t stop there, be sure to institute a series of measures, reports, and visibility
that will drive accountability and improve your implementation success.
About the Author
Randy Clark is the Director, Six Sigma & Strategic Alliances with PowerSteering Software. Randy has over
20 years experience working in continuous improvement with emphasis in Six Sigma and the Baldrige
criteria for performance excellence. Randy is a Black-Belt trained member of the American Society of
Quality and is a three-year examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
About PowerSteering Software
PowerSteering Software combines the robust project and portfolio management (PPM) functionality
demanded by global organizations with the cost & speed-to-value
benefits of cloud delivery and an unmatched level of flexibility. Easy to
use and administer, it enables top-down program & portfolio
management without requiring granular task & resource tracking, and provides class-leading analytic
and financial tracking capabilities. Leading global organizations, including Merck, Staples, the US
Department of Defense, and the UK National Health Service, rely on PowerSteering to accelerate results
in IT, New Product Development, Process Excellence and Business PMOs. PowerSteering is part of the
Upland family of cloud-based project, portfolio, and work management software products. Visit
www.powersteeringsoftware.com for more information.
About Upland Software, Inc.
Upland is the world’s largest cloud provider of enterprise software for project, portfolio and work
management. Upland is the only cloud software provider that offers a
comprehensive family of applications that enable organizations to align
their goals, projects and programs, optimize their resource utilization and
workflows, and empower teams to collaborate and work effectively. From strategic planning to work
execution, Upland drives business results for more than 1,200 enterprise clients with 300,000 active
users in 50 plus countries. Visit www.uplandsoftware.com for more information.
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