Lean in Science

Lean in Science. Cookie cutters are really good at cutting cookies, but you can't bake a cake with them. This is my general attitude towards the tools-based approach to Lean. For the past couple years, I've been involved in an interesting Lean transformation. We're trying to apply it to science.

To prepare for implementation, I took our corporate black belt training and also attended the Lean Experience at the Lean Learning Center. In the course of my study, I found Spear and Bowen's 1999 HBR article, "Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System." It has since become my favorite piece of Lean literature. You can read a review here, but I highly recommend that you buy it.

Spear and Bowen's extensive analysis of the Toyota Production System extracted four basic rules behind all the various Lean tools. The rules:

Rule 1: All work shall be highly specified as to content, sequence, timing, and outcome.

Rule 2: Every customer-suuplier connection must be direct, and there must be an unambiguous yes-or-no way to send request and receive responses.

Rule 3: The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct.

Rule 4: Any improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, under the guidance of a teacher, at the lowest possible level in the organization.

The real gem for people in my industry is Rule 4. Scientists are a notoriously skeptical bunch. When you tell them that they will benefit from a system that is used to make cars, every red flag in the room goes up. I often hear statements like, "We are not a factory, so lean doesn't apply to us." A scientist can tell me that Lean doesn't apply to research, but he can't tell me that the scientific method doesn't apply to research. In fact, when I tell him that what we are doing is applying the scientific method more rigorously, what else can a scientist do but applaud?

Thanks to a reframing of what it means to be Lean, we are crushing that cookie cutter and driving, what I call, "Lean Spirit(TM)" into the organization. With Lean Spirit, traditional countermeasures don't matter. We've got the rules that allow us to create custom countermeasures that fit our problems. Lean Spirit is the way to become your own Toyota, not to become a copy of Toyota. Thank you Drs. Spear and Bowen.

Psychology & Lean

Extraversion or introversion. How do those personality traits figure into a Lean implementation? I have seen very event driven implementations of Lean. There are Kaizen blitzes, Value Stream Mappings, 6S events, and others. I think it is safe to say that extraverts have an easier time with all the typical Lean activities that require extensive interpersonal interaction. As an event goes on, the extravert can maintain a constant energy level and becomes more animated as the group gets more involved.

A refresher on introversion and extraversion can be found at Wikipedia:

Most people believe that an extravert is a person who is friendly and outgoing. While that may be true, that is not the true meaning of extraversion. Basically, an extravert is a person who is energized by being around other people. This is the opposite of an introvert who is energized by being alone.

I've heard many reasons why Lean won't work. Although we are familiar with how to overcome many of these objections, the apprehension may have nothing to do with facts and everything to do with implementation. People have a funny way of creating seemingly logical arguments to validate feelings. If you are trying to implement Lean in an environment full of people that cherish their independence and "alone time," consider modifying your implementation to appeal to the introvert lifestyle.

As a subject matter expert on being an introvert, I offer the following pointers for appealing to people like me:

1. Reduce the number of events and create tools that can be performed individually or in small private groups.
2. Focus on rules and principles. The underlying theory of Lean will captivate an introvert. Much more appealing is a discussion about the Four Rules or a discussion about the Five Principles (Value, Value Stream, Flow, Pull, Perfection). The 8 Wastes are cool, but they are only corollaries to the underlying philosophy.
3. Spread out events so that some people can recharge between sessions. I led a Kaizen that met one day a week for a couple hours for many weeks. Not typical, but it really helped everyone in the room stay focused for the short time we met. Nobody ever snapped from fatigue and we got a lot of stuff done.
4. Make your introverts into your Lean research staff. People like me enjoy the opportunity to apply rules and principles in new ways. As we sit in our office, we will research best practices and use them in combination with Lean principles to craft new ways of being Lean.
   

An organization that uses some of these tips will really help guys and gals like me warm up to Lean and see how it can positively affect the company.

Quality Systems and Innovation

The June 11, 2007 issue of BusinessWeek features a great story about 3M's recent problems with Six Sigma, "At 3M, A Struggle Between Efficiency And Creativity."

As a Lean Six Sigma black belt at my company, I find that reading these types of articles continuously reminds me that neither Lean nor Six Sigma is a panacea.

The article talks about how 3M is scaling back on Six Sigma. Notably, they are taking it out of the research labs at 3M. The article states that many companies have moved away from the quality focus of Six Sigma and now just see it as cost cutting. I think this is true. 3M's new CEO chose to scale back so that the scientists could get back to thinking about big ideas.

I think that we can learn from this, but we have to be careful how we take it. Six Sigma or Lean is a framework. If you value quality, you will use the framework to improve quality. If you value cost cutting, you will use the framework to cut costs. The problem with most companies is that when they role out the framework, they role out what the company values at the same time. The message is not "Lean Six Sigma is a framework of problem solving rules and principles." Instead, the message is "Lean Six Sigma lets us cut costs by 50% with Kaizens and Value Streams." The second statement solves your problem before you even know what it is. In psychology, this is called presupposition and it is a very powerful way to influence people to come to a predetermined conclusion. In this case, the conclusion is that Lean or Six Sigma is all about cost cutting. I'm going to call this S.S.A.M.E. (Six Sigma as Misguidedly Executed), but common.

3M wanted to innovate again. Seeing that Six Sigma was synonymous with cost cutting, they either had to create a company-wide culture change to decouple Six Sigma from cost cutting or try something different. 3M recognized that their R&D staff already knew how to innovate, so they rolled back the clock and let them have their space again.

I've got mixed feelings about this. Although I think the framework can be used for evolutionary and revolutionary innovation, I think 3M did a good thing by scaling back. There is nothing worse than applying the wrong metrics and value system (cost cutting) to a function that is supposed to be focusing on something completely different (creating the next incredible invention that will change the face of the earth.)

Lean and Six Sigma Behaviors

Before Lean, many of the activities that are presently structured as Lean projects used to take place anyway. They flew under corporate radar because the communication pathway was not established to let management know about these grassroots level improvements. Management would find out about them from powerpoint presentations in much the same way they presently find out about scientific work.

Lean has created a transparent reporting mechanism through the use of standardized charters and outbriefs. This reporting mechanism raises the activities into the radar. All of a sudden, management knows what is going on and asks questions. The positive side is that if you can execute, measure, and show improvement, you will be celebrated, given more freedom, and more responsibility. The negative is that if you don't, the transparent system will not let you hide.

You will be given more chances, but sustained underperformance will not be tolerated and eventually management will take action. (Everyone fails once in a while. If you never fail, you aren't taking enough risks.) So, the transparent system is great for very communicative high performers. Of course, this is the type of person that companies like Toyota, Motorola, and GE seek. These companies use the systems of Lean and Six Sigma to encourage certain behaviors that lead to high performance among their employees. They reward employees based on these high performance and communicative behaviors.

Companies that have struggled to execute successful Lean and Six Sigma compaigns have not grasped that the secret is not the tools. The secret is the reward and reinforcement structure behind the behaviors. Lean and Six Sigma processes set the stage for proper behaviors, but they do not cause proper behavior. Proper behavior is caused by the positive reinforcement of proper behavior. That is from Psychology 101. The tip here is to know that Lean and Six Sigma are transparent systems that allow management to see and reward high performers.

Ganas Success Model: Part 1

Ganas means many things. From Spanish, it is one of those words that really can not be literally translated. An intense Google search turned up only a few websites trying to translate the word to English. Elsie Contreras of Mija Magazine had one of the more notable explanations of ganas. She writes:

Ganas was a word I heard growing up that became a melody in my mind. Mama told me to have ganas in everything I do. “Mija, quit talking about everything. Go out there and do something. Have ganas, no half-finished job.”

The best description of ganas comes from Jaime Escalante. From the Utah Daily Herald:

Jaime Escalante believes anyone can learn calculus. "The only thing you have to do is have a little ganas," he said. The Spanish word means "desire." But to Escalante, it's more than that. "It's a willingness to sacrifice to do the right thing, and do it," he said.

Ganas is what exists within that drives you to success. Ganas is about feeling passion for a cause, acting on that passion, and exhibiting unwavering devotion to that passion. People who die for their cause tend to have much ganas. Jesus had ganas. Martin Luther King Jr. had ganas. Mother Theresa had ganas. Ganas is about loving life and loving what you do in life. To have ganas is to have life purpose.

This blog is about ganas. Young Latinos and Hispanics may identify most with what I have to say here, but ganas is universal. No matter your ethnic background, ganas will serve you well and what I have to say will serve you well. I primarily write for my ethnic brothers and sisters. Mexican-Americans are the nation's fastest growing ethnic demographic. Yet, we continue to be near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. There are many organizations working to turn the tides. I belong to several of them.

In the Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) I serve as their Director of Graduate Outreach Programs. My job is to help students be successful in obtaining admission to science and engineering graduate schools and achieving their graduate degrees in technical fields.

I am also a member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and have been a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). In my home town of Albuquerque New Mexico, I sit on the Governance Board of the Albuquerque Institute for Math and Science at the University of New Mexico (AIMS at UNM). Educational outreach is very important to me and I hope that some of the things I've learned can help some of you obtain a high level of success in life.

Most Lucrative College Degrees

Most lucrative college degrees - Feb. 8, 2006.