Short overview of how to identify a problem, gather buy-in, develop consensus and plan a meaningful project... too short for the amount of material... Much leveraged from LEI

1. Basic Principles of
Project Management
RLDC 1
Barry Cordero
SHPE National VP
Principal Project Engineer, Medtronic Inc.
Master Black Belt: Lean Six Sigma

2. “It takes as much energy to wish as it
does to plan”
Eleanor Roosevelt

3. Project Management
• Goals/Obj Execute • Control Plan
• Tasks/Owners • Schedule
• Manage Critical Path
• Resources
• Solve Problems
• Deadlines
• Adjust Plan
• Phase Reviews
Plan Control

4. Importance of Planning

5. The Project Planning Cycle
Background
Plan of Current
Action State
Future
Goal
State

6. Other Project Cycles
Define Plan
Control Measure
Lean
Six - Sigma Act TPS Do
Improve Analyze Check

7. Essential Components of Planning
Goal Background
Objectives
SMART Plan of Current
Action State
Tasks
Specific items
Owners
Deadlines Future
Goal
State
Resources

8. DEFINING THE PROBLEM
(BACKGROUND AND CURRENT
STATE)

9. PM Role
Is the role of the PM to describe your ideas and
plan in order…
-- to convince?
-- or to engage?
Convince means to “sell” or “get buy in”
Engage means to “become part of”
-- to invite to take part in the thinking
-- and the experiment based on it
9

10. What is our natural tendency?
Perception BLACK
of a HOLE The
Problem SOLUTION
Impressions &
FACTS
Assumptions Theory

11. How can we be more effective?
Ask questions to help ourselves see:
What is Actually Happening?
What do I actually know?
FACTS
The Real FACTS
or Main A
Problem FACTS SOLUTION
FACTS
Impressions &
Assumptions Theory
11

12. 3 Common Mistakes in Problem Solving
1. Assuming you know what the problem is
without seeing what is actually happening.
2. Assuming you know how to fix a problem
without finding out what is causing it.
3. Assuming you know what is causing the
problem without confirming it.
In other words - Not Grasping the Situation.
(And where do we grasp the situation?
At the gemba!) 12

13. Maintain a Questioning Mind
• What do you actually know?
 How do you know it?
• What do you need to know?
How can you learn it?
• Avoid acting on assumptions or
jumping to conclusions.
13

14. Keys to a good problem statement
Purely a problem
Explains why problem is relevant to
business/chapter
Does not include a solution
Avoid “lack of” statements
Avoids assumptions
Can be visual

15. Example Bad Problem Statements
“lack of professional development opportunities
causes low member retention”
“Company x minority representation is poor.”
“process z yield is low due to inattention to detail
by process inspectors”

16. Example Good Problem Statements
“member retention is very low, minimizing the
strength of networking and the ability to develop
chapter leaders”
“technical Hispanics at company x stay for an
average of 3 years. This attributes to low
Hispanic representation at all levels in the
company.”
“process z yield has dropped from 98% to 92%
over the past year, resulting in increased cost of
goods and additional labor”

17. CLASS EXAMPLE

18. EXERCISE: WRITE A PROBLEM
STATEMENT

19. Writing your A3: Background
Why are you solving
this problem?
Why is this problem
important? How is it
contributing to the
company’s need?
Keep it simple

20. DESCRIBING CURRENT STATE

21. Describe your Current State/Gap
Be visual
Show process map
Show graphs
Show charts

22. “A Problem Clearly Defined Is Half Solved”
What do we mean by “clearly defined”?
• Gap between what is actually happening
(current condition) and what should/needs to be
happening described in performance terms.
• Gap broken down to concrete, observable
conditions (smaller problems in the gap or in the
related work processes) that are contributing to
the Gap & can be investigated first hand?
22

23. A GAP: 2 types of Gaps
Created
GAP
Caused
GAP
23

24. SWOT Analysis
Provides clarity as a board
Provides opportunity to reach out to
your stakeholders
Drives your strategic plan
Provides platform for goal making

25. SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
- Strong relationships with….. - Small Budget
- Large membership base - Unknown Academic….
Internal Factors
- Tradition of…. - Programs are inconsistent
- Only engineering society for Latinos
Opportunities Threats
- Neighboring town X has high Hispanic - Current sponsorships teetering
population - Economic environment
External Factors
- Company X,Y,Z has shown interest in - Programs are inconsistent
chapter programs
- Partnership interest from NSBE chapter
locally
-

26. Example

27. SHOW EXAMPLE
EXERCISE: DEFINE YOUR OWN
CURRENT STATE

28. Writing your A3: Current Conditions
Describe the current situation vs the
desired situation and quantify the gap

29. SETTING MEASUREABLE
GOALS

30. Write your Goal/Target
Consider SMART
Specific
Goals/Targets
Measurable
What specific outcomes are required to close the gap?
What is the target condition?
• Numbers oriented, can tell if you achieved it Is your goal S.M.A.R.T?
Attainable
• Within you or your team’s scope of influence
Relevant
• Related to the problem statement or gap
Timely
• If you are ready, assign a date to it (by when?)
Avoid words like “Create, Implement, Develop”

31. Goal/Target
IS Is NOT
SMART Restating your solution
Addresses a problem in “Workers will oil the
performance machine daily”
“Will prevent the bearing
from wearing out too A statement of a possible
frequently” countermeasure
Stated as SMART as “Implement standard work”
possible “Implement Robust Design”
“Increase performance from
50 hours to 300 hours
without wear 100% of the
time”

32. EXERCISE: WRITE A GOAL
STATEMENT

33. ANALYZE THE PROBLEM

34. 34

35. Choosing the right Analysis Tool
What tool might Consider:
you choose for:
Quality issue? – SPC, Pareto, Six Sigma
project guide
Delivery Issue? – VSM, Process Map, Flow
Chart, PFM, SOE, Lean
Project Guide
Productivity – Balance chart, pareto
Issue?
– Pie chart, fishbone, swim
Cost Issue? lane

36. Analyze
Technical Problems
Perform hypothesis testing
Do experiments
Collect data
Determine root cause
Business Problems
Root cause analysis
Share with stakeholders

37. COUNTERMEASURES

38. Problems and Solutions and Countermeasures
The Solution?
To solve = to find the answer…..the One correct answer
A Countermeasure?
To resolve = to find and try out an action that seems
likely to reduce the problem condition (the GAP)
• A temporary measure “fixes” a problem by blocking or working
around its impact
• A permanent countermeasure eliminates a problem by removing
its cause
38

39. What to look for in Recommendations for Countermeasures
1. Do I see the link between your proposed
countermeasures and the causes they are
intended to address?
2. Do I feel you have considered all the options for
addressing the causes?
3. Do your recommended countermeasures make
sense as the way to address the causes and
resolve the problem?
4. Am I confident these countermeasures will
accomplish your goals and achieve your purpose
for addressing the problem? 39

40. Countermeasure Evaluation

41. COUNTERMEASURES TO
PROJECT PLANS

42. Drive backward: Networking Diagram
Each completed countermeasure as a
milestone
Use mind mapping to determine
predecessors to completed milestones
Build dependencies
Add in dates and task owners

43. Networking Diagram: Example
Survey Members on
needs
Develop Program
Professional Place Bids
Development
Workshops Monthly
Survey members for
Acquire Location
free locations

44. Convert to Project Plan
Use MS Project if you want
Or use Excel

45. Excel Example
Dates: June 1-7 June 8-17 June 15-21 June 22-28 Jun29-Jul5 Jul 6-13
DEFINE
Agree on charter
Gather more VOC
Define Phase Review
Enter project in QTRAK
MEASURE
Develop Project Strategy
MSA
Baseline Capability
Process Map / VSM
Fishbone (C&E Diagram)
C&E Matrix
XIA
Data Collection Plan
Collect data
Update Charter, if needed
Optional M Phase Rev.
ANALYZE
Analysis plan
Verify Key X's
Finalize Charter
Analyze Phase Rev.
IMPROVE
Define Improvements
Optimize Improvements

46. The Plan In Place
Half of work should be done
Now it’s time to manage

47. Thank You
Questions?
Barry.Cordero@shpe.org

48. References
Lean Enterprise Institute
“Managing to Learn” John Shook
Project Management Book of
Knowledge (loosely)