Improvement pattern (Toyota Kata) to walk through uncertainty making consistent progress towards you vision.

1. Effective Problem Solving
Christian Heritage Home Educators Conference
Redmond, WA
4/29/2017
Jeromy Markwort

2. Thanks to…
Mike Orzen Mike Rother Many others…

3. Outline
• Background
• Brief history of Lean
• How to…
• Examples
• Work through the process together (time
permitting)

4. About me….
• Have lived in Eastern WA for 11 years
• Married to my beautiful wife 15 years
• 6 children –one of each
– (Bennett 14, Rachel 11, Elizabeth 9, Emma 8,
Valor 4, Isaac 2)
• Wife homeschools our children

5. Background
• Grew up on the Central Coast of California
• Worked in manufacturing before returning to
college
• Worked in Information Technology during college
• Graduated from CalPoly SLO, BS Industrial
Technology
• 2005 moved to WA to be near family and took a
job at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in IT

6. Effective Problem Solving
• How did we get here?
• Contexts
– Organization (business, government, etc)
– Home
– Individual
• Beware of legalism! Who can change a
sinner’s heart?

7. “We can't solve problems
by using the same kind of
thinking we used when we
created them.”
Different kind of thinking
-Albert Einstein

8. We need to have the right
expectation!
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Extras.html

9. We need a different kind of thinking
Here is Edward Bear, coming
downstairs now, bump, bump, bump,
on the back of his head, behind
Christopher Robin.
It is, as far as he knows, the only way
of coming downstairs, but
sometimes he feels that there really
is another way, if only he could stop
bumping for a moment and think of
it.
(Alexander Alan Milne, Winnie-the-
Pooh, emphasis, mine)
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10. Beware… duh moments ahead
• Lean is simple; fix what bugs you!
– Paul Akers –FastCap Ferndale, WA

11. Lean is…
• A way of thinking for creating a highly
effective organization
– Applying methodical problem solving to eliminate
waste and variation to drive quality
– Value Stream focus to flow value to the customer
– Learning through seeing, doing, asking why, being
present and showing respect
– Mike Orzen & Associates, Inc

12. Lean history
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Kiichiro Toyoda 1937:
Just-In-Time
American meat packers 1890’s:
Moving Disassembly line
French Army 1700’s: Interchangeable parts
Fredrick Taylor 1890’s:
Standard Work
Henry Ford 1926: Mass production
http://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/timeline.cfm
Venetians 1500’s: Standard designs
Standard work stations

13. Lean history
13
http://www.lean.org/WhatsLean/timeline.cfm
Eiji Toyoda 1960’s: Lean Management
Taichi Ohno
1950’s: Kanban
Toyota 1977: Toyota
Production
Systems (TPS) John Krafcik 1987: “Lean”
German aircraft
operations 1930’s:
Takt Time

14. Where is this useful?
Not useful
• Solution is obvious
• Solution is simple
• Solution sustainable
• Divine general or specific
revelation
Is useful
• Difficult problems
• Many steps
• Hard to sustain
• No shared vision/direction
• To build problem solvers
(and coaches)
Beware of legalism!
Task management Man on the moon

15. Kata

16. Improvement Kata
&
Coaching Kata

17. Improvement Kata
• Understand the vision/direction (long-range)
• Define “Challenge[s]” (mid-range)
• Grasp the current situation
• Set “Next Target Condition” (short[er]-range)
• Define obstacles and pick one
• Experiment towards “NTC”

18. Improvement kata (pattern )
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.htm
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19. Improvement kata: Direction
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.htm
l

20. Vision (long range / lofty goal)
• What does the ideal state look like?
• Where are you trying to go?
• What are you trying to achieve?
• Be specific and how would you measure
success?

21. Vision: Alignment
From this To (more like) this

22. Improvement kata: Grasp the Current
Situation
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.htm
l

23. Grasp the Current Situation:
SDCA -> PDCA
Stand
ardize
Do
CheckAdjust
Plan Do
CheckAdjust
PDCASDCA

24. Grasp the Current Situation:
Standardize
• Standard work (not documentation)
– Used to do the work
– Clear steps
– Clear expected outcomes
• OK vs Not-OK?
• Ahead or behind?
– Visual and helpful vs Documentation

25. Grasp the Current Situation
• What data could you look at?
• What data could you create?
– Talley sheets?
– Manual count?
– Sample count?

26. Improvement kata: Set “Next Target
Condition”
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.htm
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27. Target Condition Selection: “Circle of
Control”
28
Control
Influence
Concern
“Just do it”
Need
help/input/support
from others
Need leadership

28. Setting “Next Target Condition”
• Increase/Decrease/Stop/Start… __________
• By ______ inches/units/pounds/dollars
• By ________ date
• While [not]/with/without _________
• Tension metrics are important.

29. Improvement kata
http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.htm
l
?Uncertainty

30. How do we navigate this area of uncertainty?
Temp
Time
What is the perfect pairing of temperature
and time to bake a cake?
X
X
Experiment

31. Develop Obstacles/Opportunities:
Fishbone diagram
Problem
Opportunity
ManMachine
Materials Methods Environment
Measurement
Primary
Cause
Secondary
Cause

32. Experiment towards Next Target
Condition: Where to start?
• Options
– Ease * Impact = Priority
– Market opportunity
– Quickest feedback loop
• What happens if you don’t choose the right
one? –It will wait for you. Substantial
problems don’t often go away on their own.

33. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/

34. Job of Leaders is to develop people!

35. Coaching Kata

36. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/

37. Graded approach

38. Examples

39. Example: CH Vendor hall
• Distributed team of volunteers and CH ED
• Responsible for:
– Invite previous vendors back
– Recommend new vendors
– Vet vendors
– Select/reject vendors
– Manage vendor orders and special needs
– Create vendor hall layout
– Order vendor hall booths/table/chairs/etc
– Setup, manage and break down the vendor hall

40. Example: CH Vendor hall
• 4 Spreadsheets
• Many Word documents
• Many handoffs
• Very limited visibility
• OK, Not OK not obvious in many cases

41. Example: CH Vendor hall
• Vision: VH process that is visible, removed
duplicated efforts and information where flow,
ownership, status and next steps are obvious.
• Next target condition: reduce to 2 spreadsheets
where information flows and status is visible
• Obstacles: spreadsheets have different purposes
• Experiment: identify unique purposes for each
and how they relate, build mockup and share
with team.
• Result: walked team through vision to
experiment. All agreed it was an improvement

42. Does this take a process
engineer?

44. Work through one together

45. Examples we can work through
• Safari guide
• Iceberg mover
• Chocolatier
• Tour guide

46. Improvement / Coaching Kata
• Understand the vision/direction (long-range)
• Define “Challenge[s]” (mid-range)
• Grasp the current situation
• Set “Next Target Condition” (short[er]-range)
• Define obstacles and pick one
– Man, Machine, Method, Measurement, Material,
Environment
• Experiment towards “NTC”

47. Questions?
jmarkwort@gmail.com
LinkedIn: jmarkwort

48. Backup slides

49. Grasp the current situation: Problem Statement
• Problem statement builds
shared vision and experience.
The current _____________
process is, ______________
Which causes, ___________
Which impacts, __________
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50. 5 Whys: Washington Monument
• Why is the Washington monument deteriorating?
– Harsh cleaning chemicals
• Why is a harsh chemical being used to clean the
Washington monument?
– Harsh chemicals must be used to remove heavy
droppings from birds
• Why are there a lot of droppings from birds?
– There are a lot of birds.
• Why are there a lot of birds?
– There are a lot of spiders. Birds eat spiders.
• Why are there a lot of spiders?
– There are a lot of gnats. Spiders eat gnats
• Why are there a lot of gnats?
– They are attracted to light during dusk time
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51. 5 Whys: Washington Monument
validation (which causes)
Gnats are attracted to light at dusk which causes
More gnats than at the other monuments
There are more gnats which causes
More spiders than at the other monuments
There are more spiders which causes
More birds than at the other monuments
There are more birds which causes
More droppings than at the other monuments
There are more droppings which causes
Harsh chemicals to be used than at the other
monuments
Harsh chemicals are being used which
causes
Washington Monument to deteriorate.
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52. 5 Why’s: Countermeasure
• Didn’t shoot/poison the birds
• Didn’t poison the spiders
• Didn’t poison the gnats
• Did turn the lights on ½ hour
later.
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