The next project kaizen Gang-of-Seven member is Bill Waddell. He co-writes the Evolving Excellence weblog for Superfactory. Be ready for some provocative writing. Rather than commenting, I'll share how he began a recent post: Read the rest of this entry ¶

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I can't think of a better compliment to pay someone than to call him or her a practitioner. Joe Ely is one of the best. Joe has been a student of lean thinking for quite some time. But unlike many people who become enthralled with a topic, Joe is in action, constantly out to eliminate waste. He goes about it in quiet ways and then offers revealing reflections on his learning. Read the rest of this entry ¶

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I'm always on the lookout for people who can point me to something I want to know more about. If you want to learn about innovation, then Chuck Frey, writing at the Innovation Weblog, will get you started in the right direction. Chuck seems to know everyone who knows anything about innovation. But he's not just a maven. His commentary on innovation is instructive. Read the rest of this entry ¶

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Jon is the principal writer of the Panta Rei: Everything Flows, Everything Changes weblog on everything lean. While he writes on topics from healthcare to manufacturing, over the last few months he's been sharing his perspective as he studies Taiichi Ohno's book gemba Keiei (previously translated and published as Workplace Management by Norman Bodek's Productivity Press). Jon is reading the book in the original Japanese. He just posted on the 12th out of 37 chapters. You'll appreciate Jon's careful consideration of the relevance of Ohno's work to what we are dealing with in our companies today.

Jon has been a frequent writer on kaizen events. He teaches companies the tools and approaches for doing kaizen and he initially leads kaizen events. I'm counting on big contributions from this gang member!

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The Gang-of-Seven is about a week away from co-blogging on kaizen in project settings — project kaizen. It took us awhile to agree on the themes. With so much we could say, but just five days to do so, we want to give our attention to those few topics that can be immediately useful to the largest group of people. On Monday, December 9, we'll start with answering the most basic question, "Why do project kaizen?" Each day the seven of us will continue from one topic to the next. We selected the themes to meet people in their usual project circumstances. The themes are: Read the rest of this entry ¶

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The daily stand-up meeting is a crucial aspect of keeping projects moving without interruption. I made two postings: Daily Coordination (Meetings) for Managing Promises and Managing Commitments in Stand-Up Meetings as part of a series on project meeting protocols. Here are five more from Kevin Rutherford conducting stand-up meetings posted in his weblog Silk and Spinach. (Read his postings from last to first.) There are enough similarities between lean and agile to take a close look at Kevin's advice, particularly his attention on surfacing impediments, only reporting completions, and conducting the meeting in the same location that the team works. Sounds lean to me.

Norman has been called "Mr. Productivity" and "Mr. Lean". I call him the godfather of the lean movement. Norman has done more of the groundwork on lean than any other person. He was responsible for publishing Shigeo Shingo's green book on the Toyota Production System in the 1980s. His company, Productivity Press, went on to publish nearly 100 books from Japan and 300 others. To top that off Norman won the 2005 Shingo Prize for his book Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean.

I've had the opportunity to spend time with Norman and to converse with him on a regular basis. What I like most about him is how freely he shares what he has learned. Read the rest of this entry ¶

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Lean thinking and lean manufacturing folk strongly recommend continuous improvement activities — kaizen — as a strategy for setting your firm on a path that will separate you from the competition. There is good advice available for manufacturing and service firms. There are also good books. But when I started a lens of kaizen for Projects I found very little that was geared for organizations that continually reorganized staff as project teams. So, I've invited a group of kaizen experts who blog to join me for the first week in December to focus their writing and advice on project teams. Each day that week the group of us will post to our own blogs giving the best advice we have on how to bring kaizen to temporary organizations — project teams. Read the rest of this entry ¶

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Johanna and Esther produced a management curriculum masquerading as a best seller.

Probably everything that needs to be said about project management has already been said, or written. So why am I excited about yet another book? And why would you buy it and read it? Because Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby wrote a very practical book that is geared towards project and technical managers and those who want to become managers.

Behind Closed Doors, Secrets of Great Management is a concise guide to building management competence. Johanna and Esther use a story of a new manager of a technical group of managers to introduce their secrets of great management. As I started reading I thought, "Not another management fable." But I was surprised. Read the rest of this entry ¶

Any good process needs to be changing…always.

For the last two years I've argued privately with my colleagues that the common sense on process thinking was misplaced. Actually, I've said it is a dumbing down of organizations. I certainly recognize that process is a way we embed and convey organization learning. But, all too often, managers are lazy. Independent of the people who perform the process managers put something in place that doesn't change. Worse, the really competent, innovative, and inspired people are constrained by prescribed process.

Any good process needs to be changing…always. Much to my surprise, I just read Ross Mayfield's essay, The End of Process. Ross is a great thinker and writer. He argues compellingly that we must take a different approach.

"Because of constant change in our environment, processes are outdated immediately after they are designed."

Don't be swayed by process thinking. Even PMI has succumbed. I recall reading 'projects are process'. Huey. There's not much more I can say than read Ross' article. I just wish I had written it.

Last year I suggested mind mapping could be a useful alternative to traditional project planning tools in Tired of MS Project? Try Mind Mapping. Chuck Frey has a new ebook to get you started: Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software. The book covers numerous project uses of mind-mapping including: managing task lists, planning a project, managing a meeting, and organizing complex information. Chuck also offers tips for taking advantage of what mind-mapping software has to offer.

I've been mind mapping for more than 20 years. I learned from a Tony Buzan memory technique program. Chuck does a great job of concisely presenting how to take advantage of mind-mapping outside of the usual brainstorming and organizing information. One of the best uses of mind maps I've seen on projects is for building a shared context for the project team, client, and constituents. A mind map is also a great way to capture and convey complicated information. Chuck covers all of that in his book. Give it a try! Also check out Chuck's article How to Use Mind Mapping Software for Project Management for an introduction. Or, try this Mind Map software.

20 years ago I went on a study mission to Japan to learn about time-based approaches and quality improvement strategies. While there, I was introduced to a way of thinking about performance differences. Most of us compare ourselves to others. When we plot this on a normalized graph, a value of 1.0 represents the best of what the competitions are doing. Others fall below that. This approach misses the upside performance for the group. Perhaps the limit of performance is anywhere from 2x to 10x the best performance observed, or more. However most people see the best of the group as benchmark performance. What might it take to achieve that exceptional performance? Seth Godin has an idea.

In Understanding Local Max Seth describes the phenomenon of only being able to see the recent peak performance. For many of us that peak was followed by a steady slide. As time goes by, the peak looks less attainable or worse, an absolute limit. Seth claims that is hokum. By achieving one peak others become available to us, but only after we accept that lower perforce may come first. Only the courageous and determined among us plow on. Yet, a higher max is available to all.

Who knows what got into Seth to present this idea at this time! All I can say is, "Thank you!"

I have a suggestion for all of us doing projects. Adopt a disposition of patience and persistence coupled with confidence that what you are setting to accomplish is worthwhile and attainable. Engage your team in the worthwhileness of the endeavor and support them each step of the way. Each local max will become the passage point they need to reach the performance level needed to deliver on the promise of the project. This approach can make your projects exciting places to work. What could be better than that?

By the way, Seth's post generated tremendous commentary. So much that he followed the first post with a second one. You don't want to miss it!

Project results are highly uncertain. Despite various efforts to change that, projects continue to yield mixed results. Perhaps something else is required. Two researchers think so. They propose we go all the way back to our basic understanding of things and processes in
On the Metaphysics of Production, by Lauri Koskela and Mike Kagioglou.

The paper was presented at IGLC-13 in Sydney this summer¹. I've read the paper three times. The authors make a series of claims that taken seriously could lead us in a different direction. For instance,

They say that projects are process. If so, then why continue to deconstruct a project with a WBS? Process is temporal where things — which can be deconstructed — are atemporal.

They say that what we understand as processes include operations and non-value-adding steps. Simply breaking down processes doesn't reveal that waste. Value can't be distinguished separate from an observer who has concerns for a future along with standards that are unique to that observer. Any attempt at eliminating waste independent of the client of the project can't incorporate the basis for making a relevant assessment of value.

The authors summary point is,

"It is not only theories that count, but also the metaphysical assumptions on which our theories are based."

Metaphysics is such an old word. We don't have to concern ourselves with the nature of our being to understand the mistake we've made with projects. We have been distracted when planning and managing projects by the everyday world of things. The key perhaps is to notice the processes that involve the building of relationships, establishing trust, learning from one another, and coordinating action. These processes cannot be understood by the reductionist deterministic model that works so well with things.

As is usual for IGLC papers, the authors do a good job of providing references for their well-argued claims. This is a paper for those of us who are serious about rethinking our approach to delivering projects and are ready to challenge our own way of understanding the world.

1. The International Group for Lean Construction is in its 13th year. Researchers, practitioners, and academics come together each summer some place in the world to share what they have been learning. The papers are peer reviewed to maintain novelty and rigorous presentation. [ ⇑ back ]

If you visited RPM recently you might have noticed 'On the Side' in the right column. It is a short listing of interesting work others are doing. The two recent postings Carnival of Lean Leadership and The Carnival (of Agilists) Continues are digests of the good work of numerous people. A blog carnival is a wonderful way of exploring a topic without having to do the work of searching. Others do that for you. Both of these carnivals are new. The work so far is quite good. Let's hope that it continues.

You also find a link to the On the Side Archive and an On the Side RSS feed if you want to subscibe.

The tide has turned in contracting. No longer is low price the only basis for selecting contractors. An approach known as best-value is being widely adopted in the private and public sectors. The approach uses predefined assessment criteria. Price is often weighted heavily in the determination of best-value.

Pennsylvania is one of the recent states to legalize best-value as the basis for selecting contractors for state work. ENR reports in the October 24, 2005 issue that the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has sued the state to overturn the new law. ABC contends,

"…the process is secretive, invites favoritism, and is a poor substitute for hiring contractors based only on competitive bids."

The ABC goes on to claim the contract awards are "secretive and subjective," according to Hank Butler, ABC Director of Government Affairs.

What a way to spend ABC member dues! One reader¹ agrees writing a letter to the editor in this week's issue,

"If ABC spent more time and money trying to make their members better contractors, then maybe they wouldn't feel so threatened when their only bastion of safety — the low bid — is challenged by owners who want more value for their construction dollar."

Not only is the ABC behind the times, but they show a distinct indifference to the needs of their prospective clients. I predict ABC will lose this lawsuit along with the goodwill they already squandered.

By the way Hank, of course best-value has subjectivity in the process. Value is an assessment. Value is whatever the person says it is. Those contractors who take the time to listen to their prospects' concerns will be positioned to make best-value proposals. Maybe that is the real issue of the lawsuit: perhaps the ABC knows that its membership doesn't listen. If that is the case, then the only avenue is to sue your prospects.

1. Steven B. Chesley, Executive Manager, Quad Cities Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Assoc., Davenport, Iowa. [ ⇑ back ]

Simon Ramo claims to have attended over 40,000 meetings in his career. According to Ramo, most meetings stink. Larry Armstrong, BW, interviewed Ramo for the October 31, 2005 issue. Ramo has a new book titled Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings: Getting Things Done When People Are Involved. Highlights of the interview:

• Meetings can be improved and many are unnecessary, but few people do anything about it.
• Be prepared for the meetings you conduct and attend. Be clear on the purpose, know who will attend, and be ready to help move the meeting along…tactfully.
• People present too much detail; they can't resist unnecessary elaboration.
• When you wake-up after dozing in a meeting don't say, "What?" say, "Why?"

Here's my one tip for meetings: listen; keep your attention on what others have to say and help them say it. Not only will attendees appreciate you for that, but you will be in the distinct position to make something happen.