Hoshin and Oobeya

We have just posted two more presentations from our last Lean Summit on our YouTube channel addressing key challenges facing lean managers – how to focus activities on the vital few and how to improve the effectiveness of cross-functional projects.

The fact that most strategic plans are still built on a long list of projects shows how organisations struggle to deselect and focus.  Pascal Dennis and Tom Jackson have described the Hoshin planning tool to unlock this dilemma in their books, yet progress in using it has been slow. In his talk at the Lean Summit Laurie West describes how he learnt to use Hoshin in his own business and then to teach it to other executive teams in the automotive and engineering industries. He stresses the importance of the process a team goes through to define their priorities, not just the tool itself. We will take this further at our Sharing Day on April 18th in Cardiff when Mark Reich from LEI will describe the Hoshin process he was responsible for at Toyota North America.

In 2008 Takashi Tanaka has highlighted the power of using the Oobeya visual project management room to bring PDCA discipline to managing cross-functional projects. In 2010 Takashi and Sharon Tanner described how Boeing was taking Oobeya project management out of engineering and into the Executive Office. In 2011 Takashi described how Oobeya formed a key building block in Toyota’s management system. This year Takashi extends the story to create Digital Oobeya rooms to enable remote teams to work together across the world.

We have been very encouraged by the response to the Sharing Day on 18th April. Already several organisations with a long history of lean have indicated they will share their stories and questions. If you would like to share your stories please submit your proposed summary by Friday 15th March, for us to review and shape the day. Do join us for what looks like being a fascinating day.

Yours sincerely
Daniel T Jones
Chairman, Lean Enterprise Academy

Science and Lean Transformation

We have just begun to post the videos of the presentations at our Lean Summit 2012 on our YouTube channel to share them with the wider lean community. The first two videos are of my opening presentation on Science and Lean Transformation and my closing speech summarising the lessons from the Summit. We will post the rest of the plenary talks in the coming weeks.

The opening presentation argues that Toyota’s example creates a new basis for managing by science. Lean has a much sounder empirical foundation and goes considerably beyond Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management or modern management’s attempts to correlate strategy and leadership with performance. 

What distinguishes lean practice is that it focuses on customer value and not just investor returns, on the horizontal value creation process as well as the vertical deployment of knowledge and the allocation of resources, and on engaging everyone and not just a few experts in solving tomorrow’s problems.

The latter point entails a very different transformation process than the traditional expert-led training and consulting model. Lean is learnt by solving business problems in their specific context, by developing the capabilities of line managers and their teams to unblock the flow of value creation, with leaders giving clear direction and support. The objective is not simply to solve today’s problem but in so doing to develop the capabilities of the team to solve new problems once the teacher has left. 

The underlying purpose of lean is the systematic use of the scientific approach by every employee every day. This is what Toyota means when they say “we make people before we make cars”. This raises new challenges for managers used to hiring experts to solve problems for them and it challenges lean folk who are drawn to “professionalising” and “certifying” their knowledge of lean tools. Lean practice evolves through carrying line responsibility and through coaching and mentoring the capabilities of employees. What is common is the scientific thought process that can bring different perspectives to very specific business situations.

It also raises big challenges for the lean movement. A true scientific approach starts with reflection on what is currently known as the basis for framing the next step of questions about what is not yet known. If we are to deepen our knowledge of lean we need to initiate, mentor and reflect on many experiments to address these questions and learn from the results. Rather than seeking universal laws through correlating the use of tools with business results, where science can help is in understanding the learning-by-doing process which will in turn build the capabilities that lead to superior business results in diverse circumstances. As long as we are interested in framing the next set of questions there will be a healthy future for lean.

Further Lean Summit presentations will focus on lean leadership, Gemba management, the Hoshin strategy deployment process and the practice of learning through Kata. You might also be interested in three books featured in my talk; The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart, which exposes the lack of any empirical evidence behind scientific management, The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig, which demolishes attempts to correlate leadership and strategy with performance and Ignorance by Stuart Firestein, which is a wonderful restatement of the purpose of science. You might also look at my summary of Lean in 10 Slides.

Yours sincerely
Professor Daniel T Jones

PS. We will be discussing all these issues at our Sharing Day in Caridff on 18 April. This is a unique opportunity to share stories of your lean journeys and discuss your next questions and challenges with a distinguished panel of lean experts, including Mark Reich, COO of LEI, and other lean practitioners. I look forward to seeing you there.