November 2014 – HCSE Blog

29/11/2014

Counter-Productivity

The Webex icon bounced up and down on Bob’s task bar signalling that Leslie had just joined the weekly ISP coaching session.

<Leslie> Hi Bob. I have been so busy this week that I have not had time to consider a topic to explore.

<Bob> No problem Leslie, I have shelf full of topics we have not touched yet. So shall we talk about counter-productivity?

<Leslie> Don’t you mean productivity … the fourth dimension of system improvement.

<Bob>They are related of course but we will approach the issue of productivity from a different angle. Rather like we did with safety. To improve safety we considered at the causes of un-safety and focussed our efforts there.

<Leslie> Ah yes, I see. So to improve productivity we look at the causes of un-productivity … in other words counter-productive beliefs and behaviours that are manifest as system design flaws.

<Bob> Exactly. So remind me what the definition of a productivity metric is from your FISH course.

<Leslie> Productivity is the ratio of a stream metric and a stage metric. Value-for-Money for example.

<Bob> Good. So counter-productivity is also a ratio of a stream and a stage metric.

<Leslie> Um, I’m not sure I quite get that. Can you explain a bit more.

<Bob> OK. To explore deeper we need to be clear about how each metric relates to our intended outcome. Remember in safety-by-design we count the number and severity of risks and harm because as harm is going up then safety is going down. So harm is an un-safety stream metric.

<Leslie> Ah! Yes I see. So if we look at cycle-time, which is a stage metric; as cycle-time increases, the activity falls and productivity falls. So cycle-time is actually a counter-productivity metric.

<Bob>Excellent. You are getting the hang of the concept of counter-productivity.

<Leslie> And we need to be careful because productivity is a ratio so the numerator and denominator metrics work in opposite ways: increasing the magnitude of the numerator is equivalent to decreasing the magnitude of the denominator – the ratio increases.

<Bob> Indeed, there are many hazards with ratios as we have explored before. So let is consider a real and rather useful example. Let us look at Little’s Law from the perspective of counter-productivity. Remind me of the definition of Little’s Law for a single step system.

<Leslie> Little’s Law is a mathematically proven law of flow physics which states that the average lead-time is the product of the average work-in-progress and the average cycle-time.

LT = WIP * CT

<Bob> Good and I am pleased to see that you have used cycle-time. We are considering a single stream, single stage, single step system.

<Leslie> Yes, I avoided using the unqualified term ‘activity’. I have learned that lesson the hard way too!

<Bob> So how do the terms in Little’s Law relate to streams, stages and systems?

<Leslie> Lead-time is a stream metric, cycle-time is a stage metric and work-in-progress is a …. h’mm. What it is? A stream metric or a stage metric?

<Bob>Or?

<Leslie>A system metric? WIP is a system metric!

<Bob> Good. So now re-arrange Little’s Law as a productivity formula.

<Leslie> Work-in-Progress equals lead-time divided by cycle-time

WIP = LT / CT

<Bob> So is WIP a productivity or a counter-productivity metric?

<Leslie> H’mmm …. I will need to work this through logically and step-by-step. I do not trust my intuition on this flow stuff.

Increasing cycle-time is counter-productive because it implies activity is falling while costs are not.

But cycle-time is on the bottom of the ratio so it’s effect reverses.

So if lead-time stays the same and cycle-time increases then because it is on the bottom of the ratio that implies a more productive design. And at the same time work in progress must be falling. Urrgh! This is hurting my head.

<Bob> Good, keep going … you are nearly there.

<Leslie> So a falling WIP is a sign of increasing productivity.

<Bob> Good … and that implies?

<Leslie> WIP is a counter-productivity system metric!

<Bob> Well done. Your logic is flawless.

<Leslie> So that is why we focus on WIP so much! Whatever causes WIP to increase is counter-productive!

Ahhhh …. that makes complete sense.

Lo-WIP designs are more productive than Hi-WIP designs.

<Bob> Bravo! And translating this into financial metrics … it is because a big queue of waiting work incurs costs. Storage cost, maintenance cost, processing cost and so on. So WIP is a liability. It is not an asset!

<Leslie> But doesn’t that imply treating work-in-progress as an asset on the financial balance sheet is counter-productive?

<Bob> It does indeed.

<Leslie> Oh dear! That revelation is going to upset a lot of people in the accounting department!

<Bob> The painful reality is that the Laws of Flow Physics are completely indifferent to what any of us believe or do not believe.

<Leslie> Wow! I like this concept of counter-productivity … it really helps to expose some of our invalid assumptions that invisibly block improvement!

<Bob> So here is a question to ponder. Is zero WIP desirable or even possible?

<Leslie> H’mmm. I will have to think about that. I know you would not have asked the question for no reason.

22/11/2014

Metamorphosis

Some animals undergo a remarkable transformation on their journey to becoming an adult.

This metamorphosis is most obvious with a butterfly: the caterpillar enters the stage and a butterfly emerges.

The capabilities and behaviours of these development stages are very different. A baby caterpillar crawls and feeds on leaves; an adult butterfly flies and feeds on nectar.

There are many similarities to the transformation of an organisation from chaotic to calm; from depressed to enthused; and from struggling to flying.

It is the metamorphosis of individuals within organisations that drives the system change – the transformation from inept sceptics to capable advocates.

The journey starts with the tiny, hungry, baby caterpillar emerging from the egg.

This like a curious new sceptic emerging from denial and tentatively engaging the the process of learning. Usually triggered by seeing or hearing of a significant and sustained success that disproves their ‘impossibility hypothesis’.

A caterpillar is an eating machine. As it grows it sheds its skin and becomes larger. It also changes its appearance and eventually its behaviour.

Our curious improvement sceptic is devouring new information and is visibly growing in knowledge, understanding and confidence.

When the caterpillar sheds the last skin a new form emerges. A pupa. It has a different appearance and behaviour. It is now stationary and it does not move or eat.

This is the contemplative sceptic who appears to have become dormant but is not … they are planning to change. This stage is very variable: it may be minutes or years.

Inside the pupa the solid body of the caterpillar is converted to ‘cellular soup’ and the cells are reassembled into a completely new structure called an adult butterfly.

Our healthy sceptic is dissolving their self-limiting beliefs and restructuring their mental model. It is stage of apparent confusion and success is not guaranteed.

And suddenly the adult butterfly emerges: fully formed but not yet able to fly. Its wings are not yet ready – they need to be inflated, to dry and be flexed.

So it is with our newly hatched improvement practitioner. They need to pause, prepare, and practice before they feel safe to fly solo. They start small but are thinking big.

After a short rest the new wings are fully expanded and able to lift the butterfly aloft to explore the new opportunities that await. A whole new and exciting world full of flowers and nectar.

Our improvement practitioner can also feel when they are ready to explore. And then they fly – right first time.

An active improvement practitioner will inspire others to emerge, and many of those will hatch into improvement caterpillars who will busily munch on the new knowledge and grow in understanding and confidence. Then it goes quiet and, as if by magic, a new generation of improvement butterflies appear. And they continue to spread the word and the knowledge.

That is how Improvement Science grows and spreads – by metamorphosis.

15/11/2014

Seeing and Believing

[Beep] It was time again for the weekly Webex coaching session. Bob dialled into the teleconference to find Leslie already there … and very excited.

<Leslie> Hi Bob, I am so excited. I cannot wait to tell you about what has happened this week.

<Bob> Hi Leslie. You really do sound excited. I cannot wait to hear.

<Leslie> Well, let us go back a bit in the story. You remember that I was really struggling to convince the teams I am working with to actually make changes. I kept getting the ‘Yes … but‘ reaction from the sceptics. It was as if they were more comfortable with complaining.

<Bob> That is the normal situation. We are all very able to delude ourselves that what we have is all we can expect.

<Leslie> Well, I listened to what you said and I asked them to work through what they predicted could happen if they did nothing. Their healthy scepticism then worked to build their conviction that doing nothing was a very dangerous choice.

<Bob> OK. And I am guessing that insight was not enough.

<Leslie> Correct. So then I shared some examples of what others had achieved and how they had done it, and I started to see some curiosity building, but no engagement still. So I kept going, sharing stories of ‘what’, and ‘how’. And eventually I got an email saying “We have thought about what you said about a one day experiment and we are prepared to give that a try“.

<Bob> Excellent. How long ago was that?

<Leslie> Three months. And I confess that I was part of the delay. I was so surprised that they said ‘OK‘ that I was not ready to follow on.

<Bob> OK. It sounds like you did not really believe it was possible either. So what did you do next?

<Leslie> Well I knew for sure that we would only get one chance. If the experiment failed then it would be Game Over. So I needed to know before the change what the effect would be. I needed to be able to predict it accurately. I also needed to feel reassured enough to take the leap of faith.

<Bob> Very good, so did you use some of your ISP-2 skills?

<Leslie> Yes! And it was a bit of a struggle because doing it in theory is one thing; doing it in reality is a lot messier.

<Bob> So what did you focus on?

<Leslie> The top niggle of course! At St Elsewhere® we have a call-centre that provides out-of-office-hours telephone advice and guidance – and it is especially busy at weekends. We are required to answer all calls quickly, which we do, and then we categorise them into ‘urgent’ and ‘non-urgent’ and pass them on to the specialists. They call the clients back and provide expert advice and guidance for their specific problem.

<Bob>So you do not use standard scripts?

<Leslie> No, that does not work. The variety of the problems we have to solve is too wide. And the specialist has to come to a decision quite quickly … solve the problem over the phone, arrange a visit to an out of hours clinic, or to dispatch a mobile specialist to the client immediately.

<Bob> OK. So what was the top niggle?

<Leslie> We have contractual performance specifications we have to meet for the maximum waiting time for our specialists to call clients back; and we were not meeting them. That implied that we were at risk of losing the contract and that meant loss of revenue and jobs.

<Bob> So doing nothing was not an option.

<Leslie> Correct. And asking for more resources was not either … the contract was a fixed price one. We got it because we offered the lowest price. If we employed more staff we would go out of business. It was a rock-and-a-hard-place problem.

<Bob> OK. So if this was ranked as your top niggle then you must have had a solution in mind.

<Leslie> I had a diagnosis. The Vitals Chart© showed that we already had enough resources to do the work. The performance failure was caused by a scheduling policy – one that we created – our intuitively-obvious policy.

<Bob> Ah ha! So you suggested doing something that felt counter-intuitive.

<Leslie> Yes. And that generated all the ‘Yes .. but‘ discussion.

<Bob> OK. Do you have the Vitals Chart© to hand? Can you send me the Wait-Time run chart?

<Leslie> Yes, I expected you would ask for that … here it is.

<Bob> OK. So I am looking at the run chart of waiting time for the call backs for one Saturday, and it is in call arrival order, and the blue line is the maximum allowed waiting time is that correct?

<Leslie>Yup. Can you see the diagnosis?

<Bob> Yes. This chart shows the classic pattern of ‘prioritycarveoutosis’. The upper border is the ‘non-urgents’ and the lower group are the ‘urgents’ … the queue jumpers.

<Leslie> Spot on. It is the rising tide of non-urgent calls that spill over the specification limit. And when I shared this chart the immediate reaction was ‘Well that proves we need more capacity!‘

<Bob> And the WIP chart did not support that assertion.

<Leslie> Correct. It showed we had enough total flow-capacity already.

<Bob> So you suggested a change in the scheduling policy would solve the problem without costing any money.

<Leslie> Yes. And the reaction to that was ‘That is impossible. We are already working flat out. We need more capacity because to work quicker will mean cutting corners and it is unsafe to cut-corners‘.

<Bob> So how did you get around that invalid but widely held belief?

<Leslie> I used one of the FISH techniques. I got a few of them to play a table top game where we simulated a much simpler process and demonstrated the same waiting time pattern on a hand-drawn run chart.

<Bob> Excellent. Did that get you to the ‘OK, we will give it a go for one day‘ decision.

<Leslie>Yes. But then I had to come up with a new design and I had test it so I know it would work.

<Bob> Because that was a step too far for them. And It sounds like you achieved that.

<Leslie> Yes. It was tough though because I knew I had to prove to myself I could do it. If I had asked you I know what you would have said – ‘I know you can do this‘. And last Saturday we ran the ‘experiment’. I was pacing up and down like an expectant parent!

<Bob> I expect rather like the ESA team who have just landed Rosetta’s little probe-child on an asteroid travelling at 38,000 miles per hour, billions of miles from Earth after a 10 year journey through deep space! Totally inspiring stuff!

<Leslie> Yes. And that is why I am so excited because OUR DESIGN WORKED! Exactly as predicted.

<Bob> Three cheers for you! You have experienced that wonderful feeling when you see the effect of improvement-by-design with your own eyes. When that happens then you really believe what opportunities become possible.

<Leslie> So I want to show you the ‘after’ chart …

<Bob> Wow! That is a spectacular result! The activity looks very similar, and other than a ‘blip’ between 15:00 and 19:00 the prioritycarveoutosis has gone. The spikes have assignable causes I assume?

<Leslie> Spot on again! The activity was actually well above average for a Saturday. The subjective feedback was that the new design felt calm and under-control. The chaos had evaporated. The performance was easily achieved and everyone was very positive about the whole experience. The sceptics were generous enough to say it had gone better than they expected. And yes, I am now working through the ‘spikes’ and excluding them … but only once I have a root cause that explains them.

<Bob> Well done Leslie! I sense that you now believe what is possible whereas before you just hoped it would be.

<Leslie> Yes! And the most important thing to me is that we did it ourselves. Which means improvement-by-design can be learned. It is not obvious, it feels counter-intuitive, so it is not easy … but it works.

<Bob> Yes. That is the most important message. And you have now earned your ISP Certificate of Competency.

10/11/2014

World Class Improvement

Improvement Science is exactly like a sport: it requires training and practice to do well.

Elite athletes do not just turn up and try hard … they have invested thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears to even be eligible to turn up.

And their preparation is not random or haphazard … it is structured and scientific. Sport is a science.

So it is well worth using this sporting metaphor to outline some critical-to-success factors … because the statistics on improvement projects is not good.

It is said that over 70% of improvement projects fail to achieve their goals.

That is a shocking statistic. It is like saying 70% of runners who start a race do not finish!

And in sport if you try something that you are not ready for then you can seriously damage your health. So just turning up and trying hard is not enough. In can actually be counter-productive!

Common sense tells us that those fail to complete the course were not well enough prepared to undertake the challenge. We know that only one person can win a race … but everyone else could finish it. And to start and finish a tough race is a major achievement for each participant.

It is actually their primary goal.

Being good enough to when we need to is the actual objective; being the best-on-the-day is a bonus. Not winning is not a failure. Not finishing is.

So how does an Improvement Scientist prepare for the improvement challenge?

First, we need enough intrinsic motivation to get out of bed and to invest the required time and effort. We must have enough passion to get started and to keep going. We must be disappointed enough with past failures to commit to preventing future ones. We must be angry enough with the present problems to take action … not on the people … but on the problem. We must be fearful enough of the future consequences of inaction to force us to act. And we need to be excited enough by the prospect of success to reach out for it.

Second, we need some technical training. How to improve the behaviour and performance of a complex adaptive system is not obvious. If it were we would all know how to do it. Many of the most effective designs appear counter-intuitive at first sight. Many of our present assumptions and beliefs are actually a barrier to change. So we need help and guidance in identifying what assumptions we need to unlearn.

Third, We need to practice what we have learned until it becomes second-nature, and almost effortless. Deceptively easy to the untrained eye. And we develop our capability incrementally by taking on challenges of graded difficulty. Each new challenge is a bit of a stretch, and we build on what we have achieved already. There are no short cuts or quick fixes if we want to be capable and confident at taking on BIG improvement challenges.

And we need a coach as well as a trainer.

The role of a trainer is to teach us technical skills and to develop our physical strength, stamina and resilience.

The role of the coach is to help us develop our emotional stamina and resilience. We need to learn to manage our minds as much as our muscles. We all harbour self-defeating attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. Bad habits that trip us up and cause us to slip, fall and bruise our egos and confidence.

The psychological development is actually more important than the physical … because if is our self-defeating “can’t do” and “yes but” inner voices that sap our intrinsic motivation and prevent us crawling out of bed and getting started.

The UK Cycling Team that won multiple goal medals in the 2012 Olympics did not just train hard and have the latest and best equipment. They also had the support of a very special type of coach. Dr Steve Peters … who showed them how to manage their inner Chimp … and how to develop their mental strength in synergy with their technical ability. The result was a multi-gold medal winning engine.

And we can all benefit from this wisdom just by reading The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters.

So when we take on a difficult improvement challenge, one that many have tried and failed to overcome, and if we want world class performance as the outcome … then we need to learn the hard-won lessons of the extreme athletes … and we need to model their behaviour.

Because that is what it takes to become an Improvement Science Practitioner.

Our goal is to finish each improvement race that we start … to deliver a significant and sustained improvement. We do not need to be perfect or the best … we just need to start and finish the race.

01/11/201406/01/2024

Spring the Trap

[Beeeeeep] It was time for the weekly coaching chat. Bob, a seasoned practitioner of flow science, dialled into the teleconference with Lesley.

<Bob> Good afternoon Lesley, can I suggest a topic today?

<Lesley> Hi Bob. That would be great, and I am sure you have a good reason for suggesting it.

<Bob> I would like to explore the concept of time-traps again because it something that many find confusing. Which is a shame because it is often the key to delivering surprisingly dramatic and rapid improvements; at no cost.

<Lesley> Well doing exactly that is what everyone seems to be clamouring for so it sounds like a good topic to me. I confess that I am still not confident to teach others about time-traps.

<Bob> OK. Let us start there. Can you describe what happens when you try to teach it?

<Lesley> Well, it seems to be when I say that the essence of a time-trap is that the lead time and the flow are independent. For example, the lead time stays the same even though the flow is changing. That really seems to confuse people; and me too if I am brutally honest.

<Bob> OK. Can you share the example that you use?

<Lesley> Well it depends on who I am talking to. I prefer to use an example that they are familiar with. If it is a doctor I might use the example of the ward round. If it is a manager I might use the example of emails or meetings.

<Bob> Assume I am a doctor then – an urgent care physician.

<Lesley> OK. Let us take it that I have done the 4N Chart and the top niggle is ‘Frustration because the post-take ward round takes so long that it delays the discharge of patients who then often have to stay an extra night which then fills up the unit with waiting patients and we get blamed for blocking flow from A&E and causing A&E breaches‘.

<Bob> That sounds like a good example. What is the time-trap in that design?

<Lesley> The post-take ward round.

<Bob> And what justification is usually offered for using that design?

<Lesley> That it is a more efficient use of the expensive doctor’s time if the whole team congregate once a day and work through all the patients admitted over the previous 24 hours. They review the presentation, results of tests, diagnosis, management plans, response to treatment, decide the next steps and do the paperwork.

<Bob> And why is that a time-trap design?

<Lesley> Because it does not matter if one patient is admitted or ten, the average lead time from the perspective of the patient is the same – about one day.

<Bob> Correct. So why is the doctor complaining that there are always lots of patients to see?

<Lesley> Because there are. The emergency short stay ward is usually full by the time the post take ward round happens.

<Bob> And how do you present the data that shows the lead time is independent of the flow?

<Lesley> I use a Gantt chart, but the problem I find is that there is so much variation and queue jumping it is not blindingly obvious from the Gantt chart that there is a time-trap. There is so much else clouding the picture.

<Bob>Is that where the ‘but I do not understand‘ conversation starts?

<Lesley> Yes. And that is where I get stuck too.

<Bob> OK. The issue here is that a Gantt chart is not the ideal visualisation tool when there are lots of crossed-streams, frequently changing priorities, and many other sources of variation. The Gantt chart gets ‘messy’. The trick here is to use a Vitals Chart – and you can derive that from the same data you used for the Gantt chart.

<Lesley> You are right about the Gantt chart getting messy. I have seen massive wall-sized Gantt charts that are veritable works-of-art and that have taken hours to create; and everyone standing looking at it and saying ‘Wow! That is an impressive piece of work. So what does it tell us? How does it help?‘

<Bob> Yes, I have experienced that too. I think what happens is that those who do the foundation training and discover the Gantt chart then try to use it to solve every flow problem – and in their enthusiasm they discount any warning advice. Desperation drives over-inflated expectation which is often the pre-cursor to disappointment, and then disillusionment. The Nerve Curve again.

<Lesley> But a Vitals Chart is an HCSE level technique and you said that we do not need to put everyone through HCSE training.

<Bob>That is correct. I am advocating an HCSE-in-training using a Vitals Chart to explain the concept of a time-trap so that everyone understands it well enough to see the flaw in the design.

<Lesley> Ah ha! Yes, I see. So what is my next step?

<Bob> I will let you answer that.

<Lesley> Um, let me think.

The outcome I want is everyone understands the concept of a time-trap well enough to feel comfortable with trying a time-trap-free design because they can see the benefits for them.

And to get that depth of understanding I need to design a table top exercise that starts with a time-trap design and generates raw data that we can use to build both a Gantt chart and the Vitals Chart; so I can point out and explain the characteristic finger-print of a time trap.

And then we can ‘test’ an alternative time-trap-free design and generate the prognostic Gantt and Vitals Chart and compare with the baseline diagnostic charts to reveal the improvement.

<Bob> That sounds like a good plan to me. And if you do that, and your team apply it to a real improvement exercise, and you see the improvement and you share the story, then that will earn you a coveted HCSE Certificate of Competency.

<Lesley>Ah ha! Now I understand the reason you suggested this topic! I am on the case!