Applying Kaizen principles to communication

Symbols are powerful communication tools

What can “Lean Management” offer for improving communication?

It would be a pretension to present myself as a “lean” expert. My knowledge and experience on this subject is at its very beginning, after a long period of bafflement. My doubts were focused on the difficulties of translating principles conceived for the production and distribution of goods, in a world (complex software projects) where the uniqueness of situations both technical organizational are difficult to predict, and then too short (in time span) for being standardized.

Information as goods to be managed

Like any other production process, there is the paramount necessity of collecting data about “what is going on”. This information (structured data) is to be read and confronted with initial estimations and plans (baselines).

From this point of view, the powerful concepts and tools made available by “Lean Management” can be applies to the program and project management. These are the points:

1. Any process produces (meta) information.
2. Those “goods” shall be distributed to everyone is involved in the process.
3. Every person working on the project is a customer who needs to receive “goods” in the best possible way respecting:
   1. Time
   2. Correctness
   3. Role

My approach as newbie

There are many blogs and documents offering excellent ideas about the application of Lean Management for IT project. I have chosen a specific item: the communication.

Applying Kaizen principles

In the Crossderry post, there is a clear description about the importance of applying “Lean management” in project management. This post is focused on the advantages offered by the “5S principles” to the communication.

Phase 1 – Seiri (Sorting)

Using the calendar for sorting out how many meetings, reports and diagrams shall be delivered and received, can offer a view of how the system is (not) working at the best.

Phase 2 – Seiton (Straighten)

Consider, for an instant, templates, timetables, agendas, meetings etc. as tools. Are they arranged in a way that facilitates the workflow? Is it easy, for everyone who needs them, to find quickly what he/she wants?

Phase 3 – Seisō (Sweeping)

Starting from the messages’ style, it is possible to check if there is any room for improving the efficiency. Quality becomes more difficult to be measured on the short leg; however, spending a little time for understanding, which is the better way to deal with other people can give huge benefits.

Phase 4 – Seiketsu (Standardizing)

Once a better standard (including the cyclical verification and improvement) has been found, stick with it. People love working in a predictable working environment.

Phase 5 – Shitsuke (Sustaining the discipline)

It could be seen as the best way for measuring the quality. Any decline in the “new” standards will be treated as a breach of the rules. Obviously, the point 4 shall include procedures for dealing with this kind of behaviors.

Conclusion

As consultant working in multi-cultural environments, the communication has a fundamental role. The adoption of these concepts is improving the outcome of the whole project.
In this post, I am just skirting the issue about management and leadership. However, it is a big topic, which needs some more thoughts.

“Please be good enough to put your conclusions and recommendations on one sheet of paper in the very beginning of your report, so I can even consider reading it”

More readings

• http://herdingcats.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/impediments-to-successful-earned-value-management.html
• http://johnastrello.com/?p=236
• http://leansoftwareengineering.com/2009/08/06/multi-site-teams-travel-and-the-half-life-of-trust/