Using Mini-Kaizens to maintain momentum

So times are tough and we are concentrating on earning money. This means that we are trying hard to reduce tasks to billable tasks only. In a projectized environment, this means that if we work for an hour, we want to be able to charge for that hour.

Isn't this Lean anyway?

But there is an obvious missing component...and that missing component is the investment in continual improvement.

Here at Genoa, we normally have dedicated time each week for working on Lean projects. But in a projectized company, during times when every single dollar in the cashflow equation counts, the last thing we want is to be working on non-billable work. We want to work for an hour, be paid for that hour, deposit the money in the bank account, pay bills, make payroll, and climb back out of the debt we have built up over the last year, trying to keep the team together and stay alive during the down-turn in the industry and economy.

But then we miss the most important part of our transformation to a World-Class Lean company, and that is the continual effort to get better.

And one of the more difficult parts of being a projectized company is managing resources so that they perfectly coincide and balance with project work-level requirements. Projects suddenly slow down due to external (client) circumstances. Projects often come to a stand-still for short periods of time. Then all of a sudden...the heat is on and there are not enough hours and not enough people to get the job done in time for the client's needs.

So how do you juggle short bursts of unexpected availability?

We have started the Mini-Kaizen.

Basically, a "job-jar" with specific personel assigned (based on expertise) with a mini-budget, scope of work, specific deliverables, and a time limit.

So now when people have a short wait for some unexpected reason beyond our control, we have the "job-jar" ready.

Yes, in these times, it can be difficult for the culture of the office to accept and understand the importance of investing time in the continual improvement program. Some may think it is better to stay on the project, and forge ahead, albeit a bit slow and with an inefficiency you may be willing to swallow in the interest of keeping busy....but we have learned this leads to nothing but disaster and loss. I'll cover that topic some other blog....

Right now, we are ready to start our "job-jar".

I'll let you know how it works out.