7 wastes of change management
DESCRIPTION
Software and manufacturing have the concept of waste. But what about change management where all the work is in our heads?TRANSCRIPT
7 WA S T E S O F C H A N G E M A N A G E M E N T
W W W . L E A N C H A N G E . O R GJASON LITTLE
@JASONLITTLE
7 WASTES OF LEAN
INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION
EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION
WAITING
DEFECTS
MOTION
Raw materials, un-finished work, stuff not required to deliver customer orders
Re-work, extra manufacturing steps, handling as a result of defects or too much inventory
Queuing, idle downstream processes which leads to downstream teams doing non-value added activities
Continuing with operational processes when they should have stopped
Un-necessary movement of materials that are in progress (WIP)
Extra steps due to inefficient process layout, defects, re-work, over-production or inventory
Products or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specshttp://www.leaninnovations.ca/seven_types.html
7 WASTES OF SOFTWARE
INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION
EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION
WAITING
DEFECTS
MOTION
PARTIALLY DONE WORK
RELEARNING
DELAYS
EXTRA FEATURES
HANDOFFS
TASK SWITCHING
Un-finished features require extra processing (code management etc)
Defining too many requirements too soon causes relearning
Long feedback cycles, waiting for teams to be available, too much work in progress (WIP)
Building stuff the customer doesn’t want or need
Handing work off between functional groups
Products or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs
Too much work in progress (WIP), people working on multiple projects
http://agile.dzone.com/articles/seven-wastes-software
7 WASTES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT
INVENTORY OVER-PRODUCTION
EXTRA PROCESSINGTRANSPORTATION
WAITING
DEFECTS
MOTION
PARTIALLY DONE WORK
RELEARNING
DELAYS
EXTRA FEATURES
HANDOFFS
TASK SWITCHING
OVERPLANNING
UNVALIDATED CHANGES
HMM? TOUGH ONE!
TOO MANY CHANGES
CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATION
FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESS
UN-PREDICTED OUTCOMES?
INVENTORY, PARTIALLY DONE WORK
LEAN - INVENTORYRaw materials, un-finished work, stuff not required to deliver customer orders
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - OVER PLANNINGCreating plans too far in advance and over-producing documentation to adhere to non-value added process and governance. !Symptoms include time spent on updating documentation that isn’t useful, “analysis paralysis” by spending too much time thinking about a change. !Solutions include producing documentation that is useful and by planning more frequently, and in smaller batches. Also consider stopping changes that fall off the rails instead of “trying to make them stick”.
“The change team can become exhausted by too much
change too!”
SOFTWARE - PARTIALLY DONE WORKUn-finished features requires extra processing (code management etc)
OVER PRODUCTION, EXTRA FEATURES
LEAN - oVER PRODUCTIONContinuing with operational processes when they should have stopped
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - TOO MANY CHANGESCreating, and executing, too many changes simultaneously leads to thrashing, chaos and change fatigue. !Symptoms include planning too far in advance, possibly to satisfy stakeholders’ needs for the illusion feeling of certainty. !Solutions include visualizing changes on a big-visible board which leads to the realization that too many changes are in progress. Also include more frequent feedback loops and leaving the ‘plans’ for changes that are further away lighter on detail.
“Sometimes executing change is a ‘wait and see’ process”
SOFTWARE - EXTRA FEATURESBuilding stuff the customer doesn’t want or need
EXTRA PROCESSING, RELEARNING
LEAN - EXTRA PROCESSINGRe-work, extra manufacturing steps, handling as a result of defects or too much inventory
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - UNVALIDATED CHANGESAssuming the changes being executed are the right ones because of ‘best practice’ thinking. !Symptoms include focus on ‘change resistance’, working on big changes that are risky and have extremely uncertain outcomes. !Solutions include co-creating change by involving the people affected by the change in the design of change. Visualizing changes on a big visible wall and using change canvases to build and communicate changes.
“People resist change when they don’t feel they have a choice”
SOFTWARE - RELEARNINGDefining too many requirements too soon causes relearning
TRANSPORTATION, HANDOFFS
LEAN - TRANSPORTATIONUn-necessary movement of materials that are in progress (WIP)
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATIONCreating changes in isolation without any feedback from the people affected. !Symptoms include spinning on which changes to do as a result of no feedback. Falling into the “expert trap” results in constant redesign of changes when there is no feedback to validate their the right ones. !Solutions include making changes that are being designed visible to the people affected by the change. “The plan” doesn’t always have to be perfect, some outcomes of change are unknowable unknowns.
“If you’re doing change management in the office with the
door closed, you’re doing it wrong!” - Heather Stagl
SOFTWARE - HANDOFFSHanding work off between functional groups
WAITING, DELAYS?
LEAN - WAITINGQueuing, idle downstream processes which leads to downstream teams doing non-value added activities
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - THIS IS GOOD THING!Not waiting for changes to show an outcome is the problem! !Symptoms include knee jerk reactions to not getting results soon enough. That leads to the desire to pile on more changes. Another symptom is the desire to keep the change team busy because idleness is perceived to be inefficient and costly. !Solutions include understanding the natural pace of change by using the outcomes of previous changes as input to new changes. Also, use hypotheses and experimentation thinking. Time-box experiments…and make that visible!
“Change fatigue happens when the change team feels they need to
‘keep busy’”
SOFTWARE - DELAYSLong feedback cycles, waiting for teams to be available, too much work in progress (WIP)
MOTION
LEAN - MOTIONExtra steps due to inefficient process layout, defects, re-work, over-production or inventory
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESSESBest practice thinking leads to the change team following a process and doing ‘busy work’ such as over-producing documents and updating Sharepoint sites to satisfy non-value added governance processes. !Symptoms include talking about following processes (“but the process is…!”) instead of focusing on change outcomes. Not measuring the effectiveness of communication programs leads to doing low-value work such as sending out newsletters no one reads. !Solutions include creating your own change management process based on picking practices that make more sense for your organization.
“Following process causes change teams to stop focusing on
outcomes”
SOFTWARE - TASK SWITCHINGToo much work in progress (WIP), people working on multiple projects
DEFECTS?
LEAN - DEFECTSProducts or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT - UNPREDICTED OUTCOMESSolely focusing on numerical measurements that don’t tell the whole story. !Symptoms include updating the business case ROI when the change project is done to match what actually happened or blaming people affected by the change because they resisted the change. !Solutions include mixing qualitative, quantitative, leading and lagging indicators as well as diagnostics that accept the uncertainty of organizational change.
“Organizational change is extremely difficult to predict, mix measures
with diagnostics”
SOFTWARE - DEFECTSProducts or services that don’t meet or conform to customer requirements or specs.
7 5 WASTES OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT
OVERPLANNING
UNVALIDATED CHANGES
WAITING IS GOOD!
TOO MANY CHANGES
CHANGES CREATED IN ISOLATION
FOLLOWING STANDARD PROCESS
CRYSTAL BALL?
Balance plan-driven and feedback-driven approaches. Challenge your governance process.
Avoid change fatigue by limited the number of simultaneous changes and break down big changes into smaller chunks.
Avoid assuming the change you want to implement is the right one based on “best practice” thinking.
Avoid the ‘expert trap’ and talk to the people affected by the change before implementing it.
Following “best practice” processes leads to focus on process, not meaningful change.
Outcomes will take a while. Relax! This isn’t waste, this is a good thing! Avoid keeping ‘busy’ for optics purposes.
Gut feel based on experience will help you “know” the change you’re working on is the right one. But! Try as you may, you cannot predict the outcome to a reasonable degree of certainty and more importantly you can’t get predictable results every time.
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