Digital COPQ

I went to the municipality office of a metro city for the birth certificate of my grand daughter.

Process steps that I'd to take were as follows.

Step-1, For enquiry, I went to a window that was closest to the main entry. They directed me to the ENQUIRY window that actually wasn't visible moment you enter the office.

Step-2, On my turn at the 'window' that I was directed to (by the ENQUIRY window) 'asked' me the date of birth of the newborn.

Step-3, The 'window' danced her fingers 'takaa-takaa-tak....' on the keyboard. Kept looking at the screen while 'she' sipped some water reaching out for a sippy-bottle kept on a shelf a couple of arms away. Fortunately, she got the details online.

Lucky that the information from the hospital had reached the municipality office digitally!

Step-4, She gave me a printout of what she saw on the screen.

Told me to go to ENQUIRY window and enquire 'what next'.

Step-5, ENQUIRY window 'told' me to go & take a set of forms from 'that corner', fill name details of the child if naming ceremony is already done & then submit it to the first 'window'.

Step-6, I did so. Filled the forms.

Step-7, Submitted the forms to the first 'window' alongwith the printout given by her earlier. The first 'window' then told me to submit parental identity proofs online. And, to collect the birth certificate online "after the name of the newborn gets registered" two-weeks thereafter.

(Add a few sanitisation steps in-between!)

Step-8, All the above in about a couple of hours; home-to-back-home via the municipality office!

This of course, followed by the ritual of sanitisation & a full bath (the second one of the day) ... in another hour or so!

An hours' nap induced by the tiring drive under the scorching Sun!

Step-9, After getting up, I tried to login to the website but in vain! 

Another, couple of hours wasted. 

Perhaps the website was taking a nap then. 

Step-10, Now, I'm trying to get in touch with an agent and keeping my fingers crossed. 

The labor of the mother was easier, I think!

Worth researching the NVA and the COPQ in this so-called supposed-to-be online digitisation process?

Meanwhile, I am unable to understand the following.

- What was the need for me to drive 40-kilometers to-n-fro under the scorching Sun at 44-degree Celsius?

- What was the need of the ENQUIRY window in the process for the work that could've been told to me by the first 'window' itself?

- Is it that the process-designer of this digital process forgot to consider eliminating such NVAs (which is actually an inevitable step if a Lean-Kaizen-JIT Gemba-exercise is undertaken before any such digital exercise)? Or

- Is it that the VOC & the 3-D in the process (COPP, cost of poor processes) was not 'heard' adequately? Or

- Is it that the additional 'window' step was 'intentional' and on that particular day the intention got skipped inadvertently?

- Why was the sippy-bottle not kept within an arms reach (application of the orderly arrangement principle of Seiton, the Five-S system) unless of course she wanted some exercise by-design? A good thought if the latter was true! 

But, why was the ENQUIRY window itself away from the main entry door? (Missing Seiton because missing Gemba approach to Kaizen and the PDCA-audit of the Gemba itself post any such change initiative!)

About the location of the window itself, good that I didn't dare to INQUIRE!

I wonder the costs (Digital-COPQ) associated with such poorly designed digitisation initiatives particularly being during the COVID times, when in order to curb it everyone is on the journey to eliminate every possible touch-point! The Digital-Corporate-Yoga in its true sense!!

Abbreviations:

COPQ, cost of poor quality

COPP, cost of poor processes

NVA, non-value-activities as Wastes

VOC, voice of customer

3D: Dirty-Danger-Difficult

JIT Just In Time

PDCA: Systematic improvement approach Plan-Do-Check-Act

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Do You Force Customers To Quit
In-a-problem ? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!
Customer or Custo-Mer ?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Do you keep curing your brand ?  
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality!  
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value ?  
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?  
The Business Of Businesses 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
That's How Morons Work
Simplicity Of Theory Of Relativity

Difference between raam-&-krishna tactics

5-S reality in Virtual world!

The other day an intern requested for an industrial visit with me.

Normally, it's good to test such requests to know the purpose, their commitment and their preparation. So, I asked him to self-learn through some blogposts before he earns the privilege of the visit. He did do it and earned himself the industrial visit.

Having got impressed by the learning during the visit, he seemingly continued his self-learning.

"Sir I was thinking one thing.. how can we apply 5-S to the I.T. (information technology) industry where everything is virtual?"

I like questions!

Questions show that the mind-factory isn't on strike!!

What's the virtual world by the way?

Conventionally, virtual is virtual if it's without brick and mortar. Hardly anything in this material world is virtual in reality! Even in the spiritual world... where it is subtle though!!  The so-called virtual world does have some hardware, at the least such as, say, computer and corresponding devices for the I.O.T. (internet of things). The office itself that houses the table for the computer, the pendrives, the central processor room, corresponding SOP displays and spares, et all is a reality.

Of course, a typical virtual world primarily may have virtual files. Each file may have some words written on it. The words do get realised if corresponding thoughts are in place.

Good thoughts emerge if mind is free of clutter. Unneeded thoughts are the clutter that the Seiri step of the 5-S can help get rid off. Just as it releases some memory (brain) cells for storage of the needed thoughts, similarly doing Seiri of the virtual files and virtual folders releases some memory bytes and gigabytes for storage on the hard-disk of a computer.

A typical screen design: layout and positioning of information, color codes on it, etc. to make it look aesthetically attractive, and yet functional in performance, difficulty-free with maximum information display with optimised space utilisation, itself is about applying Seiton principles effectively and innovatively. 

Accessing the information just-in-time (JIT): easily in a single click without any waste is about applying 1-is-better principle of Seiri. It helps to keep information live and realistic so that real time changes can be effected while responding to the customer demands rather than based on forecasts.

It helps to keep information live and realistic so that real time changes can be effected while responding to the customer demands rather than from stocks based on forecasts.

Excessive stocks usually tend to be obsolete warranting Seiri on it to prevent obsolescence.

So, like in material world, all the principles of 5-Ss are equally applicable in the 'virtual and spiritual world' as well.

I could write this blogpost almost instantaneouy in reply to the query by the smart intern because Seiton of virtual files and folders was in place on my smartphone.

The picture of the book page that is in this post was handy because of its PEEP on my smartphone. I could accommodate many such value adding files on the limited space on my smartphone because of the Seiri of the unneeded 'unlimited' things (WhatsApp for instance) that don't find space on my phone.

A typical software programme itself applies Seiri technique to eliminate unneeded steps. That's why you see an APP getting smaller and smaller in (MB) size as part of its continual improvement.

So applying 5-S in virtual world is about 5 things:

5-S of the corresponding brick and mortar,
5-S of the corresponding Hardware,
5-S of the corresponding software programmes so that they become leaner,
5-S of the corresponding business related Big-Data so that extracting information out of it is faster,
5-S of the Mind (so that it helps attain meditative state faster).

Also read a few relevant blog-posts hereunder: Please do consider sharing this post or sharing your initiatives on above lines in comment box.

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
One-Is-Better for JIT 
How To Make A Difference 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Kaizen to overcome procrastination!

Caught a Kaizen
Delayed procrastination

Shunned hallucination

My above Haiku reminded me of the following quote....

Hallucinations are always evidence of cerebral derangement and are common phenomena of insanity. - W. A. Hammond

That's what the state of mind I used to experience whenever I used to step into my office-cum-library. My library is full of books, some bound photocopies, some box-files full of scribbled newspaper cuttings, and some full of case-studies, some manuscripts (including of my own), etc. spread all over the office in various pockets.

Let alone the sight of it, mere thought of visiting it, used to put my mind in disorder. It used to remind me of the pending work, literary in particular, and drive me insane. And then the shortcut used to be to procrastinate!

One day I thought of an instant solution... that of committing to apply Kaizen techniques to become leaner that I taught to others.

Few years ago, on this decision, the first thing I did was to make the office itself redundant over a few years.

In the first year, I forced myself to reduce it to ¹/3rd its original size and rent out the balance.
I did it by being ruthless on some documents that I hardly touched over a few years.
I got the rest of them all closer to each other to accommodate in half of the ¹/3rd space leaving the rest ¹/2 for sitting (and for packing our publications for onward dispatch).
That means so far I was wasting space utilization by almost 67 percent.

Next year onwards I stopped going to the office as a typical office goer.
In any case half my time involves travel in field. Technology made it possible for me to work rest of the month from wherever I was even from under a tree.
That means I was wasting time in logistics.

What did I do to my writing work...... The series of books that were in pipeline! My blogs! Tweets! Facebook, G+ and LinkedIn postings, Haiku, etc. etc.

That's what it was for which were all the funny collections in my library.

First thing I did was to remove all the etc. etc.
I decided 'to be' only on a couple of platforms in social media.

And of course to be Theme-based on that.

That helped me to prioritize the things that I 'must and need to do' rather than that I would 'want to do'. That gave me some time to allocate for writing the pending books.
Here's also an answer to why I 'hide' myself and avoid some non value calls on me.

I broke the writing work into a few palatable pieces. I compiled corresponding papers from the library into smaller files and brought them home. Scanned some for some focused writing that I could do anywhere during travel as well. Mission 'Zero laptop and desktop use' allowed me to use EVERNOTE app innovatively for the 'office under a tree' concept.

After completing the writing work (including publishing some blogposts) the papers and files were discarded.

In short, I applied 5-S on physical as well as on mental processes.
I learnt to 'Switch-On' and 'Switch-Off' at will.

I split work into small pieces that could be accomplished in bits and pieces each day, if not each hour, enjoying booster doses of small accomplishments at regular intervals.

Some tweets and Haiku poems that I could write instantly got converted into blogposts. Both together got converted into Facebook and G+ postings with relevant pictures that I took during travel. Some blogposts got compiled into chapters for the pending books.

In fact I started enjoying living in terms small bites of a few minutes together in order to 'just do it now and here' instead of being bogged down under the pressure of a large project of writing a book over a longer period of a few years say.

I didn't worry too much about mistakes and grammatical errors.
Kaizen approach created multiple chances for me to improve in next PDCA cycle. I could for instance always revise my tweets as well as blogposts.

The process is still ON until I make my remaining ¹/3rd office also redundant!
No doubt it was with some failures.
Although initially I feared failures, I learnt to get over them by working on their causes and committing to work upon failure modes adequately next time.
The PDCA cycle of Kaizen allowed me to forgive myself in the process!

In short,

Be leaner. 
Apply 5-S.
Use technology.
Focus on priorities.
Break work into a few palatable pieces.
Take and complete one piece at a time.
Don't fear mistakes and failures.
Revisit... Be a learner.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Kaizen, even in air!
In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 
Forgive Or Don't? 
Soon... Waste-to-Eat ! Sea-to-Drink !!
About my first book World-Of-Kaizen
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers 

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it!

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily 
Does recognition really matter 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 
Take your career in fast lane! 
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!  
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!!   
That's How Morons Work
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
Make checklists your friends  
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
A customer gets what s/he deserves: Shoddy Quality! 
Listen to iceberg of VOC to acquire customers

Andon For Visibility Before 'Andolan'

It was a huge protest (Andolan!) after the infamous Delhi gang-rape in a moving bus and another one in Mumbai. As a reactive fallout, one of the actions was strict adherence to the rule: Windows of all vehicles should be transparent.

This action is to bring out visibility, failure of which might result into crises such as above. Focus of this blogpost is to bring out it's importance generically.

Imagine there's no timetable, be it of a train or an exam or of a training classroom. And one is forced to keep guessing time of arrival/departure of a train or keep shuttling around notice boards that are usually difficult to locate/access if at all they exist at corresponding venues. 

Imagine seat numbers not marked inside an outstation train compartment or a theater.

Imagine a speed-breaker is not painted and you bump into it at 40 kilometres per hour.

Above situations may be rare in some cases. Visual systems in above cases in particular might have got more or less matured due to fear of resultant chaos. You are lucky if bogie of a train arrives at a designated location-mark on the platform. Now-a-days (inside a local train as well) they announce arrival of stations. You are lucky if 'sometimes it functions'.

In organised workplaces such Visual Systems are known as Andon: A visual communication management innovation perfected by Toyota. An example closer to you might be a display of token number in a bank alongwith an announcement and hooter sound to attract attention.

But why aren't versions on similar lines practised in other professions and places? There's a tremendous scope for bringing out visibility in order to make work predictable, prevention oriented and simpler in many other situations. The productivity benefits to customers thereby outweigh the costs of doing so in geometric progression.

A medical professional, for instance, might be able to impress upon a patient about speedy recovery if he hands over a Do-Don't instruction to be adhered to (featuring a sketch on how they work).

An electrician could display some sketches of the Do-Don'ts in case of a trouble that he shoots at. An accident may get preempted or a breakdown may get attended to faster with such Do-Don't lessons.

A computer mechanic could display, say, a sketch indicating where frequently possible loose connections can be mended autonomously.

A 'customer service' window could have 'steps' displayed with necessary sketches in case of actions to be taken during 'what-if' situations. Their office inside has signboards, labels on racks, files, etc. instead of a mess. Corresponding delays may get eliminated thereby.

An organisation, for instance, could make it's career-plan-ladder self-explanatorily 'visual'. Attrition may get reduced as a result.

Absence of practices such as above are examples of poor visibility prevalent in typically complacent organisations.

Sometimes lack of visibility is inadvertent. Sometimes it's intentional in order to protect vested interests.

Poor visibility breeds abnormalities such as defects, delays, corruption,etc. Ultimately it leads to less optimised performance as well as spoiled relationships.

That's why excellent workplaces promote visibility in innovative ways by using graphs, pictures, radiant colors, blinking lights, hooters, etc. as done in Seiton practice of Five-S's. 

They know that Andon For Visibility is better than resultant Andolan due to lack of it. They know that it's as dangerous as driving on a heavily raining day with a very very poor visibility as low as a couple of meters.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post via social media.

That's How Morons Work
Functional-Aesthetics
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling
Take Habits For A Ride
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow
How To Make A Difference
A Ride To Hell
Make checklists your friends 
Drove To Hell ... Almost !
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
Nauseous Communication Gaps
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!
Will It Work Here? 
Some Moron ! Some Great !!!
That's How Morons Work
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane! 
Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?
How Many Times Do You Wash Hands
What You See Isn't What's Made
Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'? 
Beware Of Political-Presentations
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings
Are You Good If Others Are Bad? 
 

Nauseous Communication Gaps

Put internet ON, she said.
Rushing to the WI-FI switch he replied: It is already ON.
Put it ON on the tablet I mean, she said
You should have said so specifically, he said while enabling WI-FI on tablet.

After a while accessing the tablet she asked: Why isn't the browser ON?

You told me to put the WI-FI ON on the tablet, he exclaimed.

Oh My God, you can't even do these simple things, she murmured. My reply to the email is already delayed by half an hour!

She appeared to exclaim at his weak IQ on jargons. Actually she wanted the Chrome browser ON. Due to lack of alignment on 'what to call what?' he went around doing rework (work to repair defect).

Often such communication gaps make work difficult in daily life. Not only do defective communications bring down expected performance levels but they also hurt egos being taken for granted. 

In fact, most problems in this world crop up due to communication gaps. Sometimes though gaps might have to be created strategically for common good as a Krishna tactic.

What's the solution?

Good to have a clear, concise and common understanding on terminology people use at a given workplace in particular. Say, 'WI-FI' for WI-FI switch, 'Internet' to enable WI-FI on tablet and Browser by its name 'Chrome', 'Dolphin', etc. as was needed in the above case. There should have been a common understanding on 'what to call what?' without diluting or mingling them.

In case of a workplace, terminology such as above might need complimentary labeling of a given equipment. Creative signboards might be needed for various spaces going beyond the conventional ones such as say a 'toilet', or a 'washroom', etc. They should visibly bring out differences among them with the help of icons or pictures or sketches.

Labeling, Signboards, etc. are a Seiton practice done in Five-S tool of Kaizen in order to remove ambiguities. They bring in uniqueness in communication. Defence services in particular use such uniqueness  very powerfully in order to prevent crisis from emerging in absence of that or in order to execute orders in split-seconds without defects in communication.

Bringing in common understanding such as above with a corresponding procedure in manual for work standards is actually a part of creating highly standardized workplace.

It's a must to reduce communication gaps at work. It's a must at home also in order to improve work although while doing so one might appear as an unreasonable, idiosyncratic fellow.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?

Kaizen-on-Crisis-Situations

Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 

Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam!

Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-1)

Discrimination-is-Cremation of Law-&-Order (Part-2) 

Discrimination Cremated! But How Long? 

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow

How To Make A Difference

A Ride To Hell

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

In-big-problem? Wear-hats-to-solve-it!

Do You Ask Right Questions? 

How Many Times Do You Wash Hands

Make checklists your friends

How Many Times Do You Wash Hands

Our regular cook was to stay absent for a few days. We asked for an alternative arrangement. Usually they won't make it. You have to ask for it. 

The person who substituted her straight went to kitchen (shop)floor to fetch flour. She dug into the container without washing her hands. After a while she began beating the dough.

When I asked her 'why didn't she wash her hands' her response was that she had washed hands at home.

Funny!

One does encounter such behavior at automated high-technology workplaces as well. Other day I saw a bearer with a nice hair-cap worn to prevent hair falling in food. Although he had a glove worn over his right hand he was serving roti (Indian bread made on a touch-free automatic machine) by the bare left-hand. Funny isn't it!

Back home I had to tell the maid that her hands might have encountered so many undesired touch-points on way to my home, her workplace.

Typical Touch-Points

Fetch purse or bag while going to work
Wear shoes (one touch-point less for the good if socks aren't worn)
Hold handle of the door in order to open it
Hold handle of the bus to board it
Exchange cash for ticket
Hold the handle of the lift (at workplace)
Pick up dust bin left outside the owner's home overnight in order to bring it inside

Unbuckle her shoes

One may consider so many such kind of touch-points like combing hair, picking teeth, shaking hands with friends-and-foes on the way, and many more creative ones that people usually engage into.

After all such diversely possible touch-points, she had taken a deep dive into the flour merrily beating it's dough inside-out: All this without washing hands!

One might suffer a blackout at slightest of imagination of even a single touch-point:

On blowing their running noses, do you know how many people  touch all those handles (of buses, of doors, of toilet doors, etc.) how many times in a day?

Do you know that the currency that you exchange might have landed in your hands after having passed hands of so many beggars?

A single search on internet can confirm that one of the most dirty touch-points housing most dangerous bacteria are the various knobs and handles that one handles at public places.

After so many such dangerous touch-points, how about eating food without washing hands because they were "already washed while leaving the workplace or leaving home for work"?

One may allow such funny practices if on a massive immunization programme or is on a mission to be a guinea-pig for all kind of germs on the planet. Some more germs might not make much of a difference having swallowed some inadvertently already.

But reality is different. Not only does one take a complete wash on entering home but also takes a well-rubbed hand-wash just before eating. 

Then why tolerate double-standards like that of the maid, behaving exactly the reverse on leaving home for work?

Surely it's the result of lack of attitude that's reflected in unclean behavior. One reason might be lack of education. Prior to that it may be lack of adequate standards and procedures (SOP¹) on cleanliness: unique-standards or single-standards if you may like to call. Most important reason is the lack of commitment by decision makers to train and motivate and if required take tough and unpleasant decisions about the concerned. 

Else corresponding consequences are well-deserved if one doesn't work towards it. 

Some do appear unreasonable mavericks at times on self as well as on others to change such bad habits! 

It's not out of place here to remember those few who refrain from shaking hands. Instead they greet by putting both hands together: The well-thought-out Indian practice of Namaskar! 

Footnotes: 

1. SOP: Standard Operating Procedures such as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) or Five-S practices in industry. 

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

How To Make A Difference

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'?  
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Technology in-place, security dis-placed

One-Is-Better for JIT

In response to an interview on style-tricks, an actress said: Focus on just one body part and show it off.

Whatever may be the message she expected her readers to carry home, to me it was a reminder to complete this long pending blogpost One-Is-Better!

Today when I read news "set up a biz with just one form" it further got reinforced.

In Five-S technique of Kaizen to improve productivity and performance there is a pillar titled Seiri. One-Is-Better¹ is one of the themes or campaigns driven under it.

1-is-better campaign is a means of streamlining operations. It also facilitates 1-piece flow as required to make a quick or JIT: Just-In-Time delivery. 

Take nail-cutting activity for instance. It involves cutting followed by polishing off burrs on nail. Imagine cutting nails of all the 10 fingers at once followed by polishing all 10 at once. You will be free to attend to any other interruption only at the end of 10 minutes if each nail takes 1 minute each for both cutting and polishing. Instead you could get ready to attend to next interruption at the end of every minute if the cutting of one nail at a time is immediately followed by polishing the same. 

It's like freeing up or 'delighting' 1-customer every-minute instead of processing a batch of 10. The latter forces all the 10 customers to wait until the full batch of 10 gets processed. Such batch practice thereby 'delays' the delivery. The latter forces one to work with more stocks than optimum that the former (that is the JIT) advocates as also makes it possible. Not only the former speed up delivery but also it reduces the cost of poor quality (COPQ) part of the cost of quality (COQ). 

Basically, 1-is-better thought is a way to eliminate redundancy. It strips away the un-needed (be it the activity steps or the material resources for activities). Imagine just a single key or 1-key (as pioneered by Japanese auto makers like Toyota, Honda, etc.) that opens a car-door as well as dickey and the fuel-lock. 

A 2-in-1-paper-weight cum penholder, a 4-in-1-color pen, a multi-function printer, a pen-pencil combo, a One-Point-Lesson (OPL), etc. are few other examples. Such 1-is-better ideas in action facilitate lean work culture and eliminate clutter (the visual noise) as well. Thereby they enable focussing on the task at hand. 

In general, the 1-is-better concept helps one to do more with less resources and less efforts and finish the work faster.

So isn't the Narendra Modi government's single form (administrative process) to incorporate business a most welcome step. In fact more the use of such One-Is-Better! themes better it is.

The 'easing' thereby reduces a lot of Waste as a result of eliminating 3D: Dirty-Danger-Difficult activities. In fact it improves performance also. India ranked 142 among 189 economies by the World Bank in 2015 is expected to improve its position to 50th in two years if such 'Ease of Doing Business' continues.

So let's be innovative to find more and more One-Is-Better! opportunities to improve whatever, whenever and wherever we can.

Footnotes:
1: Examples from the book "Visual Management through Five-S A Japanese Tool Of Kaizen" Author: Shyam Talawadekar

Also read a few relevant blog-posts hereunder: Please do consider sharing this post or sharing your initiatives on above lines in comment box.

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Would you like your purse to be transparent?

Answer from some people may be a Big-NO with exceptions of course. Reason is obvious if you look at the picture.

Anyway, transparent containers are usually preferred to opaque ones. Like for instance transparent glass bottles  usually used in a typical kitchen. They are also used in some industries like processed-foods, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Why do people prefer transparent containers?

Obviously because contents therein can  be easily seen even from a distance just by a single look. You may call this as a step towards look-free²-engineering in order to reduce number of glances or looks (as required in ergonomics) thereby reducing search-time.

In fact, making or rather more appropriately 'designing' a workplace¹ to be transparent (alongwith systematic arrangement of equipment therein) is a principle practised in Seiton-pillar of Five-S. It makes the workplace¹ search-free² as well. Five-S is a Kaizen-tool to make improvements proactively.

Is it so important?

Apart from making the workplace¹ look-free², search-free², etc. there is also a 'not-so-obvious' reason behind the practice of 'transparency' principle. 

Transparency makes abnormalities, if any, obvious and visible. Look at the purse again if you don't believe this. Had it been opaque, you couldn't have noticed 'defects' inside: Be it chaotic (lack of systematic) arrangement or a sharp object inside it causing injury to  finger or a leaky-pen messing up other items.

An opaque container on the other hand hides defects behind it. Imagine a stock-out situation resulting due to invisibility of say grain-stock attacked by pests inside it. Or imagine a situation when a  pendrive containing  important information couldn't be fetched just-in-time (JIT) when 'need'ed in spite of it being in the purse. 

Or imagine a loose connection inside an opaque computer-cabinet or in an opaque (closed) electrical control room the spark of which resulted in a devastating fire. Realizing this, leading businesses have already begun marketing transparent-cases of their offerings as a differentiating proposition.

So the later one i.e. to make 'defects visible' is more important subtle-reason of designing a workplace to be 'transparent' than the former one i.e. to improve 'visibility-of-contents' itself.

Ways-and-means to make a Gemba transparent

Ways-and-means could be many. Some are as follows.

1/ Use of a transparent glass or plastic (for a container or for a cabin partition or as an enclosure of a product).
2/ A simple daily-cleanup (of a desk or a house) like done in Seiri-pillar of Five-S by getting rid of items unused (lying idle) over a given time period.
3/ An advanced daily-cleanup like a mother bathing a child or a workplace practising Seiso-pillar of Five-S that exposes cracks, crevices, etc. as defects.
4/ Seiton-pillar of Five-S: A systematic arrangement of routinely used items, consumables, tools, tackles, etc. using space vertically (rather than spreading the items horizontally) so that more can be stored close to point-of-use in an arm's reach.
5/ A system-based method such as an RTI-Act to make governance visibly transparent and thereby to unearth corruption as 'defect' in governance

What is the learning?

Taking it a little ahead, making a Gemba transparent is the desired result. Choice of ways-and-means to do so lies with the user. However, there is 'no-choice' at all not-to-do-it.

Otherwise ensuing crises as a result of not doing it do force one to do it reactively though. History has enough proof of this and costly at that. Causes pushed under the carpet do boomerang (raise their heads) in the form of crises exactly when we don't want them! 

Look at the forced-cleanups as in (rape-fame Shakti-mills compound) picture that had to be undertaken reactively after experiencing costly-consequences.

"History never really says gogoodbye. History says, 'See you later'", as Eduard, Galeano, Uruguyan writer and historian, says unless of course you work on root causes. 

So better to 'Cleanup-Before-Crisis'! Better to be proactive!!

Footnote-1, Workplace is called as Gemba in Japanese language in the context of doing Gemba-Kaizen for workplace improvement-management.

Footnote-2, These are Free-Engineering concepts to make a workplace free of, say, a non-value-activity (waste) like searching or looking or unscrewing, walking, etc.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post via social media.

That's How Morons Work 
Functional-Aesthetics 
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
A Ride To Hell 
Make checklists your friends  
Drove To Hell ... Almost ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed 
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!  
Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so? 
How Many Times Do You Wash Hands 
What You See Isn't What's Made 
Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'?  
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

I received an apt message on whatsapp on the Independence-Day.

Loosely it means: You might have just celebrated Independence-Day and shined on the internet. You might have uploaded National-Flag on Facebook, g+, whatsapp, etc. But have you 'uploaded' it in your pocket if you spotted it 'downloaded' by someone on streets?

Thanks to the messenger Doctor Sagar.
It aroused poetry in me. Here goes the poem.

Some Moron ! Some Great !!! ...... (Click This to know what type of country do we live in and to read the poem)

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

Make checklists your friends

For some reason I wanted to close savings account operated by three-joint-holders; me,  my wife and my son based more than 500 kilometers away from us.

Bank officer checked our account and advised that all the three holders must sign an account-closing form. Accordingly, my son collected a blank form locally and couriered it to me. We signed it and went to submit it to the bank.

The bank officer says: You should have closed the fixed deposits linked with the account before closing the savings account.

How can you expect customer to know this technical procedure?

"I am sorry madam, but I should have told you about this", apologizes the officer.

Damage is already done: rework, delay, etc.
Real apology could have been the officer going beyond first-aid that of giving additional form in above case.

Why can't people use simple checklists associated with a given step in a process or a procedure such as (titled) 'Checklist items to check before closing a savings account' in above case.

But yes! This is what happened in a leading private sector bank in India. In fact, the technology they already had with them could have been harnessed to create a mistake-proof pop-up (as a Pokayoke Kaizen as in Japanese-Management or rather The Toyota-Way to work). It should have reminded the user to 'check' the items in-lieu of the manual 'checklist' as above.

Why do people over-depend on their memory? Why can't they reserve it as a ram (in computer) for processing rather than to memorize?

Same was the case in a leading telephone company. The customer attendant asked me to wait because he didn't know exact details of the 'plan on offer'.

After 10-minutes waiting, a spiky-hair-styled man walked in, 'smelling' cigarette as he explained the plan without even looking at computer or a paper. "Leaflet stock-out" was the reply when asked.

He was touted as a 'memory-freak'. Perhaps he too seemed to enjoy it taking it as a pride.
A false pride seemed to got nurtured by himself or by people surrounding him at home or at work.

While writing this blogpost, a service mechanic from the above telephone company enters my home with 'smelling socks'. Had the smell been little stronger, I would have vomited if not fainted.

An excellent company would keep and train their visiting staff on a 'Do-Don't Checklist such as follows:

Before entering Indian homes 

Don't gate-crash. Take appointment and be on time (not in-time). 
Press door bell just once. Don't keep it pressed too long. 
Gently knock the door if bell is non-functional. Don't hammer it impatiently (treating it like a nail). 
Wear identity card and show it. 

Remove shoes. Remove smelling socks. 

Greet before entering.
Don't keep your bags, tools, etc. on furniture.
Take permission before sitting on sofa.

Actively and completely listen to customer complaints. 
Check if job is completed to the customer's satisfaction.

I would like to add visual-aids in support of checklists wherever possible & in particular in support of the last point above.

Visual-aids such as in picture depict certain principles that can be practised to benefit in various situations. A typical visual-aid might contain a sketch sequencing a job to be done in order to prevent forgetfulness or might color-code wires to be connected in order to prevent wrong connections or might provide PEEP slots in a frequent-travelers bag, etc.

When there is a Place-(SLOT)-for-Everything and if Everything-is-(NOT)-in-Place (PEEP), the empty SLOT, if any, reminds user of the 'missing things'. This idea is a part of Five-S (Seiton) practice for continual improvement.

At individual level, a person with a passion to excel (and wishing not to regret the result of forgetfulness later) would keep an individualized 'Do-Don't Checklist & visual-aids' on him as and when needed, be it while going to the market or while going to work or play. He does this although others may consider this as an idiosyncratic practice.

At individual level, a person with a passion to excel (and wishing not to regret the result of forgetfulness later) would keep an individualized 'Do-Don't Checklist on him as and when needed, be it while going to the market or while going to work or play.

Like an enemy, memory behaves funny exactly when you are in need 

Like a friend-in-need, checklists make you productive indeed

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-1)

Aesthetics Spills-Over Function, Want Spills-Over Need (Part-2)

Should one care for value? 

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

What You See Isn't What's Made

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Wish To Be Planet-Friendly?: Save! 

Less With More And More Gets Sore

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

That's How Morons Work

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 

How To Make A Difference 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings