Tag Archives: quality

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Which comes first

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I often run into people seeking answers.  My counsel to them is unlike the popular game show, Jeopardy, it does not make sense to start with the answer.

The answers we seek cannot be uncovered without a clear understanding of the question.  That is where to begin.  Spending time and effort seeking to find answers is a much more efficient process if it is focused.

Clarity of Purpose

Taking the time to fully understand the question is an effort well worth undertaking.  It helps us avoid responses that are not really relevant to what we seek, but appear to be.

Sometimes digging into what the question really is can provide answers.  For example, consider the simple question “Why is the sky blue”.

Are we really trying to determine the reason for the sky’s color or is it what the sky is composed of (which results in blue color) the answer we seek.

Or do we want to understand why the region starting from land and reaching outer space exists, that is what is the purpose of the sky and why does it exist and do we need it, can we use it for something?

Solid Foundation

Research into a topic is best conducted when the object of the research is well defined.  This process of determining what we are actually trying to answer, that is creating the question is not only a critical beginning but also time-consuming.

The value equation, spending time up front to think through and clarify the question more often than not results in clear and high-quality answers.

Without understanding the question we really cannot arrive at an answer.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Making it Better

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Post-secondary education in Alberta is heavily reliant on government funding.  The current provincial government has studied funding levels in other Canadian jurisdictions and concluded the public cost of post-secondary education in Alberta is too high.

The conclusion is supported by the cost analysis of selected universities and colleges across Canada.   The result is a significant reduction in Alberta government financial support of post-secondary institutions.

Accept and Resolve

Resistance to the cuts, while a natural reaction is both probably futile but also the question arises, “Is it the best approach?”  Perhaps reducing costs could lead to greater efficiency and quality.

There is undoubtedly a human cost mostly due to a reduction in well-compensated jobs with a good personal work-life balance.   This job reduction does not need to reduce the quality or effectiveness of education services.

In reality, the layers which develop in large organizations over time often result in a costly bureaucracy that is both less efficient and produces lower quality than a more streamlined organization.

More with Less

Efficiency experts, largely now termed business process analysts have for years demonstrated the principle of better results from eliminating a bloated cost base of human resources.

Doing fewer things does not equate to poorer results.  I have personally experienced this truth on numerous occasions.

Initially,  I was extremely skeptical but over time, my own observations have led to the conclusion expense reductions often do lead to improved quality of operations and surprisingly increased revenue.

Spending Gets Results (Not Always)

Spending is necessary to achieve results.  People need to be fairly paid for their efforts.  However, more people and more cost will often reduce effectiveness and quality, the right balance is critical, more does not automatically equal better.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Continuous Improvement

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Doing better continuously should not be treated as a mandate, challenge, or chore but rather a lifestyle choice.  Like the Beatles sang so long ago “ It’s getting better all the time”.

We all have an opportunity to improve both our own and others situations through first recognizing ways to making things better and secondly acting on those observations.

Ongoing

The key to practicing ongoing improvement is a belief everything can be enhanced.  Resting on the laurels of it is good enough or it works so leave it alone can stall this practice.

The associated core value which underlies the process of continuous improvement is “We believe in better”.  This is without qualification.  Everything could be raised to a level higher quality, more efficient, bring more pleasure.  This never stops.

The history of human kind on the planet earth is an ongoing and  persistent example of continuous improvement.

There may be stumbles along the way and of course sometimes our better ways do have negative side effects, on the whole however, our lives our longer and easier than those of our predecesors.

Seize the Moment

When we have the chance to make a change for the better , there is little reason to hesitate.  We may not succeed with every attempt we make but if we don’t make the attempt it is unlikely improvement will ever occur.

Working to make things better all the time does require effort on our part, but the results easily justify the expenditure.  Simply put, better is best.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Decision Analysis and Resolution

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Reaching a conclusion or resolution to an outstanding question or issue appears to be a straightforward process. Basically determine the options, and select the one with the best value.

Unfortunately maintaining objectivity, particularly if input is sought from a number of stakeholders, is not always that simple. Opinions and subjective assessment creep in.

Follow a Process

The purpose of a formal decision analysis and resolution process is to enable analysis of possible decisions using a formal evaluation process that evaluates identified alternatives against established criteria.

This practice promotes objectivity over subjective assessment.  Also by definition it must include tracking how the decision evolved. This allows for post decision improvements..

That is, if something unexpected or undesirable becomes apparent after the recommended solutuion is implemented, the analysis process can be backtracked and improved for future decisions.

This continuous improvement aspect of the process is a critical underpinning of the overall practice.  Being able to continuously improve the quality of solutions, over time, has obvious benefits.

Justification

Documenting why a choice was made also motivates all involved to be more careful in their judgement.  After all, post decision, a look back is possible and logic flaws could be embarrassing for those that were responsible.

This highlights the need for strong and solid justification of the solutions elected.  Impacted stakeholders often take more care with their input.

Use as Needed

While a formal decison analysis practice will improve quality of choices over time, following well defined steps can sometimes be more effort than it is worth. 

Choose critical decisions with far reaching impacts when following a formal practice.  For day to day, do this – do that decisions it often is not practical, nor necessary to follow a full blown process.

 

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

How do I know?

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I have found a very useful quality check hinges on the answer to a single query.  The question can be applied to a product, service or process.

First, identify the outcome.  For example, if building airplanes, one outcome might be the plane can fly to its destination without mishap.

Question then Validate

The questions become things like.  How do we make sure this plane can fly the expected distance?  How do we make sure things don’t break in flight?

The plan to test the answers to the questions and make sure they are correct represents validation.

This simple process of repeatedly answering the question, (i.e.., how, ………….? ) while not infallible is a very valuable technique to determining quality, efficiency and effectiveness.

High Quality Outcomes

This simple questioning process is a great way to ensure outcomes will be what you expect (proactive) and then are what you expect (reative).

Asking the “ how do I know …..?” question reduces risk and increases predictability.  Based on the answers we can be condident that the process,service and ultimately the products will be consistent, reaptable and issues or deliberate attacks will be identified and can be avoided or at least mitigated.

Objective Measure

How do I know this blog is readable?  I use automated grammar and spell check tools.  I read the post at least three times before publishing.  I use feedback to improve quality of future posts.

My list actually goes on.  The point is, I am able to consistently produce a high quality post because I am always validating the outcomes using the how do I know questions.

How do I know the topic is interesting?  Hmmm.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Achieving clearly understood, cost effective, quality products and services

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Many distain process and governance as bureaucratic practices which have more cons associated with them then pros.  This could not be farther from reality.  It is very dependent on your perspective.

Organizations, even households have a common generic objective.  That is to provide clarity to all stakeholders  (e.g., employees, volunteers or family members) so outcomes are cost effective and high quality.

Processes are:

Through the practice of simple, repeatable, well communicated and easily understood steps, the results will be consistent (repeatable), and assuming the practices are designed to be easy (cost effective) and of course the activities are formulated to ensure the highest quality.

The combination of executing  multiple practices or steps becomes the process.  By following a process everyone is clear on what to do, or what they get or how to get it.

The outcomes ( product of the process) are therefore never a surprise and since, clarity is practiced throughout, problems which may arise are identified early on and so can be resolved before they become too impactful.

In the Real World

MacDonalds operates a hugely successful restaurant business.  Their success is soundly based on consistent, repeatable, clearly communicated and understood processes.

When you go to MacDonalds you know upfront what you can get (consistently every time, anywhere in the world) when, how and at a low cost.

The companies sales and ongoing longevity are pretty good indicators that their seemless execution of well defined processes works.

So if you think process is a bad word, if you have visions of bureaucratic slowness and wasted effort on unnecessary tasks, get over it, processes are a powerful way to guarantee you can reach the  objective.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Do organization structures matter?

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After an almost 40 year career at various Corporate, Crown Corporation and Public Institutions I have come to the conclusion that organization structures really matter and fact can be the difference between high quality outputs (product, service) provided efficiently (time frames and cost).

A Model to Consider

Years ago I worked with an organizational psychologist.  I was fortunate to be exposed to his theories about companies structures.  There are many of these theories, however, those of Elliot Jaques really resonated with me.

Organizations consist of layers of complexity.  Let’s call these strata and number them.  The lowest number the most simple and the highest most complex.  So S1 (strata 1) is junior and say S5 would be much more senior.

In order to keep the model simple and effective we determine which strata of the organization you reside in, based on the time it takes to do your longest task and the complexity associated with that task.  Complexity ranges from do this/do that to do this, consider that, if this happens then possibly that etc.  Basically complexity is related to the information tree associated with making a decision and completing the task.

How about and Example

Take a bank.  A teller’s longest task is weekly balancing.  The decision tree is simple, count this cash, make a deposit.  Check the end of day balance and confirm it is correct.  Fairly straight forward.  So this role would be a S1.

The head teller’s longest task is scheduling the tellers over a month and the decision complexity a little higher.  What will the line up be at noon, should I schedule more tellers, if the commercial customers come in a ten in the morning I should have three tellers on duty but what if they come in at eleven. This role could be a S2.

You can following this process up the strata’s from supervisor to manager to director, vice-president, senior vice president, etc.  Regardless of the specific title the actual work can be mapped to an applicable level.

Note:  This model is not predicated on titles (although I have referenced those above, the key to this model is to determine each strata based on the work being completed by the role (longest job and complexity), not the title.

Using the model to improve organization structure.

Like the basic definition of the model using it to improve quality of organizational output and overall efficiency is very simple.

  • When people at the same level report to each other you get compression.  That is someone whose work fits the S3 criteria reporting to someone else whose work also fits the S3 criteria.  Typically these two individuals will both be frustrated, not feeling comfortable in their roles and this effects their work.
  • When a person at one level reports to another 2 levels or higher you get a gap (i.e, an S1 reporting to an S3)  This gap results in a deficiency in the level of support the lower level role is receiving and work quality is impacted negatively.

The fix is to identify gaps and compression within your organization structure by reviewing the work done by each role (e.g., tellers, head tellers, customer service representatives, assistant managers, deposit analysts and so on for whatever roles exist in the Corporate or Institutional area).

Then simply validate the reporting relationships and re-organize to eliminated any gaps or compression identified (i.e., add or eliminate roles and reporting lines as needed).

Voila, your organizations performance will improve within six months.