I have always been bothered by this phrase, which has sometimes been used to refer to the workflow loop developed by Business Design Associates (© 1995).  This picture shows a sequence of speech acts (Request, Promise, Declare Complete, and Declare Satisfaction) which constitute the making and keeping of a promise.  What is wrong with calling this the physics of coordination?

Physics is a science.  It is a body of discoveries about the natural world and a set of laws which organize these observations into a theory.  Science is a procedure for establishing the truth about the world.

I am working with a 7-year old girl at Aikido and teaching her how to do forward rolls.  She looks around at the others, who are all practicing the technique that the instructor has demonstrated.  She says to me, “How do they know what to do?”  I misunderstand her question.  I say, “because the teacher showed them.”  She says, “I have been here three times.  They have been here five times or more.  That is how they know.”  She saw that they had learned by being there in the class and practicing.  She said, “I am seven.  I can do this.”  She tried another forward roll. 

Makes it all worthwhile.

My high school math teacher, Frank Allen, used to say, “The obvious is usually hard to prove and often wrong.”   What I have learned since then is that what is obvious to me is often not obvious to another observer and vice versa. 

What does this insight have to do with lean?  One of the principles of lean is respect for people.  We no longer assume that the manager or the designated expert always knows the best way to do everything.  Each each observer has a unique and valuable point of view.  We need everyone’s participation to find the solution to a problem or a plan that will work.  It’s good news that you don’t see what I see, because that means I don’t see what you see, and you can save me from my blindness. 

My parents’ dining room table has a broken leg.  We need to solve the problem before Thanksgiving.  Here are the alternatives we initially see:  

1)      Use the table as is and hope that Thanksgiving dinner does not suddenly slide onto someone’s lap.
2)      Take the table into the basement, repair it there, and bring it back up to the dining room.
3)      Replace the table temporarily with a borrowed table.

We reject alternative 1) since we have invited guests and we don’t want to embarrass ourselves.

I came home from the Lean Construction Institute congress inspired and rejuvenated.  I brought back a new eye for my work and my work space.  I suddenly realized that I was drowning in paper. 

I come from an era before personal computers when people kept files.  As computers became a bigger and bigger part of my work life, I kept on maintaining those files out of habit.  Sure, at some point I threw away all those utility bills and paycheck stubs, but I still had the viewgraphs of all my important presentations, printouts of important documents I had prepared for clients, and file folders full of seminal articles and papers that I was keeping … for what?  For the next time I gave a presentation?  No, it will be on a thumb drive and be projected directly from the computer.  For reference next time I needed an example?  No, they’re on my hard drive and in the company file system.  To hand to the next new person as I train them?  No, that’s what the Internet is for, to save things for us so we don’t have to.

I call it the American disease.  The person who has it the worst is always the person driving behind me on the road, except when I’m the one following a driver who is obviously lost and dreaming.

How does impatience affect our approach to learning Lean?  We become immediately discouraged when we find out that it will take more than 5 minutes to implement.  We don’t want to take the time to plan.  Doing is good, talking is bad, planning is talking, therefore, planning is a waste of time.  With this kind of attitude, lean will never happen.

I was going to blog about trust today, but I must pause.  We think that trust has to do with keeping our promises, but it is much more than that.  Can we listen to bad news or negative assessments without being triggered to blame or defend?  Are we safe to talk to?  Can we build another level of trust?

I hate software.  I have had too many bad experiences.  I find it hard to make it do what I want.  There is never a reference manual or a human being available to answer a question.  Whenever I have to install new software, I assume that something will go wrong and that my machine will be cratered.  When someone asks me to evaluate a new product, I assume it will not work right and make my job harder or impossible.

So, when my colleagues asked me to attend a webinar about a new piece of software that could make it easier to facilitate and document our planning meetings, I approached the event with my usual positive attitude. 

In the discourse of lean, there has been much discussion of value from the point of view of the customer.  We have come to the realization that it is important not just to produce something, but to produce something that somebody else wants and is satisfied by.  In these discussions, we focus on the customer, but we tend to overlook that the provider wants to receive value out of the transaction as well. 

Last Sunday, I toured the Robie House in Chicago, designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Viewed from the outside, the structure is harmonius and inviting.  Viewed from the inside, the living areas are almost magically beautiful, private yet open to the vistas outside.  The concerns of the architect are expressed in every aspect of the building from the unified design motifs of the light fixtures, windows, and carpeting to the presence of hearths and absence of storage areas, which structurally embody his views about lifestyles. 

So it was finally time to do it, to put together everything I had learned about making requests.  I was having my house painted.  Yes, it’s a brick house, but the paint on the window frames has been peeling for years.  I knew exactly what I wanted.  I had the name of the color of the old paint – English Ivory.  I went to the gemba, I walked around the whole house.  I counted the number of windows – 48, including the two that had been boarded over during a previous renovation.  I noticed that there were not only windows, but three doors, the supports under the back porch, the cornice on the top, the downspouts, and the eaves that needed paint.  I wanted every storm window taken off and the inside window frames painted.  I was ready to make the perfect request.

The painter suggested a different color, more modern, prettier, premixed, Montgomery White.  I said OK.  He also suggested that we take out the storm windows from the inside and leave the frames on.  This approach sounded safer, so I said OK to this, too.  I got the estimate and showed it to my brother.  He said, “but I don’t want people coming into my apartment and taking out the windows.”  So I got a new estimate, to take my windows off and leave his on.  Now we were ready for the perfect project execution.