Gemba Walk: Placing Yourself in the Process - New York Business Process Professionals Meetup
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- The Gemba walk teaches us to observe processes in the actual place they occur to fully understand all the details, as people often forget or bias details when explaining processes. - Even when not in the actual place, it is important to train our imagination to visualize ourselves performing the process to validate our understanding is comprehensive. - Physical continuity is key to understanding a process fully, and the Gemba walk helps develop skills to reproduce this understanding remotely through questioning.
Gemba Walk: Placing Yourself in the Process - New York Business Process Professionals Meetup
- 1. Gemba Walk: Placing Yourself in the Process NYBPP Meetup (10/11)
- 2. Agenda I. The Gemba Walk – We Know Not What We Do – Gemba Defined – Imagine the Process - Use your Senses – Physical Continuity in Process Capture II. Q&A – Is it always better to be in the actual place? – Can you do a Gemba walk with non-physical services such as banking or consulting? – Is understanding the Gemba walk useful if you can’t be there in person?
- 3. Gemba Walk: Placing Yourself in the Process Meetup Highlights There is only what is, and the only way one can reliably understand what that might be is to go there and see it
- 4. We Know Not What We Do •The majority of process analysis happens to recurring, operations processes, because this is where optimization will result in greater cost savings. •When line workers execute repetitive processes, however, they automate many steps in their mind and often have trouble recalling the details, even if it is their only responsibility! •Also, they tend to selectively weigh different parts of the process as more important than others. This adds individual bias to the way they relay process information. .
- 5. •Gemba: Japanese term meaning “actual place” or where value- adding activities take place. Being in the place and watching a process happen ensures that all the information is there in front of you. •Gemba Walk:means “go to the place, look at the process, talk with people!” Gemba Defined 5
- 6. •Never take action based upon reports only! •Always “go see” the worksite to know the real problem •Make frequent trips to worksite without a specific problem Remember Gemba - “Go See” Office Worksite Go & See !!! ? 6
- 7. Imagine the Process - Use your Senses Being in the place where things are actually happening is the best way to practice capturing the entire process. This way, even when subject matter experts can’t remember to articulate everything, you can fill in the gaps with careful observation.
- 8. Imagine the Process - Use your Senses ● However, whether you are in the place or not, you must still be diligent to make sure everything is being explained or captured in the way it is actually done - being there makes it EASIER, but not a sure thing. ● Remember that the act of observing or interviewing someone (especially as they do the work) changes the environment and makes it less likely that the process is being captured accurately. ● The best way to ensure all the details are being captured is to imagine yourself in the process as it is explained to you. ● Whether in the actual place or not, you must imagine that the process is being done by you as it is explained to you - if you can imagine yourself doing everything without issue, then you know the capture is comprehensive.
- 9. Physical Continuity in Process Capture ● Ultimately, it is physical continuity that keeps a process capture accurate and is the root lesson meant to be taught by the Gemba walk. All processes are happening in physical space and time, and a person is involved to complete the process. ● Learning to imagine the physical continuity sense of a process story, and asking questions when this is unclear, is the key to being a good process engineer. ● This can be learned more easily through the Gemba walk, but eventually this line of thinking, questioning, and experiencing process can be executed almost as effectively as a remote exercise.
- 10. Summary •People often forget the details of what they do the more they do something. Details are glazed over or biased when trying to explain the process being executed. •Gemba means “actual place.” The “Gemba Walk” teaches us to capture process at the actual place that it occurs. Go the the place where process happens and observe how it happens there. •Even when in the actual place, it is important to train our imaginations to put ourselves in the process performing the work to validate whether the process information is cohesive, comprehensive, and generally makes sense. •Physical continuity is what makes a process complete when being relayed through communication. Once one understands the Gemba Walk, and what a complete process capture feels like, it can be reproduced remotely through consistent and disciplined questioning.
- 11. Q&A Answering questions from the Meetup
- 12. Is it always better to be in the actual place? It depends on what “better” means in the business context. ● If we’re talking about increasing the accuracy of process capture - then yes, it will always be the most effective place to observe and capture a process. ● If “better” means efficient or cost effective, it might not always be better to expect to be in the actual place if process capture needs are spread over a large geography, or so numerous that it might slow down the project to always be in the actual place to do the work. ● As always, business objectives should be weighed in a benefits vs cost model.
- 13. Can you do a Gemba walk with non-physical services such as banking or consulting? Yes, you sure can! ● If people are part of the process (as they most often are) then work happens in a physical place where you can go and observe it happening. Sometimes this might mean simply sitting in someone’s cube watching them type, making calls, etc. ● People tend to remember better the details of what they do when they are in the actual place that work occurs, even if that is an abstract activity such as entering data into fields or applying their brain value to a service product.
- 14. Is understanding the Gemba walk useful if you can’t be there in person? Yes - absolutely. ● Doing the Gemba walk is the easiest way to learn how to effectively capture the entire process. The exercise is meant to teach us the gap between having the process reported to us, versus seeing it done at the source. ● If one can understand the total elements of what goes into a process, and can intuitively grasp gaps in what is being reported through conversation, one can then transfer that knowledge and into capturing process effectively through remote conversations.
- 15. THANK YOU FOR COMING! •Thank you so much for coming to our meetup – we hope to see you again in future sessions and please don’t hesitate to post additional questions on the group discussion board. NYBPP Meetup •Also, join our Facebook Group! https://NYBPP Meetup Facebook Group