Risk Analysis in Process Design

Any good process improvement project, will have a slide with the before & after process map. The "before" process map depicts the process as-is, ideally at the project/initiative kick-off. The "after" process map shows the future state of the new, improved process. The hypothesis here is that the new, improved process, if implemented, will result in waste-elimination, reduced cycle-time, higher efficiency, increased output etc. depending on the scope of project.

Now, when the project leader, who is usually the Black Belt or Master Black Belt, presents this proposed process to either the leadership team, champion, or key stakeholders to get their buy-in, one question is usually asked.

"What are the risks involved with this new process? What can we potentially miss if we implement this process? What will fall apart if we stop following the current process?"

In my opinion, a very simple tool can be used to address these valid concerns. I call it Risk-Opportunity chart. I am not sure if it is a part of the standard Lean/Six-Sigma tool-set, but found it to be very useful. In the form of a classic four-blocker, this tool provides an excellent visual of not only the risks involved, but the opportunities associated along with. Remember that with every risk, comes an opportunity.

The Risk-Opportunity matrix will look like this. This is definitely a team-based tool. The Black Belt or project leader will facilitate this tool with the project team members, consisting of the process-owner and key experts of current process.

Steps:

1. Assemble the team in a room. Post the "before" and "after" process maps posted on a side-wall (on flip charts). Draw the four-blocker on a flip-chart.

2. Start going over the "after" process map step by step while asking the question: what are the potential risks involved here? You may refer to the "before" process-map whenever needed. (Having a high-level SIPOC of current process will immensely help)

3. Quantify every risk as Low or High per team consensus. For every risk, ask what is the associated opportunity. Quantify the opportunity as Low or High per team consensus.

4. Write the risk/opportunity pair in appropriate block of the four-blocker.

After finishing the data-collection, chart a strategy to address these risks involved in the priority shown as 1-2-3-4 . This tool will greatly enhance your understanding of the new process and its potential impact on other processes as well. Also, the visual created will come as a handy tool to communicate the analysis to others.

Let me know if you have questions or feedback regarding this.

Process-Mapping on YouTube

Sometimes, the wealth of real knowledge freely available on WWW just amazes me. It just depends on us, how we choose to spend our time and utilize the power of Web 2.0 in enhancing our knowledge base and honing our skill-set. For instance check this video on "Process-Mapping in Lean Six Sigma". Gone are those days, when companies had to higher highly paid consultants to train their work-force in process improvement tools, when the good quality stuff is available online...free. However, it does a lot of motivation and focus to do such things online. Maybe that's why the classroom training still exists. Anyway, enjoy the video:

Think Process!!! ....But how?

In those rare cases, where an explanation of Process & Process Management (per my previous post) is able to generate the other person's interest, the conversation usually goes this way:

Him: "Interesting! So, you are a process improvement professional."
Me" "Yeah! sounds like fun ..isn't it?"
Him: "Maybe for yourself..... So, tell me one thing.."
Me: "Sure"
Him: "What is your general approach when you are doing problem-solving and/or process-improvement?"
Me: " Well...The mantra of success is always: Think Process!. One has to develop his process-based thinking and the ability to visualize a process, no matter how complicated the problem is."
Him:"Hmmm.....but how do you do that?"
Me: "Well, maybe it just comes naturally...or ...aaaannn...I don't know. Seriously!"

This conversation sent me through the thinking path: How do you develop the process based thinking? And the answer came in the form of a SIPOC, an acronym for Supplier, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers. In Six-Sigma DMAIC roadmap, SIPOC analysis is used the Define phase to map the high-level process and the relationships among suppliers, process, & customer via respective inputs & outputs. A quick search over Google brought this excellent link on SIPOC Analysis and the steps needed to perform one. A typical SIPOC diagram for a project looks like this:

Now coming back to the point, how does SIPOC help to generate process based thinking? Whenever you are trying to understand a problem symptoms, try to identify what is the main process involved here and what are it's inputs and outputs. Next, think about who is supplying the inputs and how can they impact the quality (in either positive or negative way) of the process and it's outputs. Next, identify the outputs and whom and what they impact, i.e. the customers or other processes. Let me give a simple example:

Say, one fine morning, your coffee doesn't taste good, or rather let's say it tastes real bad. Now the Process here is coffee-making. The equipment used is the coffee-maker and the process parameters are temperature, length of time for brewing, etc. The Inputs of the process are coffee beans, and water (and sugar, creamer, etc.). Suppliers are coffee-bean company, & water supply (or bottled water company). Output is off-course the coffee (which is of bad quality) and the Customer is the coffee-drinker (in this case, is yourself).

I agree that this is a very simple example compared to the processes we deal with in a business or organization, but the idea is that one's thought process has to be aligned in a SIPOC way. This will help you a lot in ....guess what...."thinking process".

Process Management

For last few days, I have been thinking that what should be the first post on this redesigned blog. And after some thought, I decided to post on the concept of "Process Management". Time and again, people ask me what do I do? Merely saying that I am a "Six Sigma Black Belt" actually doesn't help much. It is usually followed by a "What do you actually do?" look. Then I try to explain my job further by talking about quality, continuous improvement, and process management. So, what exactly is process management? What is a process? What is process improvement?

Based on my experiential learning, I have made a visual to explain these terms and their inter-relationships. And now I will try to explain them.

Process: A series of steps, or tasks which add value to their inputs and result in an output. An input can be in the form of information or a physical material. Similarly, the output of a process can be in the form of a material, product, or information.

Process Improvement: It includes a series of tasks with the sole objective of improving the process. The improvement can be in terms of improving the quality of the output, increasing the efficiency of the process, or reducing the operating cost of the process itself. The data generated from process-monitoring and the feedback on the output need to be analyzed properly to identify the improvements needed in the process, or in the process-monitoring to get a better picture of the process. The last but not the least is the execution of those improvements leading to process management.

Process Management: Process Management means the ability to manage processes efficiently and improving them continuously. It encompasses an expertise in utilizing the tools-set of Six-Sigma, Lean, Project Management, Systems Thinking etc., the art of devising right strategy, and the ability to drive change in the system & among the people. It is the efficient process management which results in a sustainable change/improvement in the process.

Now, processes exists at each and every layer in the hierarchy of an organization. Those at the high level are termed as business processed, while the ones in the subsequent layers are called functional processes. And never forget that no matter what your process is, it needs to be improved!