It’s Not a People Problem It’s a Plumbing Problem

AACE 2016

What the heck are we going to be talking about?

Who the heck is this guy?

What our answering services should say

Audio Clip

Exercise

The purpose of the exercise

• Strictly for our enjoyment

• It is to get you to think outside of the box

• Broaden your focus

Class Objectives • How to identify where and why pipes get clogged and

kinked in your organization.

• Strategies to build capacity and straighten the pipes in your organization.

• How to implement a new innovative way of thinking about capacity and how we deliver service.

Don’t worry. It’s not rocket science

Two concepts of time WORK TIME: The amount of time in a process where work (labor) is actually occurring.

ELAPSED TIME: The total amount of time a process takes, from the customers’ perspective

Elapsed time – Work Time = Idle Time

Work Time Idle Time

Elapsed Time

Idle Time Work Time Idle Time Work Time Idle Time Work Time Idle Time

Elapsed Time

Why Only 80 Percent?

It comes down to return on effort!

80% is doable.

Even 75%, 50%, 25% still vastly improves your agency’s capacity.

We can improve our performance by 80%

What do we mean by “Systems”?

Four elements of systems

Purpose: the results or desired outcomes of the system. Why it exists? Why do we do it?

Deliverable: the “thing” that is produced by the system. It is that which will pop out at the end of the process, that which is delivered to the customer/user. The deliverable is what we do.

Customer/user: the person or people who will use the deliverable of the system. It’s by their using the deliverable that the system achieves its purpose. They are who we do it for or who we do it to.

Process: how the deliverable is produced. It includes the policies, procedures, methods, tools, technologies, and of course, people. This is where the work occurs. It’s how we do it.

How to Improve Systems

1. Ensure you are in the right business.

2. Understand the customers and their needs.

3. Improve the process.

Fallacies

1. Get better people.

2. Motivate the people you have.

3. Outsource.

4. Hold them accountable.

5. Pay for performance will fix it.

Survey says • I believe I am making a difference.

• I can see the impact of my work.

• I feel challenged.

• I am learning a new skill.

• I work with great people to achieve something impossible.

• I helped someone

What doesn’t show up is: I make a lot of money or got a bonus

Video

The biggest evil culprit

CYA

Strategies to build capacity and straighten pipes

Process Steps

Batching

Triage

Simultaneous Processing

Bottlenecks

Eliminate Backlog

Strategy 1 – Triage

What is Triage?

Most pipes in government are of the one-size-fits-all variety. We have one long, twisted pipe, and we make every customer travel through it. One of the most powerful strategies for speeding the flow is to actually create more pipes – that is, give customers other pathways they can travel.

Real world examples

Hospitals – Someone that is admitted to the hospital with a heart attach doesn’t wait behind someone with a broken arm.

Starbucks vs Caribou Coffee

Strategy 1 – Triage

Types of customers

• Self-Serve Customer: Knows the process, needs minimal assistance

• Intensive Care Customer: Knows nothing, needs help through the entire process

• Moderates: Needs some help to get through the process

Each type of customer could use a different pipe

Most of the time we send everyone down the same pipe

Strategy 1 – Triage

Examples:

• Rental inspections: Instead of inspecting all, create some sort of self-certification (with oversight), based

upon age, condition, previous infractions

• Flagstaff ice rink

• Building Inspections counter. You have builders that know what they are doing as much as your

employee. They just need to get in and get the permit that they need. Then you have the first time do it

yourselfers that take a lot of time and help. Do you make the builder that knows what they are doing

stand in line to wait while you take a lot of time on the first timer?

Exercise – Talk about where Triage could be used.

Strategy 2 – Simultaneous Processing

What is Simultaneous Processing?

Simultaneous Processing is simply running something through the process in multiple channels instead of going down one pipe.

Real world examples

Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition – They build a house in 7 days instead of months

George Foreman Grill – Hamburgers take grilling on each side. Foreman cooks both sides at the same time and cuts cooking time in half.

Simultaneous Processing

Strategy 2 – Simultaneous Processing

Types of Simultaneous Processes

• Electronic submissions where multiple work areas have access.

• Submittal process where multiple work areas work on the application at the same time (Flagstaff plans room).

• Child Welfare Placement.

Exercise – Take 5 minutes to talk in your group of items in your workplace where

Simultaneous Processing could be used.

Strategy 3 – Bottlenecks

What are Bottlenecks?

Bottlenecks are those areas in the pipe that are thinner than the other sections. The segments before and after the bottleneck are wider and have more capacity than the bottlenecks. This is where the whole process slows down.

How to find bottlenecks?

In front of every bottleneck there is usually a pile. It can be physical (stacks of paper, rows of file cabinets, overflowing inboxes) or virtual (a pending file, a queuing system, a workflow management system), or where people are waiting for something to happen.

Bottlenecks

Strategy 3 – Bottlenecks

Types of Bottlenecks

Waiting for signature

Waiting for data entry

Waiting for review

Needs a specialist

Exercise – Talk about where you have bottlenecks.

Strategy 4 – Batching

What is Batching?

A group of jobs that are submitted for processing and whose results are obtained at a later time.

Batching

Strategy 4 – Batching

What causes Batching?

CYA

Strategy 4 – Batching

Examples:

• The board meets once a month.

• Payments are only processed on Tuesdays.

• Deposits are posted at 3 p.m.

• We wait for 25 applications to be collected before sending them to the hiring manager.

• Work orders or Cases are assigned once a day.

• Super Shuttle

• Airline peanuts and drinks

Exercise – Talk about where you might find batching in your organization.

Strategy 5 – Eliminate Backlog

What is Backlog?

We all face backlog. It can be because we don’t have enough employees, to many people come in to the counter at one time.

Types of Backlog

Historic – We’ve always been behind.

Growing – More work is coming in.

Seasonal – For Code Enforcement, summer is not the time to plan new implementation, training, conferences, etc.

Strategy 5 – Eliminate Backlog

Real world examples

McDonalds – Does anyone know what happens when someone sees a bus pull in to the parking lot?

The first person that sees it yells “BUS”. Cooks start putting commonly ordered items on the fryer, fries get put in the deep fat fryer, managers come out of their office, staff that is cleaning or doing other tasks stop and take up other duties.

Strategy 5 – Eliminate Backlog

Examples:

Cross Train.

Have a system in place for when a rush comes in.

Colorado snow removal uses vehicles and staff from other departments.

Hire temps, pay overtime.

Arvada will cross train Code Compliance Officers to do simple building inspections.

Poke Yoke (Poh-kah Yoh-Kay)

A Japanese term commonly translated as “mistake-proof” or “idiot-proof”.

Real world examples

Cars that don’t let you lock your keys inside

Bathroom sinks and tubs that won’t let you overflow

Automatic shut-off on irons

Gas caps that have tethers

Chipotle trash receptacles so you can’t throw away trays

Video

Poke Yoke in simple form

Poke Yoke in simple form

Poke Yoke in simple form

Poke Yoke (Poh-kah Yoh-Kay)

Government tends to follow the Chipotle model

• We discover a problem

• We create a policy

• We communicate the policy

• We communicate it again and again, and louder and louder

• We conduct training that nobody attends

No policies or campaigns or trainings will change what people do.

Make the hole smaller

Rather than try to change everyone else, Change you

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