The basic concept of Toyota and gained traction in the … · 2018-10-12 · JIDOKA translates to ‘automation with a human touch.’ Your techs are the human touch, but with great

The basic concept of Lean was popularized by Toyota and gained traction in the manufacturing environment The lean concept has since been adapted for services industries And now for the MSP In this book you will learn the core concepts of Lean so that you can apply them to your business and start to see the benefits of lean philosophy - efficient processes perfect execution better margins and higher profits

C O R E C O N C E P T S O F L E A N

Waste Identification (The 8 Wastes)

Waste Reduction

Continuous Improvement

T E C H C O M PA N I E S

T H AT U S E L E A N

Get in touch with IT Glue bull +1-844-235-4583 bull itgluecom

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Lean philosophy is built around the concept of eliminating errors and waste There are three critical concepts commonly known by their Japanese names - muda (ldquowasterdquo) mura (ldquounevennessrdquo) and muri (ldquoover-burdenrdquo) In this book wersquove specifically conceptualizedthese ideas for the MSP


Mistakes are sources of waste

E V E RY E R R O R M A D E I S WA S T E D

T I M E A N D M O N E Y

In the managed service business mistakes also lead to dissatisfied customers and more tickets A dissatisfied customer is less likely to recommend you And more tickets are well more tickets

The good news is that there are a lot of ways to eliminate defects so gains can be made here fairly easily At the big-picture level your hiring process influences the quality of employees you find Your training process influences their on-the-job ability Well-written SOPs can significantly reduce task ambiguity At the transactional level when a mistake is made evaluate it carefully and then take steps to ensure the same thing never happens again

W A S T E 1

D E F E C T S

TWEET THIS QUOTE


Each worker you have is an organizational asset Aligning skills with roles is critical to reducing waste Consider this

A T E C H WO R K I N G B E LOW H I S O R H E R

L E V E L I S WA S T I N G P OT E N T I A L

A T E C H WO R K I N G A B OV E H I S O R H E R

L E V E L W I L L B E I N E F F I C I E N T A N D

E R R O R - P R O N E

There are a few ways to reduce waste at the skills level Your HR efforts are a big asset here in terms of identifying skills and matching those with roles However yoursquoll also need to identify who is ready for more training - itrsquos easier to increase the skills of someone already on your team than it is to hire someone new Donrsquot waste talent develop it

W A S T E 2

S K I L L S


W A S T E 3

M O T I O N

In manufacturing this waste refers to physical movement In an MSP this is really about the number of steps it takes to do something How many clicks does it take your tech to solve a problem How much searching is required to find the latest pass-word The processes may be mental but they can take time Shorten the time it takes to perform tasks and yoursquoll eliminate a lot of time waste

34

S O U N D FA M I L I A R

Common inefficiencies in the IT industry include

34 Have a shortage of IT Staff and skill set

29 Struggle to keep infrastructure secure

28 Find it hard to do more with less budget

24 Struggle to support business expansion and aggressive development

29

28

24


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T

This waste relates to the speed at which information moves through your system You can interpret this a couple of different ways The first is basic Make sure yoursquove got blazing-fast Internet and up-to-date hardware

D O N rsquo T S LOW YO U R T E A M D OW N

W I T H A N C I E N T G E A R

The second way to look at this is to automate as much information flow as possible Having to view RMM data in one platform then PSA data in another and passwords in another to pull the infor-mation required to deliver services to a client is wasteful A fully automated process is by far the fastest Documenting a new client with automatic sync from your PSA and RMM

Now wersquore talking

TWEET THIS QUOTE


This waste is obvious for a factory but the same principle can be applied to an MSP Donrsquot over-hire Donrsquot pay for more technology than you need Solve your customersrsquo problems proactively but donrsquot do a bunch of things for them that they donrsquot need If you do that then yoursquore just wasting your time doing things that donrsquot generate income

W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N

ldquo I T I S T H E N E X T

F R O N T I E R FO R T H E

A P P L I C AT I O N O F

L E A N I N B U S I N E S S rdquo ndash McKinsey

TWEET THIS QUOTE


You could rephrase this as overcomplicating processes This is especially important with routine processes Make a list of the processes you do the most Then analyze them to look for ways to make them more efficient Implement measure repeat

L E A N WO R K S

Research from the Lean Business Report 2016 from LeanKit indicates that

92 of respondents say implementing Lean has led to moderate-to-significant improvements in project success

48 say Lean initiatives start in IT

TO P B E N E F I T S O F L E A N

51 of respondents say Lean has simplified management of team and process complexity

51 say more efficient business processes are the biggest benefit theyrsquove seen

50 cite better management of changing priorities

92

51

51

50

W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48

This can be summarized in three words simplify your stack Therersquos a lot of opportunity for waste reduction in streamlining the tech assets you utilize for providing services to your clients Whatrsquos quicker training a tech on five different firewalls or on one firewall If itrsquos quicker itrsquos also cheaper And theyrsquoll learn it better too

The best way to conceptualize waiting waste is in terms of resolution times The waiting waste yoursquore measuring is the downtime your clients experience The goal should be to make it so easy for techs to solve problems that you always hit your SLAs Your customers will be happy and if you can offer better SLAs than your competitors yoursquoll be in a much better position to win new customers as well

W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y

W A I T I N GW A S T E 8


村

無理

M U R A

M U R I

Muri refers to overburden which can result in needless errors This includes tasks beyond their ability which tends to lead to errors It also includes overloading work on someone which causes them to rush their work again leading to mistakes Addressing muri requires emphasis on training SOPs making sure they have the right tools for the job and ensuring that help is available if needed

Mura refers to unevenness in production An example would be scheduling staff to ensure that capacity exists to handle expected workloads Not enough staff means clients experience delays in service Too many staff and yoursquore paying them to do nothing Striking the right balance is key here and usually requires a data-driven approach

ldquo W E L I V E L E A N

A N D AG I L E VA LU E S

W H I C H A R E AT

T H E CO R E O F O U R

S U CC E S S A S A N

O R G A N I Z AT I O N rdquo

ndash Kristian LindwallAgile Coach Spotify

TWEET THIS QUOTE


By now yoursquove probably already thought of quite a few areas of waste in your MSP and you want to start eliminating them Muri is the third and final Lean enemy resulting from tasks that overburden workers

IDENTIFY THE WASTE

BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS

CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT

The key is that waste reduction is an itera-tive process The Lean term for this is kaizen which refers to continuous improvement Start with the most glaring wastes and the easy fixes Get a few quick wins under your belt so that the process starts to feel natural Pretty soon yoursquoll start seeing waste every-where - even in processes you thought were pretty good

1

2

3

4

5

6

E L I M I N A T I N G

W A S T E


The key to being a Lean MSP is to make lean thinking a part of your organizational culture No one person has a monopoly on creative problem solving so you want to engage your entire team in lean thinking Itrsquos a philosophy and for lean to work best yoursquoll need buy-in throughout the organization

ldquo L E A N I S A B O U T C R E AT I N G

T H E M O S T VA LU E FO R T H E

C U S TO M E R W H I L E M I N I M I Z I N G

R E S O U R C E S T I M E E N E R GY A N D

E F FO R Trdquo ndashSteve Bell Lean IT Coach

Building a Lean culture starts at the top You need buy-in from your entire leadership team as theyrsquoll be driving the bus on the day-to-day implementation The culture of the organization is going to change When you introduce Lean yoursquoll need to provide a roadmap that includes training on Lean thinking and a sense of vision for where lean is going to take the organization It could be transforming your MSP into a well-oiled machine or it could be an ambitious growth target that yoursquove set out The key is there has to be a ldquowhyrdquo to going Lean

B U I L D I N G A

L E A N C U L T U R E

TWEET THIS QUOTE


One of the fun elements of Lean is the use of Japanese terminology As with any jargon these terms can be a bit confusing in the beginning but the use of Japanese actually helps your team embrace lean culture over time

First there are the conceptualizations of waste and sources of error Mudas (the 8 wastes) define activity that wastes your time mura is unevenness and muri is overburden

Next are the other terms under the lean umbrella There are a lot of them but the ones listed here are the most relevant to the MSP context

K A N B A N a term meant to reflect lean manufacturing has been adopted for the IT industry The key prin-ciple is to map workflows and processes to identify potential bottlenecks It is one of the best lean concepts for identifying waste

K A I Z E N is the concept of continuous improvement If your team achieves a few victories in waste reduction this only means that they now have the time to find more areas of waste And so on

YO KOT E N refers to the spread of informa-tion throughout the organization Instead of having key processes locked inside the heads of your best people document them so knowledge can be shared with the entire company

P O K A-YO K E is the principle of error-proofing An examination of your SOPs and errors in service delivery can help reduce the likelihood of mistakes from your service desk

H O S H I N K A N R I reflects the alignment between high-level organizational strate-gies and actions taken throughout all other levels Lean is most effective when activities support waste reduction and are in line with upper-level goals (such as increasing margins by reducing service errors)

J I D O K A translates to lsquoautomation with a human touchrsquo Your techs are the human touch but with great documentation they can be faster and more accurate in servicing tickets


Lean management originally began as a manufacturing process in the automotive industry In 1913 one of the first early devel-opments was made by Henry Ford of Ford Motors Ford developed a process called The Ford System which created a continuous flowing assembly line This system was great for consistent flow however it did not allow for a production of a variety in products

Around the conclusion of World War II Kiichiro Toyoda Taiichi Ohno and others at the Toyota Motor company built on Fordrsquos original ideas and created the Toyota Production System This innovative system used a quick batching process to maintain flow but was also able to produce a wide array of products

Today Toyota is one of the leading car companies built on efficiency and is evidence of the effectiveness of lean manufacturing Now Lean has morphed from a manufac-turing process into a way of doing business and a way of thinking With its waste-re-ducing ideology Lean continues to grow in popularity among the IT and service sectors

G LO S S A RY

BOTTLENECK - The point in a system or process that is congested blocked or limits flow

HOSHIN KANRI - A strategic planning meth-odology that aligns higher-level organizational goals with the activities of all other levels in the organization

JIDOKA - Automation with a human touchrdquo where machines and humans work together to limit errors

KANBAN - Reflecting the mapping of workflows to better achieve efficiency

KAIZEN - Continuous improvement involving all employees in the organization

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs) - Measurable values that when measured against indicate how well objectives are being achieved

LEAN - The core philosophy of maximizing customer value and minimizing waste through the alignment of people process and continual improvement

MUDA - A traditional Japanese term for an activity or process that is unproductive or does not add value

MURA - A traditional Japanese term for uneven-ness or variation in an activity or process

MURI - A traditional Japanese term for over-burden and the errors that can arise from that

POKA-YOKE - A Japanese expression meaning ldquoerror-proofingrdquo

YOKOTEN - Knowledge sharing and a constant flow of information across the organization

L E A N H I S T O R Y


R E S O U R C E S

If yoursquod like to learn more about lean here are some great resources you can check out

Lean Terminology definitions This comprehensive webpage lists over 350 lean terms and definitions - including Japanese jargon and lean buzzwords

The Lean Enterprise website The official educational and research center for lean is an excellent resource to learn about lean management through workshops case studies FAQs and more

Harvard Business Review Lean Strategy by Dave Collis A must-read article about implementing lean strategy in an entrepre-neurial environment and the benefits it can bring

Lean Thinking by James P Womack and Daniel T Jones In the updated version this is an in-depth book that discusses the Toyota Production system and corresponding history strategy and principles of lean

T O L E A R N M O R E A B O U T H O W I T G L U E

C A N H E L P YO U R B U S I N E S S G E T L E A N

V I S I T I T G L U E C O M D E M O


share this ebook


Lean philosophy is built around the concept of eliminating errors and waste There are three critical concepts commonly known by their Japanese names - muda (ldquowasterdquo) mura (ldquounevennessrdquo) and muri (ldquoover-burdenrdquo) In this book wersquove specifically conceptualizedthese ideas for the MSP







W A S T E 1

D E F E C T S

TWEET THIS QUOTE









W A S T E 2

S K I L L S


W A S T E 3

M O T I O N


34







29

28

24


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T






TWEET THIS QUOTE



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








92

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W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook







W A S T E 1

D E F E C T S

TWEET THIS QUOTE









W A S T E 2

S K I L L S


W A S T E 3

M O T I O N


34







29

28

24


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T






TWEET THIS QUOTE



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








92

51

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W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook









W A S T E 2

S K I L L S


W A S T E 3

M O T I O N


34







29

28

24


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T






TWEET THIS QUOTE



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








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51

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W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook


W A S T E 3

M O T I O N


34







29

28

24


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T






TWEET THIS QUOTE



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








92

51

51

50

W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook


W A S T E 4

T R A N S P O R T






TWEET THIS QUOTE



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








92

51

51

50

W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook



W A S T E 5

O V E R

P R O D U C T I O N





TWEET THIS QUOTE



L E A N WO R K S








92

51

51

50

W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook



L E A N WO R K S








92

51

51

50

W A S T E 6

O V E R

P R O C E S S I N G


48



W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook




W A S T E 7

I N V E N T O R Y



村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook


村

無理

M U R A

M U R I





W H I C H A R E AT





TWEET THIS QUOTE



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook



IDENTIFY THE WASTE


CHOOSE A SOLUTION

EXECUTE

EVALUATE

REPEAT


1

2

3

4

5

6


W A S T E









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook









B U I L D I N G A


TWEET THIS QUOTE















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook















G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook





G LO S S A RY















R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook


R E S O U R C E S










share this ebook


Documents

The basic concept of Toyota and gained traction in the … · 2018-10-12 · JIDOKA translates to ‘automation with a human touch.’ Your techs are the human touch, but with great