DailyKaizen

I finished the week not with 1 or 2, but 5 different examples of exciting improvements in what we’re doing.

Monday: Talked off the ledge

As we were about to go into another rapid process improvement event, and I realized that one of our work cells appeared backed up, I called our Director of Consulting Services and explained my worry. Would we fall further behind and should I help reduce workload? She very calmly reminded me that a different work cell was going into the next day’s event, with a clean slate, and ready to perform, and in our new way of doing things, we did not have to worry about spillage from one cell to another, like we used to:

From: Eytan, Ted A.
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 1:00 PM
Subject: Thanks…

For talking me off the ledge - imagine, that with LEAN we can do more
than one thing at a time. I will blog this later on, a
great illustration.

And you do have the coolest job in the world.

-Ted

Tuesday: The DNA is changing

Said event started (with said donuts served at the beginning). I was in the role of observer as our team leads introduced a medical center team to the week’s activities. The introduction and discussion was clear and flowed easily out of the mouths of the physician and consultant leader (both our staff). This is not a big deal anymore.

Wednesday: Focusing on spread of innovation

I met with senior leaders about the spread of a new reminder system we are putting in for preventive care. Our last production of these encountered some bumps and I relayed what I learned from digging in deeper to the root causes and doing things differently:

1. This set of tools was developed with nurses and physicians at the local level, they dramatically improved usability
2. I reached out personally (by phone, no e-mail) to management at each medical center where we planned to roll out. I learned at least 2-3 important points of advice from each about how best to communicate and support the new functionality
3. I sat with our technologists to understand how the system worked to be as prepared as possible for any questions
4. On my way back from a meeting, I dropped in to one of the medical centers where we would be doing the work, and was briefed by one of our nurses on what I could do to be supportive. She pulled a laminated set of national guidelines out of her drawer and handed it to me - I ended up using that guide many many times throughout the week - 20 minutes of time where the care happens = 200 minutes of enhanced knowledge discovery of what the right thing to do is.

Thursday: Launching a product powered by LEAN; Reminder system launched

I attended a celebration for a new web platform product created by the organization. A huge banner was visible that said, “Lean processes powered by state of the art technology.” First time that I’ve seen LEAN included in official company communications. It was reminiscent of the first time I saw a web address on a billboard (that was for a very successful airline flying out of Oakland, CA, in 1993). Both events made me think that something was catching on…

Reminder system that I have been working on the team with is launched. We are in PDCA mode, reviewing feedback and making changes on the fly, in the production system. I see experts from across our State collaborating on what they are seeing in the system. They aren’t talking about what they are seeing in the system, though, they are talking about the patients they are taking care of and how the system can best support them.

Friday: Site visit and some juicy data

We were visited by staff from an innovative health organization, who I brought to the event that started on Tuesday. Visiting used to mean a stop at headquarters; now it means going to a medical center, where the care is delivered. All were on the same page; this has reduced friction, increased participation, and sped improvements. LEAN concepts are discussed as second nature.

Data delivered at the end of the day that our work backlog has gone from over 1,000 items in 2005, to 116 now. 44% of items completed in the last three months were completed by local staff, rather than being pushed to a central queue.

Happy First Birthday

DailyKaizen.org started on April 10, 2006. I wish everyone out there a year as interesting as ours has been, with a week so full of inspiration at the end of it….

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