Aaron U. Bolin's Blog, page 5
April 30, 2013
A New World Record: 59 Lego Pyramids in 5 Minutes
The process simulation we use requires the students to manufacture Lego (c) pyramids.
The goal for the final round is to deliver 60 pyramids in five minutes. It is possible to complete the order, but I've never had a student team deliver the final order.
However, I did have one team break the previous record. The new world record is 59 pyramids in 5 minutes with 5 people.
March 22, 2013
Jay's Foolproof Tips for Landing a Job: Non-Traditional Job Search Tactics That Payoff
I met my friend, Jay, in college. I didn't realize it at the time, but Jay taught me some very valuable life lessons. He often pushed the boundaries of ethics, but time has shown that Jay's approach to getting things done wasn't all wrong; it was just incomplete. He had style, but lacked substance. He had flair, but lacked polish. He drive and ambition, but lacked a moral compass and work ethic. To really capitalize on Jay's strategy, you have to cherry pick his good points and throw out the bad.
Jay's Tip #1: "Models Don't Do Math." Always focus your effort in areas of strength.
When it came to studying, Jay and I were polar opposites. I studied in a very traditional way. I took copious notes in class, completed all assigned reading, worked the exercises in the back of the book, and joined a study group. Jay, on the other hand, took a more relaxed approach to studying. He listened very carefully in class, but photo-copied a classmate's notes. He only read summaries of assigned readings; his textbook collection consisted of cliff notes and spark notes. He never studied (or wrote papers for that matter), because he always managed to have someone on hand who was willing to do it for him. A classmate's completed homework could be re-purposed with much less effort than it took to do it; Jay had a natural gift for getting other people to do it for him. Whenever I asked why he didn't do his homework himself, he always said, "Models don't do math." In some respects, he was a natural-born manager. The "work" that Jay did in college was very different than the work that I did. I trained to be a technical expert; Jay honed his people management skills and influence tactics. Both sets of skills are valuable in the job market, but Jay had an edge over me and the other "worker bee" technicians. He practiced managing others before ever holding a professional position.
Jay's Tip #2: "B's Get Degrees." Putting in extra effort for the same payoff is not heroic.
When it came time to select electives, Jay and I continued along separate paths. I studied "substantive" subjects like statistics, biology, and classic literature. Jay studied "stylistic" subjects like theater, creative writing, speech, and golf. To be fair, I also took the golf class because it was an easy A; Jay took the class as a way to network. Comparing report cards with Jay was always a boost to my ego, but he didn't seem to care. "B's get degrees," he'd sneer. He wasn't proud of his grades, but he added college credits to his transcript at the same pace as I did.
Jay's Tip #3: "Icing Sells the Cake." Style trumps substance when making a first impression.
At graduation, my grade point average was a full point higher than Jay's, but we received identical degrees. Because Jay and I had the same major, we were in direct competition for jobs. As luck would have it, we both landed an interview at the same company, for the same position, on the same day. As you might expect, my interview was very traditional. I arrived early, dressed very neatly, and I answered questions concisely and clearly. In my mind, I did everything right.
Although I obviously didn't attend Jay's interview, we discussed our shared experience in great detail. For his interview, Jay arrived 10 minutes late, looked slightly disheveled, and had a large prominent oil stain on his white shirt sleeve. Jay apologized profusely for being late, but didn't offer any explanation. As if on cue, the lead interviewer opened by pointing out the oil stain and asking, "What happened?"
As scripted (yes, scripted and rehearsed), Jay recounted a heroic tale of traffic, car trouble, collisions, chivalry, and ridiculous action. He had the interview committee on the edge of their seats as he re-enacted a fast-moving scene complete with voices, choreography, and sound effects. The oil stain, his disheveled look, and his lateness were all attributed to the events of his fantastic story. The drama must have moved them, because Jay was offered a job on-the-spot.
Jay's Tip #4: "An Easy Yes Means You Can Do Better."
Jay first shared this tip in reference to picking up girls. His philosophy was that if a girl didn't reject him at least three times, then she wasn't worth pursuing. The funny thing is: he always had gorgeous girls at his beck and call in spite of his average looks. Jay wasn't stupid; he verbally accepted the on-the-spot job offer. With this "safety job" in his pocket, Jay redoubled his job search efforts - applying to better, higher paying jobs. He was free to seek ever better positions with reckless abandon, because he had a job waiting for him to start in three weeks.
Jay's Tip #5: "It's A Numbers Game." Never fear rejection, persistence guarantees success.
Jay's last tip never quite sat well with me. He believed that applying to every job (and hitting on every girl), even the ones he had no interest in pursuing, magically made it more likely that he would get what he really wanted. Somehow, priming the pump with an abundance of attempts to secure undesirable things guaranteed success in securing desirable things. He even had a mathematical model that "proved" that securing enough rejections generated success.
Jay's last tip is un-numbered, because I disagree with it completely. I can't argue that he has demonstrated an ability to succeed at climbing the corporate ladder, but I have protested his methods from the beginning of our friendship. His response to my protests has always been, "Getting Things Done is Getting Things Done." I only share his tip here as a cautionary tale. Every bridge that Jay crossed through empty style, manipulative persistence, and strategically withheld effort burned behind him. Jay often gets what he wants, but he has a lot of trouble holding on to it. Jay, not his real name, is now working as the managing director level of a multi-national corporation. His resume is quite impressive and always up-to-date, because he knows that he needs it to be.
March 7, 2013
Defeating the Cobra Kai Just Like The Karate Kid
I have a lot of fun coaching youth sports (4 seasons of soccer, 2 of basketball so far), but I never really planned to coach. When my oldest daughter first joined a soccer team, I offered to help the coach -- my idea was to be like the team gopher, because I didn't know very much about soccer. I discovered two things very quickly: (1) the coach knew even less about soccer than I did and (2) her temperament made her unfit to coach young children. In fact, she was removed from the league after chasing her own daughter across the practice field with a belt. I very unexpectedly was promoted from gopher to head coach.
Every season, I see two very different approaches to coaching young children. On one hand, there is the Cobra Kai method with lots of yelling, punishment for poor performance, and the explicit belief that winning is all that matters. On the other hand, there is the Mr. Miyagi approach of learning the game, trying to have fun, and the explicit belief that we like to win but enjoy the competition regardless of the outcome.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about coaching kids under 8 years old.
Every season, the Cobra Kai coaches win more games (on average) than the Miyagi teams. Every season, I'm more convinced that Cobra Kai coaching techniques are horrible when used with young kids. That's why I keep coaching; I can't stand the idea of a grown man screaming at my kids because a ball went out of bounds. I figure that I might not be Mr. Miyagi, but I "can't possible be worse than Sensei John Kreese from the Karate Kid."
This season, we actually had our Karate Kid moment. The Cobra Kai team beat us soundly early in the season. In the final game, we had to play them again. Somehow, we pulled out a 2 point victory at the end - and we didn't even need a black belt in basketball.
Which is better: a hard focus on winning or a soft focus on learning?
March 5, 2013
Using a Simulation of a Real Process to Drive Change
In a recent Lean Six Sigma Champion course, I knew that I would be training folks who would later work on improving a kit-making process. Because I had access to a current-state process map of the kit-making process, I changed all of the labels on my training simulation to match those from the current-state map. Then, I altered the flow of materials in the training simulation to mirror the flow of materials in the real-life kit-making process.
I was a bit surprised with the result. The students would not stay "in" the simulation. Every conversation would begin in how we could improve the simulated process, but it always ended in how we could improve the actual process. The simulated process gave them permission to make previously impossible changes to the kit-making process, pilot test them, and refine them.
I'll follow my students' activities back on the job with great interest. I'd like to see if the real changes we made in the simulated environment translate into real changes in the real environment.
December 28, 2012
Diagnosis: Organizational Alzheimer's
A deliveryman carrying a bouquet of flowers walks up and knocks on the door of a small home. When the lady of the house answers he says, "Are you the Widow Jones?"
The lady says, "Well, my name's Jones, but I'm no widow."
The deliveryman says, "Oh Yeah, just wait till you read the card!"
Ba dum dum crash!
As a business consultant, sometimes I feel like the guy delivering the flowers. I know the bad news (and the good) well before the intended recipient. And like the deliveryman, sometimes I have to repeat the bad news several times with ever decreasing levels of subtlety. I used to think the need for repetition was a communication issue -- perhaps I was unclear in my description of the root causes of the organization's problems.
My views are evolving though. I'm starting to think that the inability to process information that threatens the status quo is a root cause of root causes. Chris Argyris (1985) covered the topic of defensive routines beautifully in his book Strategy, Change, and Defensive Routines, but it was Daniel Hardman who coined the term Organizational Alzheimer's to describe an organization that loses the ability to learn and adapt to a changing environment (see http://codecraft.co/2012/10/12/coping-with-organizational-alzheimers/).
Organizational Alzheimer's is a disease that progresses in three distinct stages.
In stage one, the symptoms are localized and target centers of corporate memory and innovation with budget cuts. Departments such as research, training, and strategic planning are often the hardest to defend and the first to suffer budget cuts. The strange thing about the progression of the disease at stage one is that the organization immediately forgets that these departments are at a reduced capacity due to budget cuts. Reduced capacity leads to reduced performance, and reduced performance becomes the justification for further budget cuts.
In stage two, the symptoms become widespread and start to permeate the organization.
. Customers complain with increasing frequency.
. Leadership routinely disregards inconvenient policy, earlier decisions, and plans.
. Strategic plans are lost or begin to wander.
. Departments begin to provide information or reports that are designed to hide the real problems.
. Managers have difficulty performing critical tasks such as staying within budget.
. Executives become moody or withdrawn when problems surface.
. Most everyone starts to exhibit personality abnormalities such as suspiciousness and paranoia.
In the third stage of this organizational disease, the wheels start to come off.
. There is a brain drain as employees with talent seek other opportunities.
. As the good employees leave, corporate memory and tribal knowledge plummet.
. Without a strong corporate memory, mistakes and errors explode.
. Management turns mean.
. Talent flees.
. The whole cycle repeats.
The good news is that Organizational Alzheimer's can be treated. The whole process can be reversed with a few simple steps.
Step 1, and this is a hard one, is to honestly discuss the undiscussables.
. Why does every department pad its budget submissions?
. Why do some customers get "hook-ups" based on personal relationships with employees?
. Why do we reward people for pretending to be successful with faulty measures?
. Why don't people want to work here anymore?
Step 2, organizational leadership must demonstrate a commitment to learning, planning, and innovation by funding these as first priorities.
Step 3, organizational leadership must demonstrate a certain ruthlessness in adjusting course. Change must be forced. Elements within the organization that resist change must be recalibrated or removed.
Ouch. The treatment sounds as bad as the disease. The underlying problem here is that mistakes in organizations are generally not self-correcting; they are self-reinforcing. Unless energy is constantly applied to counter the momentum of self-reinforcing mistakes, organizations have a natural tendency toward decay and decline. Organizational learning takes effort.
The lady says, "Well, my name's Jones, but I'm no widow."
The deliveryman says, "Oh Yeah, just wait till you read the card!"
Ba dum dum crash!
As a business consultant, sometimes I feel like the guy delivering the flowers. I know the bad news (and the good) well before the intended recipient. And like the deliveryman, sometimes I have to repeat the bad news several times with ever decreasing levels of subtlety. I used to think the need for repetition was a communication issue -- perhaps I was unclear in my description of the root causes of the organization's problems.
My views are evolving though. I'm starting to think that the inability to process information that threatens the status quo is a root cause of root causes. Chris Argyris (1985) covered the topic of defensive routines beautifully in his book Strategy, Change, and Defensive Routines, but it was Daniel Hardman who coined the term Organizational Alzheimer's to describe an organization that loses the ability to learn and adapt to a changing environment (see http://codecraft.co/2012/10/12/coping-with-organizational-alzheimers/).
Organizational Alzheimer's is a disease that progresses in three distinct stages.
In stage one, the symptoms are localized and target centers of corporate memory and innovation with budget cuts. Departments such as research, training, and strategic planning are often the hardest to defend and the first to suffer budget cuts. The strange thing about the progression of the disease at stage one is that the organization immediately forgets that these departments are at a reduced capacity due to budget cuts. Reduced capacity leads to reduced performance, and reduced performance becomes the justification for further budget cuts.
In stage two, the symptoms become widespread and start to permeate the organization.
. Customers complain with increasing frequency.
. Leadership routinely disregards inconvenient policy, earlier decisions, and plans.
. Strategic plans are lost or begin to wander.
. Departments begin to provide information or reports that are designed to hide the real problems.
. Managers have difficulty performing critical tasks such as staying within budget.
. Executives become moody or withdrawn when problems surface.
. Most everyone starts to exhibit personality abnormalities such as suspiciousness and paranoia.
In the third stage of this organizational disease, the wheels start to come off.
. There is a brain drain as employees with talent seek other opportunities.
. As the good employees leave, corporate memory and tribal knowledge plummet.
. Without a strong corporate memory, mistakes and errors explode.
. Management turns mean.
. Talent flees.
. The whole cycle repeats.
The good news is that Organizational Alzheimer's can be treated. The whole process can be reversed with a few simple steps.
Step 1, and this is a hard one, is to honestly discuss the undiscussables.
. Why does every department pad its budget submissions?
. Why do some customers get "hook-ups" based on personal relationships with employees?
. Why do we reward people for pretending to be successful with faulty measures?
. Why don't people want to work here anymore?
Step 2, organizational leadership must demonstrate a commitment to learning, planning, and innovation by funding these as first priorities.
Step 3, organizational leadership must demonstrate a certain ruthlessness in adjusting course. Change must be forced. Elements within the organization that resist change must be recalibrated or removed.
Ouch. The treatment sounds as bad as the disease. The underlying problem here is that mistakes in organizations are generally not self-correcting; they are self-reinforcing. Unless energy is constantly applied to counter the momentum of self-reinforcing mistakes, organizations have a natural tendency toward decay and decline. Organizational learning takes effort.
December 18, 2012
Standard Work Activity: Lean Six Sigma Sonnet #1
I've been working on adapting our yellow belt curriculum for presentation via the web. The long-pole in the tent for this curriculum conversion is the process simulation. When I teach the class in-person, we always do a hands-on production simulation that the students "fix" over the course of several rounds.
To replace the hands-on production simulation, I need to come up with about six hours worth of meaningful activities to simulate aspects of a process improvement project. The catch is that I have to be able to facilitate the activities with a large group of remote students.
One idea I'm kicking around is to develop a standard work instruction for writing English sonnets. On the surface, writing a sonnet might seem difficult. However, most people can produce a sonnet in about 25 minutes when you break down the process into a series of steps. Notice that I didn't say most people could produce a good sonnet -- only that they could produce a sonnet that meets most of the stylistic conventions. Here's my first attempt at a sonnet using my draft standard work instruction:
Lean Six Sigma Sonnet #1
To eliminate your deficiencies
You must do more than simply clean.
To improve overall efficiency
You must systematically lean.
Process improvement won't create a stigma;
Reducing variation is good taste.
As you deploy change with lean six sigma,
Bottlenecks get managed with reduced waste.
You will see an end to angry complaints,
And savings will flow from re-arranging.
Production increases free from constraints,
And teamwork will grow as culture starts changing.
Work done right the first time is value add
Rework and mistakes are always quite bad.
To replace the hands-on production simulation, I need to come up with about six hours worth of meaningful activities to simulate aspects of a process improvement project. The catch is that I have to be able to facilitate the activities with a large group of remote students.
One idea I'm kicking around is to develop a standard work instruction for writing English sonnets. On the surface, writing a sonnet might seem difficult. However, most people can produce a sonnet in about 25 minutes when you break down the process into a series of steps. Notice that I didn't say most people could produce a good sonnet -- only that they could produce a sonnet that meets most of the stylistic conventions. Here's my first attempt at a sonnet using my draft standard work instruction:
Lean Six Sigma Sonnet #1
To eliminate your deficiencies
You must do more than simply clean.
To improve overall efficiency
You must systematically lean.
Process improvement won't create a stigma;
Reducing variation is good taste.
As you deploy change with lean six sigma,
Bottlenecks get managed with reduced waste.
You will see an end to angry complaints,
And savings will flow from re-arranging.
Production increases free from constraints,
And teamwork will grow as culture starts changing.
Work done right the first time is value add
Rework and mistakes are always quite bad.
November 7, 2012
October 13, 2012
Mentoring a Student Team for the MAES College Decathlon
By some strange mistake in judgment, the MAES chapter from Colorado University-Boulder ended up with me as their mentor for the college decathlon event held during the annual symposium. I'm enjoying the experience, but I wonder how useful I've really been to my team (this is my first college decathlon, so they have to spend a little extra time teaching me how to mentor them).
For the "Blog Post" event, my students have posted a short article to the MAES Facebook page. The measure of success in this event is the number of "Likes" they get on Facebook by this afternoon.
If you have a few seconds, please like and share at the link below. Go Buffaloes!
top-10-things-to-remember-for-the-next-maes-symposium
For the "Blog Post" event, my students have posted a short article to the MAES Facebook page. The measure of success in this event is the number of "Likes" they get on Facebook by this afternoon.
If you have a few seconds, please like and share at the link below. Go Buffaloes!
top-10-things-to-remember-for-the-next-maes-symposium
August 31, 2012
The Fable of the Toner Purchase
As the toner supply in her home office started to run
low, wise Ms. Owl placed an order. She needed to stock up for a long winter, so
she doubled her normal order and submitted all of the proper forms to Jonny
Badger, the supply clerk.
When the requested toner did not arrive on the scheduled
delivery date, Ms. Owl called Jonny Badger to determine the
cause of the delay.
"Banker Frog cancelled your order," explained
Jonny. "Several other people in the village will also need toner,
so banker Frog decided to bundle the orders to reduce the overall cost to the
village."
"When will I get my toner?" asked Ms. Owl.
"Banker Frog is consolidating the orders now. We'll
submit the larger order today. It should arrive by next Friday."
"What should I do in the meantime?" asked Ms.
Owl. "I waited to order the toner until I needed it - just as Banker Frog
directed. Now, I've run completely out. Without toner, I will be idle for the
next week."
"There is nothing I can do without Banker Frog's
approval," Jonny said apologetically and then hung up.
Ms. Owl got out her pencil and started to calculate:
1. The cost of Ms. Owl's time to order the toner = $10
2. The cost of Jonny Badger's time to fill the original toner
order = $10
3. The cost of Banker Frog's time to cancel the small
toner order = $10
4. The cost of Banker Frog's time to solicit and
consolidate the smaller toner orders = $30
5. The cost of Jonny Badger's time to fill the toner
order a second time = $10
6. The cost of the other villager's time to submit their
toner orders to Banker Frog = $60
7. The cost of Ms. Owl's time to inquire about the toner
order = $10
8. The cost of Ms. Owl's time wasted waiting for the
toner order = $1,200
9. The total cost of the toner order filling process =
$1340
10. The total dollar savings achieved by bundling the
toner orders = $100
She then sent her calculations to Banker Frog with a
brief note.
The note said: "You've just wasted $1340 to save
$100. In the process, you encouraged the other villagers to buy toner today even
though they may not need it for months. Well done!"
Instead of thanking Ms. Owl for pointing out the mistaken logic so that it could be fixed, Banker Frog began to secretly loathe her.
The moral of the story: co-workers must not lose site of their shared purpose. The owl, the badger, and the frog are all trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. They have simply overlooked the fact that they are all working together toward the same goal.
