WORKSHOP SYNOPSIS:
The first half of this workshop will explore methods of creating a visual presentation of a sequence of activities and the relationship of the groups or individuals completing the tasks. This picture is frequently called a "process map" or an expanded "flow chart." Improving a process usually begins with creating a common understanding of the way the process is done now or could be done in the future. A process map can be as helpful to create this understanding as a AAA Trip TikŪ is to understanding a drive to Philadelphia. On this trip instead of our new minivan with its electronics and computers, we're taking the old 4x4 pickup we usually drive in the field. So high tech for us will be markers that smell like fruit, and the only software we will use will be Post-it Notes.
We will cover the basics of creating and using process maps by means of both discussion and hands-on small group practice. Along our trip, we will have the opportunity to look at macro- and micro-charts, basic charting symbols, horizontal and vertical formats and guidelines for structuring our maps. We will also visit typical uses for our map such as waste identification and charting, handoff evaluations and value added time analyses. In addition, examples of the uses of such maps will be highlighted from the presenter's experience.
The second half of the workshop will go beyond identifying the elements of a process to considering how those elements interrelate and affect each other. ; We will explore systems thinking, seeing the patterns and fabrics of interrelated actions that responding together result in the outcomes we observe. We will discuss several of the more common patterns that control events, and through that understanding, allow us a greater probability of achieving desired changes in those events.
Enhancing the learnings offered in the workshop will be experiential activities from two of the more noted books in the TQM/CQI arena.From Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline, a learning simulation called the "beer game," first will help to illustrate characteristics typical of a production/distribution organization. Another learning experience in the workshop will come from Eliyahu Goldratt's unusual business novel, The Goal. This lesson about the importance of inventories and choke points (he calls them "Herbies") can be applied to any service or product that requires a number of dependent, sequential and linked steps, the classic definition of a process.
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