In May 2019 the PMDG started this blog with the intention to cover with the first articles six “strands” relevant to the Project Management profession. These strands were identified as priorities by our focus groups. We have posted some material and we have now to cover the last strand.
With this article I am looking at the possible benefits that an organisation’s “lean” operational approach can bring to the project management profession. First, I am going to explain what I mean by “lean” (or “lean thinking”). And then, I will look at how “lean” (as principles and practices) can be applied to non-manufacturing organisations, focusing on those aspects that, in my view, could positively impact the project management profession.
The article is not intended to provide an exhaustive overview of “lean” and the methodology, but I will try to provide some external links to useful resources on the subject. Happy reading!
What does operating a “lean thinking” mean?
Depending on your background and sector of employment, you might have heard “lean” defined in various ways. As stated here “Lean, in its purest sense, is a methodology that aims to organize human activities to deliver more value while eliminating waste.”
“Lean” development can be rooted on these key seven principles:
- Optimize the whole
- Eliminate waste
- Build quality into the system
- Deliver fast by managing flow
- Create knowledge
- Defer commitment
- Respect people.
The link above is a good start for those wanting to read more about the history and development of “lean”.
Thinking “lean” has become a sort of business management philosophy that fosters a culture of continuous improvement, focusing, with its practical implementation, on the elimination of unnecessary activities, stocks, expenses etc.. This is aimed at increasing the efficiency, quality and clarity of processes and the reduction of costs. A key tenet of the “lean thinking” is also its integration in the business fabric and organizational culture to make and keep these benefits widely available and sustainable.
“Is lean not just for manufacturing organizations?”
Some of you might be asking that question …..“Lean” has grown considerably outside the boundaries of the manufacturing sector and it is spreading widely to other non-manufacturing fields, with benefits reported in banking, R&D, healthcare and other public services, education, the hospitality industry, knowledge management and even in the army.
The careful adaptation and implementation of the seven tenets mentioned earlier can generate benefits to any organizations. “Lean” starts with the analysis, visualization and optimization of processes, continuing with the reduction of rework, striving to get improved respect for people, improving value knowledge management and finally preparing the organization to better respond to changes, while fostering a key customer-centric philosophy. All these aspects can impact positively on any project-based or service-providing organization, not just on manufacturing processes.
As “lean” moves beyond production and manufacturing, the business’s environment changes, but the philosophy, the tools and techniques remain somehow similar. While it is beyond the scope of this article to provide a comprehensive list of tools or techniques, you may want to check this link for an introduction to the most popular and essential “lean” tools and techniques.
What are the possible benefits offered to Project Managers by a “lean thinking” adopted by their organization?
I list below three key areas that I think they have the greatest potential.
1. The customer is key
A tenet of “lean” is to establish processes focused only on adding value for the customer. Thinking “lean” means keeping focus on the customer, with the customer being not just the beneficiary/recipient of the final product or service generated as result of the project. Attention is focused at every step of the process, at the needs of the beneficiary of every step. This is particularly evident, for example, as part of a design of a process improvement initiative or for an analysis of needs (see the CT tree) or when a SIPOC analysis is conducted.
Where is the potential benefit for project management?
This new way to approach relationships in the organisations’ operation, processes (and projects) helps in building a more effective dynamics in the business units, in the project teams and in the services supporting the project activities. The team members are aware of the possible dual role that they can play, as “customers/beneficiaries” in one phase of the process while being “suppliers/providers” in another. Supporting services are engaged, with clarity of requests. All project agents and contributors can become more mindful about the importance of the quality and timing of their work and service, due to their mutual dependency. This is a great opportunity for fostering a change of mentality in an organization, helping in pulling down the barriers between “siloed” business units, departments, functions or highly specialized sectors, removing the resistance to change, with a facilitation of project operation.
2. “Seeing” the processes
“In assembly, it’s much easier to see how material and information flow, the steps for doing the operation, and how steps relate. All that was very visible and could be studied, analyzed, and improved upon. In the office, the process is very invisible…”
attributed to Lou Farinola, former Director of the General Motors, Global Manufacturing System.
Mapping can be one of the most challenging activity in the implementation of “lean” as it takes time and efforts to go through what sometime is thought to be the “un-mappable”.. In the mapping exercise, “lean” practitioners need to engage with representatives from business units and departments to get at the core of their “way of working” or their established practices. These practices sometimes may be tightly guarded and treasured like state secrets…. Process diagrams and value-stream mapping are at the core of the “lean” implementation. Many techniques are available (as an example, see mapping and value stream). If you feel that these techniques are overly “engineered”, you can start with “rich picture analysis“.
So where are the benefits for project management?
Every project has a project plan which offers the project manager and the team a high-level visualization of the project’s course. However, important enabling (sometime very critical) activities and technical tasks are often not easily visible, buried in the “hidden office”. These activities are often in the form of complicated, and sometime overly bureaucratized, internal processes delegated to individuals or groups, external, and often out to reach, for the project team.
When these processes are mapped and analyzed, the project team can have better grasp of risks, threats and opportunities, points of leverage, accurate time and resource requirements. The project team will know where there is “room for manoeuvre” and where contingencies can be wisely placed, so changes can be managed better. It also helps in the relationship with external subcontractors and partners, who will feel more involved and “participative”.
In the end, if all those involved know what the process entails, they understand their role and the expectation posed on them, can feel a greater ownership and responsibility and they can have their position, role and contribution more visible – paraphrasing Farinola’s quote – along the “assembly” line of the project….
3. A balance between standardisation and creativity
Creativity, innovation, intra- and entrepreneurship should be fostered in all organizations. These skills enable the navigation of projects in complex realities and challenging environments. However R&D, technology, distribution & supply chain projects have all a certain level of standardization & schedule that they must follow and adhere to. Think about applications for permits, committees’ reviews, testing and validation, contract negotiation etc. Internal project management framework can also be sometimes rigid and institutionalized.
Projects develop in highly complex environments and in project management practices it is critical to foster and retain a creative attitude, an open eye to innovation and an evolving approach. The challenge will be on the way to balance standardization with creativity.
But where is the benefit for project management?
If you look at modern complexity thinking approaches (see Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence, Oxford University Press, 2015) the recommendation is clear: basic management practices are not to be thrown away… The authors of the book are also recognizing that “the characteristics of the established culture and process within an organisation contribute at every level to how things work, what is valued and what takes precedence. A tension between desire for precision and measurement on the one hand, and desire for agility, responsiveness and sustainable development on the other, is a challenge for many organisations“. The balance between standardization and creativity is difficult. What “lean” offers is the provision of a focus on value-stream, analysis and clarity on those practices (the “nuts and bolts”) that have to be followed to ensure project progression. An organization adopting “lean” will have clear mapped processes, with the staff engaged and well-versed in process improvement and simplification and more receptive to changes. Don’t you think that this would facilitate project management, with project team members eased in their work, with time allowed to focus on creative thinking and make them better prepared to address changes and seek opportunities?
As said at the beginning of this article, the “lean thinking” has become a sort of management philosophy that fosters a culture of continuous improvement. This new paradigm is expanding beyond the manufacturing sector and it is being slowly permeating in other sectors. The question posed was whether a “lean thinking” would help project management. I hope I was able to give examples for three areas where “lean” can offer benefits to project management and I would be grateful to hear your feedback and experience.
If philosophy serves as a catalyst for progress, let’s get “lean thinking” catalyze the evolution of project management!
Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager, GALVmed
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.
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