Mr. Miyagi in unknown territory – Identifying the problem

If you haven't done so, please read the first and second parts of this story

With the last chat Mr. Miyagi had with Allan, he was trying to figure out the possible courses to the problem. Time passed and the Tuesday came. By 9.30, Mr. Miyagi was in front of Allan’s desk. To his surprise this time Allan was in this desk. Allan greeted Mr. Miyagi warmly. After all settled, Mr. Miyagi started presenting his plan.

Allan, I think I have to understand your process more. So I will sit with you in almost all the meetings you attend. Is that OK? Asked Mr. Miyagi. Well that is no issue. But what kind of meetings you want to sit in. internal or external meetings? Asked Allan. Both, replied Mr. Miyagi with a slight smile in his face. You are going to sit for a long time said Allan laughing loud. So I will sit in the meetings you have with your potential customers, ongoing project meetings and even in the meetings with the old customers. I want to understand what your customers need, added Mr. Miyagi. Well that’s fine. I will introduce you as a consultant to our company said Allan and Mr. Miyagi nodded in agreement.

Mr. Miyagi sat with the team from Allan’s company in every possible instance in their meetings, except for few confidential meetings. He was especially interested in understanding what makes customers unhappy. After about a month Mr. Miyagi started to understand some gaps in the process. For his trained eyes some of the processes seemed much disorganized. While attending the meetings and observing what people do, Mr. Miyagi discussed with employees of every level to better understand what they think. He took notes carefully and shared knowledge with Allan and the management and even with the other employees. By the time first part of his study ended, Mr. Miyagi decided normal lean practices has to be implemented carefully, under the radar, to avoid the resistance from the workers, who are very much happy with the existing way of work. He devised a plan with Allan. Allan with his experience in the trade and as the owner of the organization, and his vision where to be in the future, gave his valuable input to the plan.

Mr. Miyagi decided to use 5 Why technique straight from lean manufacturing books to get to the root cause of the main problems. But defining the problems was a hard task. Mr. Miyagi suggested a brain storming session. Allan agreed. So the first brain storming session was scheduled with selected people representing each area of work. Ground rules were set and the session began. Mr. Miyagi specifically let attendees know they will not be judged on their opinions and they do not have to try thinking whether their ideas are good or bad. If you have an idea, just put it out, said Mr. Miyagi. Ideas are what matters, he added.

It took about five minutes to get the first idea from the group, and phase picked up with the time went by. Mr. Miyagi soon ran out of space in the large white board where he jotted down all the ideas. And he had to get the help of computer attached to a projector to get down some of the ideas. At the end of the event the group came out with about 30 possible problems they see in the process. It all seemed very familiar to Mr. Miyagi, he recalled an instance where it took more than half an hour to get the first idea out and ending with around 20 ideas in only few minutes.

Now having a set of problems, it is the time to put them in order of importance. First task was to identify the three most important issues to tackle first. Mr. Miyagi gave all in the room, including Allan, half an hour to discuss the issues and come up with an order. He returned to the room after an half an hour and checked what the team came out with.

Allan and his team had some success in putting the problems in order of their importance to the system. Their list looked like below.

•        Not getting signoffs from the relevant parties at the end of each phase of the project
•        Testing time for the software is not enough
•        Employees lacking motivation to complete the projects on time
•        Delays in support services from other vendors
•        No enough documentation of the process and so on…

Mr. Miyagi was looking at the raking given to the problems, and had a smile. With his unique accent, said to the audience, “you have done a very good job. I must say you have put your heads together to come up with these rankings”. All in the room clapped in joy. There was a great sense of relief in their faces. Mr. Miyagi was waiting till the room goes silent. Mr. Miyagi started speaking again.

“Let me tell you a story. I was working as a consultant for a paint manufacturer some years back. They were doing everything right, except their sales. They couldn’t simply sell what they manufactured. They sold some, of course, but not enough to get a positive bottom-line result. Do not misunderstand. They produced one of the most impressive paints including beautiful shades and vast variety of specialty products. Still they had the problem of selling them. They called me for help. After studying the system for weeks it was clear to me they haven’t answered one important question, and that makes all the difference. They failed to ask themselves “what our customer needs from us?” Do they value, what we think they value? In fact they found their customers do not value the product as they value their products. Customers looked at completely separate set of characteristics in evaluating their product. With series of activities they changed some core principles of their business to better align to the customer requirements. They are one of the leading companies in the trade today.”Mr. Miyagi paused and continues. “Let me ask you again. Do you think the order you put out is correct? You are trying to define value as you see it is. For an example, you will think testing product rigorously will make the customer happy. But is it the case? Or is it something else. Just think what your end customer would need from you. And we will re do this exercise tomorrow, once more with one critical change. That is with you in the shoes of your customers”

Everyone was listening to Mr. Miyagi and there was absolute silence in the room for few minutes. Mr. Miyagi introduced a key lean concept of “Value from the customer’s eye” to the group. Entire group was seemed enlightened on the subject. Everyone left the room except Allan. Allan came to Mr. Miyagi and said “that was one hell of a lesson. You put it through beautifully. I am seeing a complete new set of problems now than I saw few minutes back. Thank you Mr. Miyagi” Mr. Miyagi replied him with a rise smile and a humble look in his face. We will meet tomorrow, right at nine thirty, said Mr. Miyagi. With a great satisfaction of what he achieved today, he did some preparations for the next session.

Mr. Miyagi used two of lean manufacturing’s most important tools today. I am sure you were able to identify them when you read the story. What are those tools? What do you think about the teaching technique used by Mr. Miyagi? Do you agree to what he had to say? Or do you have a different idea? Please leave your comment below. Do not forget to click the "LIKE" button below.