In 2015, I started on a lean production system journey. My aim is to improve my personal level of leadership by learning to focus on reducing waste activities and increasing customer value-add activities. One concept in lean philosophy is leader standard work. It’s not easy to set a baseline for metrics and desirable activities without first having a play card for leaders to follow. Without a play card, the actions of a leader will be random and more subject to putting out the fires that pop-up each day.
I documented my first draft of leader standard work by first writing down all of the recurring activities that I already do. Then I examined each activity to see how they aligned to lean principles and noted what visual controls I have to measure and control each activity. If my activity didn’t align to a lean principle then I eliminated it.
| Activity | Lean Alignment/Leadership Influence | Visual Controls |
| Daily | ||
| Review service metrics for open tickets | Check SLA adherence/Conformance to schedule Provide assistance with at-risk tickets.Stop and fix the problem, Standardized tasks |
Open ticket report by age Ticket system dashboard |
| Weekly | ||
| Change log review | Make sure production changes are reviewed for communication, interdependencies, and quality testing. Audits / Compliance |
Change log database |
| Team Lead meeting | Communicate company and team results. Discuss escalations and commitments. Develop countermeasures Discuss performance and adherence to standard work (Gemba walk chosen project board in TFS) Develop exceptional people and teams |
Change log
Portfolio dashboard |
| 1:1 meeting with direct reports | Coaching (Advanced problem solving, Development) Review standard work (weekly team standups, communication to stakeholders) Ensure high productivity and engagementIdeas for improvement Grow leaders who understand the work |
Software development system board Portfolio dashboard Open Tickets |
| Gemba Walk – Go see for yourself | Understand the work Coach and connect Demonstrate commitment to lean system |
Software development system board |
| Monthly | ||
| Portfolio review | Prioritize WIP and near-term backlog Level out the workload Create continuous process flow and bring problems to the surface |
Portfolio dashboard |
| Status Report | Leader check understanding of work Review progress towards meeting goals (Actual vs Plan) Develop countermeasures Become a learning organization through reflection |
Order source metrics Financial metrics Service level metrics Portfolio dashboard |
| Capex/Billable Hours | Financial account reclassification for capital work or billable to customer | Billable hours report |
| Steering Committee | Regulate intake of new work (ROI, Current WIP, Capacity) Make decisions by consensus |
Group presentation and Discussion |
| Semi-Annual/Annual | ||
| Mid-year check-in/Annual review with direct reports | Check progress toward meeting goals with each employee Adjust goals if necessary Career development discussion Develop exceptional people and teams |
Annual plan Annuals goals |
| Annual Policy and Standard Work Review | Review and update all policies and leader standard work documentation Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment |
Policy documents |
Leader standard work is a precursor to managing for continuous improvement and culture change. It is the basis for a job description. But it’s way better than that because it focuses on a systematic and repeatable approach to collaboration, employee development, problem solving, and understanding the business.
After creating the list I set my calendar with recurring entries corresponding to the tasks (for those I didn’t already have set). It’s a start and continuation of the lean journey.
Onward and upward!
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