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The Process Improvement Method

Business Process Improvement Methodology

for GRAHAM PROCESS MAPPING SOFTWARE

TM

"Helping Mankind Organize"

The Ben Graham Corporation 6600 South Troy Frederick Road Tipp City, Ohio 45371 Tel 937.667.1032 & 800.628.9558 Fax 937.667.8690

[email protected] www.worksimp.com www.processchart.com

Business Process Improvement Methodology

for GRAHAM PROCESS CHARTING SOFTWARE

An Introduction to Work Simplification

The Ben Graham Corporation

 Copyright 1999, The Ben Graham Corporation

The Ben Graham Corporation 6600 South Troy Frederick Road Tipp City, Ohio 45371 Tel 937-667-1032 & 800-628-9558 Fax 937-667-8690

[email protected] www.worksimp.com

Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 5 How to Gather the Facts..................................................................................... 7 Basic Fact Gathering Guidelines ..................................................................... 7 Walk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand .......... 7 Observe & interview .................................................................................. 7 Document the facts ................................................................................... 8 Why are We Gathering Facts? ........................................................................ 8 How to Initiate Fact Gathering......................................................................... 9 Public Announcement ............................................................................... 9 Common Sense Protocol .............................................................................. 10 Where to Get the Facts ........................................................................... 10 Introduction to the Employee at the Workplace ...................................... 10 Respect ................................................................................................... 11 Recording Technique .................................................................................... 12 Recording Data ....................................................................................... 12 The Authority of the Facts ....................................................................... 12 Observation ............................................................................................. 13 Level of Detail .......................................................................................... 13 Defused Resentment .............................................................................. 14 Discovering Instant Improvements .......................................................... 14 How to Keep the Data Organized ................................................................. 16 Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline ................................... 16 Working Quickly ...................................................................................... 17 Same Day Capture of Data ..................................................................... 17 The Graham Process Charting Method .......................................................... 19 Why Prepare Process Charts........................................................................ 19 Narrative .................................................................................................. 20 Process Chart .......................................................................................... 21 Ease of Reading ...................................................................................... 21 How to Prepare Process Charts .................................................................... 22 We Chart Horizontally ............................................................................. 22 The Horizontal Lines ............................................................................... 22 The Symbols ................................................................................................. 23 The Eight Symbols Defined ..................................................................... 23 The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the Symbols ................................... 24

Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar of Charting ............................. 26 The Subjects (Names - Labels) ............................................................... 26 The Verbs (Actions - Symbols) ............................................................... 27 Completing The Sentences ..................................................................... 29 Conventions .................................................................................................. 33 Opening Bracket ..................................................................................... 33 Closing Bracket ....................................................................................... 33 Effect ....................................................................................................... 34 Alternative Processing of a Document .................................................... 35 Alternatives & Rejoins ............................................................................. 35 Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector Label ................................. 37 Determining How Much to Include on a Chart ........................................ 40 Connector Labels .................................................................................... 42 Stop/Start Convention ............................................................................. 43 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 43 Working With Employee Teams ...................................................................... 45 Who Should be Included ............................................................................... 45 Specialized Systems Skills ............................................................................ 46 Organizing Experience .................................................................................. 47 Team Member Roles..................................................................................... 48 Team Leader ........................................................................................... 48 Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External) .................................... 48 Team Recorder ....................................................................................... 49 Team Size ..................................................................................................... 49 Meeting Agendas .......................................................................................... 49 Meeting and Project Duration........................................................................ 50 Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy ............................................... 53 What is Work Simplification?......................................................................... 53 Where is Work Simplification used?.............................................................. 54 When is Work Simplification used? ............................................................... 54 Who does Work Simplification? .................................................................... 54 How is Work Simplification done? ................................................................. 54 Why do we simplify work? ............................................................................. 55 Appendix B - A Brief History ............................................................................ 57 Frank B. Gilbreth ........................................................................................... 57 Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth..................................................................................... 59 Allan H. Mogensen ........................................................................................ 61 Ben S. Graham ............................................................................................. 64 Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. ................................................................................. 66 Index ................................................................................................................... 67 2

Introduction
This booklet is intended to help you use Graham Process Charts effectively. It does not deal exclusively with the software. It addresses the much larger subject of process improvement. It explains how to gather the facts required to draw Graham Process Charts, how to draw Graham Process Charts and how to work with project teams. At the turn of the century Frank Gilbreths desire to discover the one best way to perform any task led him to develop a collection of tools that clearly define work steps and make potential improvements obvious. These tools are the organizational foundation of work simplification the organized application of common sense. Work Simplification established a solid foothold in the early 1930s when Allan Mogensen hurdled a major obstacle to improvement (worker resistance to being changed) by handing over the tools to the operating people. In the 1940s, Ben S. Graham, Sr. brought the methods from the factory into the office where he introduced the Graham Process Chart that adapted the methodology to multiple information flows. He wholly embraced employee involvement and developed an employee team approach for process improvement. Drawing Graham Process Charts is not difficult, and although it is a small part of the improvement process, IT IS VITAL. This booklet introduces you to the basics of Graham Process Charting and will help you see how process charting fits into the improvement process. More detailed technical guidance for the software, with example illustrations, is available in the online Help. Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

How to Gather the Facts

The fact gathering associated with process improvement is a very volatile activity because it tends to create fears about job change and job loss. The skills and the integrity of the professional can go a long way toward reducing these anxieties and gaining cooperation. Skills enable the professional to collect critical, relevant data easily and assure that once collected it will not be lost. But, integrity is more important. It includes making sure that the focus of improvement treats people as a resource to be utilized and not an expense to be cut (see Why are We Gathering Facts?). In addition, you should make sure that you always gather data from the person who is the top authority in the organization with respect to that data, that is, the person doing the work. Then treat that person with the respect due a top authority. Most work processes pass through departmental boundaries. The improvement teams set up to study them need to include representatives from the different departments. A professional who is good at preparing process charts can be a great help to interdepartmental teams by gathering and organizing the facts and putting a clear picture of the process in front of them.

Basic Fact Gathering Guidelines

Walk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand
Dont trust detail to memory Observe more than one work cycle and worker when applicable - but dont try to chart every variation Dont look for faults Represent the NORMAL work cycle Be methodical - follow and list steps in order Work quickly - use the charting symbols as a note taking shorthand Clarify uncertainties - err to the side of too much information Be accurate and legible - so the data can be audited/reviewed Once charted, walk the path again for verification

Observe & interview

Observe & interview the people who do the work, not managers Observe & interview at the work area Get facts primarily from observation - people can usually show you faster than they can describe 7

Demonstration is much closer to reality than words Stick to simply identifying steps and avoid detail of how steps are performed - this saves an enormous amount of time Respect work schedules and job-related interruptions Assume the role of fact finder - the people are the experts Make sure people understand what you are doing and why they are involved - because they are the experts

Document the facts

Note WHAT is done at each step Note where the work is located at the start of the process and with each transportation note where it goes Note when the process begins and the amount of time with each delay as well as any other time-consuming steps Note who is doing the work each time the person doing the work changes Avoid getting into detail of HOW it is done Save WHY for analysis

Organize the facts with a process flow chart Chart the items of the process as horizontal lines Each item line begins with a LABEL for identification Each work step is identified by a symbol that represents what happens to the item at that point in the process The symbols appear in sequence along the item lines

Why are We Gathering Facts?

The first question that must be answered before we set out to gather facts is, Why are we doing this? What are we planning to do with these facts? Our answer should be to improve the way we do our work so that we can use our resources to provide better products and services. If we are looking to change the way we do our work so that we can cut our staff (get rid of some of our resources), we are destined for failure. It is unfortunate that even in organizations that have never used innovation to cut staff and have no intention of doing so, fact gathering presents a threat. Fact gathering is usually required in the early stages of major work improvement projects. Strangers appear in the work areas asking questions about procedures. Too often this is how employees first get wind that an improvement 8

project exists. New employees dont know the organizations history. Employees may suspect that new executives will do things differently. Employees know that many other companies are cutting. The newspapers are full of it. There is always a first time. Fact gathering implies changing work methods. This threatens employee livelihood. Employees whose jobs are under study are likely to become anxious. Their anxieties will be increased if there have been announcements or rumors of staff reduction. These anxieties may prompt employees to interfere with the project by distorting or withholding data and attempting to discredit the project. Or, worse yet, some of the best employees may suddenly quit and go elsewhere. There is a simple way to avoid these problems. Dont enter into work improvement with the objective of cutting staff. Instead, direct improvement at providing the best products and services by using the best work methods. The focus is on the work, not the people. People are a resource to be utilized, not an expense to be cut. Work methods that waste their time will be changed. Work methods that better utilize their time will be incorporated. Make sure the employees understand this!

How to Initiate Fact Gathering

Public Announcement
A public announcement can go a long way toward inspiring cooperation. It can also forestall the anxieties discussed in Why are We Gathering Facts?. The people working in the areas affected by the project are informed that a five or ten minute meeting will be held at the end of a work shift and that a senior executive has an important announcement. (This senior executive should be a person whose authority spans the entire project.) The meeting includes an announcement of the project, its objective, who is involved in it, a request for the support of all employees and an invitation for questions. It is conducted by the executive mentioned above because it is important that statements about the intent of the project be made by someone who has the authority to stand behind his or her words. It is also helpful for the executive to introduce the analyst and the team members who have been assigned to the project. The issue of staff cuts may be introduced by the executive or may surface as a question. (Or, it may not arise at all in organizations where loss of employment is a non-issue.) If it is addressed, it should be answered directly and forcefully. I guarantee there will be no loss of employment because of work improvement. 9

This is not a difficult guarantee for executives who genuinely believe that their people are their most valuable resource. (Note, this is not a guarantee that there will be no loss of employment. If we go long enough without improving our work, it is pretty certain that there will be loss of employment.) This meeting can also have constructive side effects. One is that the analyst gets a public introduction to the people from whom he or she will be gathering data. Simultaneously, everyone is informed of the reason for the project, making it unnecessary for the analyst to explain this at each interview. And, the explanation carries the assurances of the boss rather than an analyst.

Common Sense Protocol

Where to Get the Facts
It is critical that the analyst go where the facts are to learn about them. This means going where the work is done and learning from the people who are doing it. If there are a number of people doing the same work, one who is particularly knowledgeable should be selected or several may be interviewed. Whenever an analyst settles for collecting data at a distance from reality the quality of the analysis suffers. Guesses replace facts. Fantasy replaces reality. Where the differences are small the analyst may slide by, but professionals should not look to slide by. Where the differences are large the analyst may be seriously embarrassed when the facts surface. Meanwhile, the quality of the work suffers and in the worst cases major commitments to work methods are made, based on faulty premises. Review the facts at the workplace.

Introduction to the Employee at the Workplace

When we are gathering data, everywhere we go people are accommodating us, interrupting their work to help us do our work. The least we can do is show that we are willing to return the favor. One way of doing this is to make sure that the time of the interview is convenient for the employee. If it is not, agree to come back later. Occasionally an employee will suggest that it is an inconvenient time and ask that we come back later. Sometimes, however, the employee is seriously inconvenienced but for some reason does not speak up about it. A sensitive analyst may notice this. To be on the safe side it helps to ask, Is this a convenient time? Coming back later is usually a minor problem. Typically you have a number of places to visit. Pick a more convenient time and return. Dont be surprised if the 10

employee appreciates it and is waiting for you with materials set out when you return. Whatever you do, dont start suspecting that every time a person puts you off that person is trying to scuttle your work or is a bad actor. Assume the person is honestly inconvenienced and simply come back later. If someone puts you off repeatedly, it is still a minor inconvenience as long as you have data to collect elsewhere. Give the employees the benefit of the doubt, knowing that every time you accommodate them their debt to you grows. If you do in fact run into a bad actor and eventually have to impose a time, it is nice to be able to remind that person of how many times you have rescheduled for his or her benefit. At such times you will also appreciate the project-announcement meeting when the senior executive described the importance of the project and asked for their support. As you are about to start the interview, dont be surprised if the employee brings up a subject for idle conversation such as the weather, a sports event, a new building renovation, etc. People often do this when they first meet in order to size up one another (on a subject that doesnt matter) before opening up on subjects that are important. Since the purpose, on the part of the employee, is to find out what we are like we will do well to join in the conversation politely and respectfully. Then when it has continued for an appropriate amount of time, shift to the subject of the interview, perhaps with a comment about not wanting to take up too much of the employees time.

Respect
Most of the time analysts gather data from people at the operating levels who happen to be junior in status, file clerks, messengers, data entry clerks, etc. Be careful not to act superior. One thing we can do to help with this is to set in our minds that wherever we gather data we are talking to the top authority in the organization. After all, if the top authority on filing in the organization is the CEO, the organization has serious trouble. Dont treat this subject lightly. We receive a good deal of conditioning to treat people in superior positions with special respect. Unfortunately, the flip side of this conditioning leads to treating people in lesser positions with less respect. Unintentionally, analysts frequently show disrespect for operating employees by implying that the way they do their work is foolish. The analyst is usually eager to discover opportunities for improvement. When something appears awkward or unnecessarily time-consuming the analyst is likely to frown or smile, etc. In various ways the analyst suggests criticism or even ridicule of the way the work 11

is being done. The bottom line is that the analyst, with only a few minutes observing the work is implying that he or she knows how to do it better than a person who has been doing it for years. This is unacceptable behavior. Dont do it! Go to people to find out what is happening, not to judge what is happening. First get the facts. Later we can search out better ways and invite knowledgeable operating people to join us in that effort.

Recording Technique
Recording Data
The keys to effective data recording are a respect for facts and knowing how to look for them. You do not go into data collection with a preconceived notion of the design of the final procedure. You let the facts tell you what shape the procedure should take. But, you must be able to find facts and know how to record them. This is done by breaking down the procedure into steps and listing them in proper sequence, without leaving things out. The analyst keeps his or her attention on the subject being charted, follows its flow, step by step, and is not distracted by other subjects that could easily lead off onto tangents. The analyst becomes immersed in the data collection, one flow at a time and one step at a time. Record what is actually happening, not what should happen or could happen. Record without a preference. Let the facts speak for themselves. When you have them neatly organized and present them for study they will assert their authority as they tell their story.

The Authority of the Facts

There are two authority systems in every organization. One is a social authority set up for the convenience of arranging people and desks and telephones, dividing up the work and making decisions when there are differences of opinion. The other authority system is reality itself. Too often the former is revered and feared and attended to constantly, while the latter is attended to when time permits. Yet, whether we come to grips with the facts or not, they enforce themselves with an unyielding will of steel. Reality is - whether we are in touch with it or not. And, it is indifferent to us. It is not hurt when we ignore it. It is not pleased or flattered or thankful when we discover it. Reality simply does not care, but it enforces its will continuously. We are the ones who care. We care when reality rewards us. We care when 12

reality crushes us. The better we are able to organize our methods of work in harmony with reality, the more we prosper. When we deny reality or are unable to discover it, we are hurt. Period! So we enter into data collection with respect for reality. We demonstrate respect for the people who are closest to reality, who can offer us a glimpse of it. And, then we do our best to carefully record the unvarnished truth.

Observation
A person who has been doing a job for years will have an understanding of the work that goes well beyond his or her ability to describe it. Dont expect operating people to describe perfectly and dont credit yourself with hearing perfectly. Sometimes it is a lot easier for a person to show you what he or she does than to describe it. And, a demonstration may save a good deal of time. A person might be able to show you how the task is done in minutes but could talk about it for hours. Most people are able to speak more comfortably to a human being than to a machine. Furthermore, a tape recorder doesnt capture what is seen. If you are going to use a tape recorder, use it after you have left the interview site. It can help you to capture a lot of detail while it is fresh in your mind without causing the employee to be ill at ease.

Level of Detail
If you try to gather enough information so that you can redesign the procedure without having to get help from experienced employees you will need to collect enormous amounts of data and your project will be interminably delayed. For instance, if you are studying a procedure that crosses five desks and the five people who do the work each have five years of experience, together they have a quarter of a century of first-hand experience. There is no way that an analyst, no matter how skilled, can match that experience by interviewing. No matter how many times you go back there will still be new things coming up. Then if you redesign the procedure based solely on your scanty information your results will be deficient in the eyes of these more experienced people. It doesnt do any good to complain that they didnt tell us about some of the details after we have completed designing a defective procedure. While the analyst cannot match the employees detailed knowledge of what happens at their workplaces, it is not at all difficult to discover some things that they are unaware of, things that involve multiple workplaces. Save yourself a lot 13

of time by not bothering to record the details of the individual steps and concentrate on the flow of the work. It goes here. They do this. It sits. It is copied. This part goes there. That one goes to them. Etc. Never mind how they do the different steps. Just note the steps in their proper sequence. Then, when it comes time to analyze, you invite in those five people who bring with them their twenty-five years of detailed experience. Viola! You have the big picture (the flow of the work) and you have the detail (the experience). You have all that you need to discover the opportunities that are there.

Defused Resentment
When people who have been doing work for years are ignored while their work is being improved, there is a clear statement that their experience is not considered of value. When this happens people tend to feel slighted. When the organization pays consultants who have never done the work to come up with improvements, this slight becomes an insult. When the consultants arrive at the workplace trying to glean information from the employees so that they can use it to develop their own answers, how do you expect the employees to react? Do you think they will be enthusiastic about providing the best of their inside knowledge to these consultants? Here, let me help you show my boss how much better you can figure out my work than I can? Really! We dont have to get into this kind of disagreeable competition. Instead we honestly accept the cardinal principle of employee empowerment which is, The person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way of doing that job and therefore is the one person best fitted to improve it. Allan H. Mogensen, 1901-1989, the father of Work Simplification. By involving operating people in the improvement process you also reduce the risk of getting distorted or misleading data from them. Their experience is brought into improvement meetings, unaltered. If they get excited about helping to develop the best possible process they will have little reason to distort or withhold the data.

Discovering Instant Improvements

Dont grab the credit for Instant Improvements. During data collection, certain opportunities for improvement surface immediately. Some of them are outstanding. The analyst discovers, for instance, that records and reports are being maintained that are destroyed without ever being used. Time-consuming duplication of unneeded records is found. Information is delivered through round14

about channels creating costly delays. The only reason these opportunities were not discovered earlier by the employees is that the records had never been followed through the several work areas. These instant improvements simply werent visible from the limited perspective of one office. The people preparing the reports had no idea that the people receiving them had no use for them and were destroying them. The people processing redundant records had no idea that other people were doing the same thing. These discoveries can be clearly beneficial to the organization. However, they can be devastating for the relationship between the analyst and the operating employees. The problem lies in the fact that the analyst discovers them. This may delude the analyst into believing that he or she is really capable of redesigning the procedure without the help of the employees. After all, they have been doing this work all these years and never made these discoveries. I found them so quickly. I must be very bright. Most people spend a great deal of their lives seeking confirmation of their worth. When something like this presents itself an analyst is likely to treasure it. It becomes a personal accomplishment. It is perceived as support for two judgments, I am a lot better at this than those employees. and Employees in general are not capable of seeing these kinds of things. Both of these judgments are wrong. The credit goes to the fact that the analyst was the first person with the opportunity to follow the records through their flow. If any one of those employees had had a chance to do the same thing the odds are that the results would have been the same. The analyst is apt to alienate the employees if he or she grabs the credit for these discoveries. If this prompts the analyst to proceed with the entire design of the new procedure without the help of the employees he or she will be cut off from hundreds of finer details, any one of which could seriously compromise the effort. Taking credit for these early discoveries is likely to alienate employees even if they are invited into the improvement activity. For instance, it is not uncommon for an analyst who is about to go over a new process chart with a group of users to start by telling them about the discoveries made while preparing the chart. This can appear very innocent, but the fact is, analysts do this in order to get the credit for the discoveries before the team members have a chance to spot them. The analyst knows very well that as soon as the employees see the chart those discoveries will be obvious to them as well. 15

An analyst who realizes that the enthusiastic involvement of the team members is much more important than the credit for one idea or another will want to keep quiet about early discoveries until after the employees get a chance to study the chart. In doing this, the analyst positions himself or herself to provide professional support to knowledgeable employees. Soon, they make these obvious discoveries for themselves and this encourages them to become involved and excited about the project. It makes it theirs. In the end the analyst shares the credit for a successful project rather than grabbing the credit for the first few ideas in a project that fails for lack of support.

How to Keep the Data Organized

One important characteristic of professional performance is the ability to work effectively on many assignments simultaneously. Professionals have to be able to leave a project frequently and pick it up again without losing ground. The keys to doing this well are: Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline Working Quickly Same Day Capture of Data

Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline

There is more professionalism in a well conceived set of file names and directories than there is in a wall full of certificates belonging to a disorganized person. For that matter, a three-ring binder with some dividers may do more good than another certificate. A professional simply keeps track of the information that he or she gathers. Perhaps the worst enemy of data organization is the tendency on the part of intelligent people, who are for the moment intensely involved in some activity, to assume that the clear picture of it that they have today will be available to them tomorrow and a week later and months later. One way of avoiding this is to label and assemble data as if it will be worked on by someone who has never seen it before. Believe it or not, that person may turn out to be you. A word about absentmindedness may be appropriate. When people are goaloriented and extremely busy they frequently find themselves looking for something they had just moments before. The reason is that when they put it down their mind was on something else and they did not make a record of where they put it. To find it again they must think back to the last time they used it and then 16

look around where they were at that time. Two things we can do to avoid this are:
1. 2. Develop the discipline of closure so that activities are wrapped up. Select certain places to put tools and materials and do so consistently.

Working Quickly
An analyst should take notes quickly. Speed in recording is important in order to keep up with the flow of information as the employee describes the work. It also shortens the interview, making the interruption less burdensome to the employee, and it reduces the probability that something will come up that forces the interview to be cut off. At the close of the interview it is a good idea to review the notes with the employee, holding them in clear view for the employee to see and then, of course, thank the employee for his or her help. Skill in rapid note-taking can be developed over time. This does not mean that we rush the interview. Quite the contrary. We address the person from whom we are gathering information calmly and patiently. But, when we are actually recording data we do it quickly and keep our attention on the person. For process analysis data gathering, we dont have to write tedious sentences. The charting technique provides us with a specialized shorthand (using the symbols and conventions of process charting in rough form).

Same Day Capture of Data

The analyst then returns to his or her office with sketchy notes, hastily written. These notes serve as reminders of what has been seen and heard. Their value as reminders deteriorates rapidly. While the interview is fresh in mind these notes can bring forth vivid recall. As time passes they lose this power. The greatest memory loss usually occurs in the first 24 hours. A simple rule for maximizing the value of these notes is to see that they are carefully recorded in a form that is clear and legible, the same day as the interview. The sooner after the interview this is done, the better. If this is postponed, the quality of the results suffers. What was clear at the time of the interview becomes vague or completely forgotten. Details are overlooked or mixed up. Where the notes are not clear the analyst may resort to guessing about things that were obvious a few days earlier. Or, to avoid the risk of guessing, the analyst goes back to the employee for clarification. This causes further inconvenience to the employee and creates an unprofessional impression. We can help ourselves, in this regard, by scheduling to keep the latter part of the work day free for polishing up notes on days when we are collecting data. 17

18

The Graham Process Charting Method

Graham Process Charting is the definitive tool for business process improvement. Graham Process Charting provides a picture of the process with enough detail to allow (and stimulate) common sense improvement ideas by the people who do the work. By the people who do the work is the key. This methodology has been successfully applied by thousands of organizations across the United States, Canada and around the world for over fifty years. It has accounted for BILLIONS of dollars in productivity improvement savings. The reason this methodology has endured and been so successful is that it has put the responsibility for making changes directly into the hands of the people who should be making changes the people who, day in and day out, are actually doing the work.

Why Prepare Process Charts

We prepare charts to improve our understanding of processes and, in turn, our performance. Some of the advantages of well-prepared process charts are: Visual rather than semantic. Break down the process into steps, using symbols. Steps are easy to understand. Symbols are used consistently. Complex connections and sequences are easily shown. Any part of the process can be located immediately.

For comparison, consider the difference between looking at a map and reading a narrative. The map is a single page. The narrative is a book. Each street drawn on the map would require at least a paragraph in the book with a sentence defining its start, another defining its end and others needed for each bend. Some of these paragraphs would be many pages long. Furthermore, each street intersection would require two footnotes cross-referencing the two paragraphs representing the two streets. Rivers and shorelines would require extremely complex sentences. Writing this narrative would be terribly time-consuming and the finished product would be next to incomprehensible. When an organization attempts to document its procedures using narrative only the results are similar. To compound the problem the preparation is terribly slow. When, or if, completed these narratives are often very costly and consider19

ably out-of-date. Sadly, even if they were completely up-to-date they would be of little help because they are so hard to follow. This is not a criticism of words. Words are powerful and we certainly use them on our charts. However, we also use lines and symbols that not only save many words, they also guide the reader through the complexities of the process conveying very easily things that words alone simply do not express. To better understand the comparison between a narrative and a process chart compare the following Form A Procedure which is written out carefully in narrative form and then displayed in process chart form. Never mind that the procedure is artificial and therefore of little consequence. It could just as well be a part of a procedure for preparing medication, issuing a license, hiring a new employee, granting a loan, etc. The purpose of this exercise is only to illustrate the relative ease of communicating by each method. Be honest with yourself as you make this comparison. Read both as though the procedure is very important and you must understand it. Even though you have been reading narratives for years and may be looking at a process chart for the first time in your life you should be able to see the advantages of the chart. By the way, the narrative contains 333 words while the chart contains 81. Finally, dont allow the apparent pettiness of the exercise to arouse general feelings of dislike for red tape and impatience with detail. Ignoring the detail does not make it go away. People die, justice fails and all manner of plans go awry because we are overwhelmed with detail. We prepare charts in order to understand and keep track of the detail and do a better job.

Narrative
Form A Form A is found in the Pending File which is located in Department V. Clerk 1 removes Form A from the Pending File and uses it to write Form B.(1, see Form B) Clerk 1 also uses Form A to check that Form B has been properly written and when errors are found Clerk 1 corrects them.(2, See Form B) Clerk 1 then enters the form number from Form B onto Form A.(3, see Form B) Form A is then carried by Messenger 1 to Department W. Clerk 2 uses Form A to pull the matching copy of Form C from the Form Number File.(4, see Form C) and attaches it to form A.(5, see Form C) Messenger 2 carries Form A, with Form C attached, to Department Z. Form B Form B is Written by Clerk 1 using Form A.(1, see Form A) Form B is checked against 20

Form A by Clerk 1 who corrects errors as necessary.(2, see Form A) Clerk 1 then enters the number of Form B on Form A.(3, see Form A) Clerk 1 then sorts Form B by region. Form B, Northern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department X. Clerk 3 enters a date stamp on Form B. Form B, Southern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department Y. Clerk 4 enters information from Form B in the Southern Region Log Book.(6, see Southern
Region Log Book)

Southern Region Log Book On receipt of copies of Form B, Clerk 4 enters information from them in the Southern Region Log Book.(6, see Form B, Southern Region) Form C Form C is found in the Form Number File in Department Y. Upon receipt of the matching copy of Form A, Clerk 2 pulls Form C from file.(4, see Form A) Clerk 2 attaches Form C to Form A.(5, see Form A) Messenger 2 carries Form C, attached to Form A, to Department Z.

Process Chart

Ease of Reading
Perhaps as you were reading you noticed what happened when it became confusing. More than likely you had to back up and reread. With the narrative you might reread over and over again and still find it confusing. With the chart, as you glanced back the pieces seemed to fall into place. You were getting the picture. A psychologist might tell you you were building a gestalt. The important thing is that understanding comes much more easily with a chart than with a narrative. 21

How to Prepare Process Charts

We Chart Horizontally
Large horizontal charts are much easier to draw and to display than large vertical charts. Our charts are large because we often use them to guide discussions of improvement groups. It is easier and more effective for team members to work together with a large chart than with individual small charts. Even a very large horizontal chart (20 or 30 feet long) can be displayed easily at eye level. A vertical chart becomes awkward when it gets over 2 or 3 feet long. It has to be cut into pieces. Sometimes we add notes connecting the lines at the bottom of one page to the top of the next. Then the reader has to memorize these notes and mentally put the chart back together. It would have been much easier if we had simply turned the chart horizontal and left it together. Even in drawing the chart, horizontal is easier. It is easier to move the hand from side to side than up and down whether handling a template or a mouse. And, it is easier to turn the head and shift the eyes horizontally. But, these are minor side benefits. The important thing is that horizontal charts are easy for others to read.

The Horizontal Lines

The horizontal lines on the charts represent physical items (documents, products, parts, email, files, database records, reference books, fax pages...). Each item is assigned a horizontal line that begins with a label (containing the item name) and ends with a period (signifying we have charted all that we intend to cover, of that item, on this chart). The key items of a process may be charted in their entirety, from origination to final disposal.

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The Symbols
The Eight Symbols Defined
Symbols representing the steps in the processing of an item are placed on the lines. They appear in the sequence in which the steps occur, reading from left to right. The symbols provide us with a set of categories for breaking the process into common elements. Transportation This symbol shows the movement of an item from one work area to another. Storage or Delay This symbol shows that the item is doing nothing, sitting, for a period of time. This symbol usually accounts for most of the processing time. Inspection This symbol shows when an item is being checked to see if it is correct. Handling Operation This symbol shows operations that involve handling the item but do not affect the information on the item. Do Operation This symbol is used in a product flow rather than an information flow and shows a physical change to the product. Origination Operation This symbol is used to show the first time information is entered on a item. Add/Alter Operation This symbol is used each time information is entered or changed on the item after the Origination. Destroy Operation This symbol shows the destruction of an item.

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The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the Symbols

The symbols were developed by process of elimination so that they are mutually exclusive, comprehensive and universally applicable. These powerful advantages account for the fact that they have been in use for many decades and are used world-wide today. They provide us with a common language that helps us discover many common-sense improvement opportunities. In learning to work with these symbols it is helpful to understand their mutually exclusive pattern. The following seven statements slice the world of work into the eight categories represented by the symbols: 1. The arrow stands for movement. Therefore the other seven symbols are stationary. 2. The triangle stands for nothing happening. Therefore we have six symbols that are stationary, where something is happening. 3. Of those six stationary things that we do, one involves checking what we do. The other five we call operations, which, by process of elimination, are doing something at a work place other than checking work. The square stands for the checking and the circles and the jagged line are the operations. 4. Of the five operations, three involve adding value to the items (physical change) and two do not. The solid circle, bullseye and shaded circle involve added value. The blank circle and the jagged line do not involve added value. 5. Of the three that add value, one, the solid circle adds value to a product by physically changing it. The other two, the bullseye and the shaded circle add value to an item (document, record, email...) by changing the information on it. 6. Of the two that involve changing the information on an item, one, the bullseye, represents the first time we enter information. Therefore the other, the shaded circle, represents all of the subsequent times that information is added to or altered on the item throughout its life. 7. Of the two that do not affect the information, one, the jagged line, represents the destruction of the item. Therefore the other, the blank circle, represents all operations that do not add value except for destruction.

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Moving
1

Stationary

Nothing Happening
2

Something Happening

Checking
3

Doing

Adding Value
4

Not Adding Value

Physically Change Product

5

Change Information on Item

First Information on Item

6

Change Information after First Time

Does Not Add Value or Destroy

7

Destroy

The Origination and Destroy Operations are signficant in information processing in that the Origination Operation identifies the introduction of new items into the process and the Destroy Operation identifies the termination of existing items. 25

Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar of Charting

The purpose of charting is better understanding. The lines and symbols help us to write short crisp sentences for every step in the process, that tell the reader: What is happening and what it is happening to. Where it is happening. When it is happening. Who is doing it, if there is a person involved. We dont get the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it is done. We dont get the reader tangled up in opinions as to WHY we should or should not do it. Here is how we write those sentences.

The Subjects (Names - Labels)

The lines on our charts represent items. The items are the subjects of sentences. Since every line begins with a label (a rectangle) that contains the document name, we already have the subjects for all of our sentences as soon as we have the chart properly labeled. Labeling is, therefore, very important. Make sure that every line on your chart begins with a label, regardless of how few symbols there may be on that line. Once your chart is properly labeled all the reader has to do to find the subject is trace back along the line to the label. Voila! Labeling gives us a powerful method of sorting out subjects. Keep your presen-

tation clear and unambiguous with good labeling.

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The Verbs (Actions - Symbols)

The symbols represent actions and therefore provide us with a short list of action verbs. Because the symbols were developed by process of elimination they cover everything that can happen to a document. Therefore, they provide us with a very powerful list; in effect a full language, a common language for describing processes. Because the items involved in our process are the subjects of our sentences our sentences are passive rather than active. (The actions described by the verbs are happening to these subjects rather than stating what the subjects are doing.) This sentence structure is generally avoided as a matter of literary style but we are not creating literature, we are telling people how items are processed. To make our sentences active we would use the person who is performing the action as the subject of each sentence. This, unfortunately, would tend to put the people under study rather than the process and we will be better off not to do that. Each symbol has its own implied meaning. These meanings are rather broad and we can sharpen them by supporting them with more specific verbs, as shown on the next page.

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SYMBOL

IMPLIED VERB Do

ALTERNATIVE, MORE SPECIFIC VERBS The implied meaning is too general. Indicate the type of action with verbs: painted, milled, drilled, cut, assembled. Printed, filled in, written, completed. To be more specific indicate which entries are made: filled in heading. It helps to indicate the specific entries: signed, initialed, entered quantities, deleted back orders. The implied meaning is too general. Indicate the type of handling with verbs: sorted, filed, assembled, removed, separated, placed in jig, removed from lathe. The implied meaning is already specific. It may be made more specific by stating how it is destroyed: shredded, trashed, burned. The verb Checked is often used. More specific types of inspection include: verified, edited, proofread, tested. Verbs such as: sits, waits, held are effective. The implied meaning of the arrow is often sufficient and no verb is used. More specific verbs indicate how the document is moved: couriered, hand-carried, mailed.

Originate

Add to or Alter Handle

Destroy

Inspect

Store or Delay Move or Transport

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Completing The Sentences

By using the labels and symbols we have constructed rudimentary sentences for each step in the process. We have unambiguous subjects and clear-action verbs. To complete these sentences we use a technique passed down among students of journalism for generations. It is a very powerful technique that assures the journalist of writing a story that satisfies the curiosity of the reader. It is done by answering the six basic questions that form the framework of analysis, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHO, HOW AND WHY. We have adapted this technique to the unique communicating needs of process charting as follows: WHAT (Answer this question at every step) This is the broadest of the six questions and with process analysis it is the most important. Fortunately, the labels and the symbols cover this question. If we have followed the guidelines on the previous page, this question is well answered. WHERE (Answer at the first step of the chart and at each arrow.) The question WHERE addresses location, as does the arrow symbol. If we tell the reader where we are at the beginning of the process as well as each time the location changes, location will be easy to determine for every step of the chart. All the reader needs to do to find the location is to trace back to the last movement. Obviously, if we havent moved since then we must still be there. WHEN (Answer at every triangle and other time-consuming steps) The question WHEN deals with time. When studying processes the time we are interested in is really HOW LONG. We can answer this thoroughly by indicating next to each step how long it takes. The reader can then accumulate these times along the lines to determine how long it takes to get from any one step to any other. Since the vast majority of the processing time occurs at the triangles (storages and delays), we can cut back on this effort by answering the question WHEN only with the triangles. We will have accounted for the majority of the processing time. Then if we use good judgement and enter processing times on the nonstorage steps that are most time-consuming, ignoring those that require trivial amounts of time, we will have the question WHEN well answered.

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In addition to noting the approximate amount of time consumed by each triangle it is sometimes useful to indicate the condition or conditions which cause the storage to end. (e.g. Sits until receipt of Deed, Waits until Examination is Completed.) WHO (Do not emphasize. Introduce the players as they appear) It is important to focus the studies on the processes rather than on people. The object is to study the way we do things and put improved procedures into the hands of people. We are not studying people and we do not want to create the impression that our study is a criticism of people. An effective way of handling the question WHO is to name the person doing the work each time the person performing a step changes. Then leave the person as understood until a different person takes over. This not only reduces the emphasis on the people, it also avoids repetition in our descriptions that can be time-consuming and aggravating for the readers. Here is an example. Consecutive steps in a process might read, Filled out by the admissions clerk, carried to the records office by the admissions clerk, file set attached by the admissions clerk, placed in the pending tray by the admissions clerk.) This scenario is covered just as well if the phrase by the admissions clerk appears only with the first step. If we follow this pattern consistently the reader can always find out who the person is by tracing back along the line to the last person named. HOW (Answer infrequently and then, briefly) To prepare effective process charts we need to avoid getting caught up in endless detail. One of the places where this is apt to occur is with the question HOW. For instance, it could lead us into long discussions of the skills involved in figuring out what to enter on a form. Years of study and experience may go into making proper entries on forms, legal studies, medical studies, engineering studies, actuarial studies, accountancy, etc. All we need to show on our chart is that the entry was made. When it comes time to improve the procedure we will need to know more of the details but they should not encumber the chart. We can prepare our charts much more quickly by ignoring this detail. It will be supplied during the improvement meetings by people who are experienced at doing the work. The quality of the detail that they can provide will exceed, many fold, what we could put on our charts, regardless of how long we might work at preparing them. 30

For instance, if a process involves 5 or 6 work areas and we invite a person from each area who has 5 or 6 years of experience with that work we capture a quarter of a century or more of first-hand experience simply by inviting them to work with us. We could try to match their experience by questioning them and writing out what we learn. We would assemble reams of material, undoubtedly laced with errors stemming from the difference between what we were told and what we thought we heard. We would still have gained only a superficial understanding by comparison with what we get through the simple expedient of asking the right people to join us in improvement. We can avoid getting caught up in this futile effort at matching the skills of many experts by simply staying off the subject of HOW. A general rule which helps us to do this is to mention HOW only if it can be done in two or three words as follows: Filled in Count entered Filed Inspected by hand in ink by date against Std.#2080A

WHY (Do not answer on the Chart) On the chart, stick to the facts and save the WHY for analysis. Charts are more objective without reasons. When we analyze them we test the reasons rigorously and often find that the reasons that are normally assumed are not valid.

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Summary of Chart Grammar By adding just a few (usually two or three) words to each symbol we have written surprisingly complete sentences. Our subjects are clear, our verbs simple and the story is well told. We have given the reader: WHAT is happening, WHAT it is happening to, WHERE it is happening, WHO is doing the work, if there is a person involved, and we have avoided getting the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it is done and opinions as to WHY it should or should not be done.

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Conventions
Conventions are the conventional ways of drawing the lines that connect the symbols. If a process requires only one item and it is always processed with the same steps, it can be charted with a single line. We need only to label the line, list the steps in sequence and add appropriate words. However, very few processes are completed with a single item and even single items are not always processed the same way. Therefore, we need multiple lines for multiple items and for alternative processing of a single item. There are three conventional ways of charting three conditions which occur repeatedly with multiple items. They are: taking items apart, putting multiple items together and using one item to supply information in order to do something to another item. We refer to these conventions as an Opening Bracket (Separate), Closing Bracket (Combine) and Effect.

Opening Bracket
When documents are separated we draw a bracket opening from the left, followed by labels identifying the separated documents.

Closing Bracket
When items are combined we draw a bracket, closing to the right.

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Effect
When one item is used to supply information in order to do something to another item we draw an Effect -- a Vee or an inverted Vee pointing from the source item to the affected item. At the point of the Vee there will always be a symbol that shows what is being done to the affected item. Some examples of effects are: Information is copied from the source item onto the affected item. This may be the first time information has been entered on the item, in which case the symbol at the point of the Vee will be an Origination, or we may be adding information to an existing item, in which case we use the shaded circle.

Information on the source item is used to check information on the affected item.

Information on the source item is used to select the affected item.

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Alternative Processing of a Document

There are three conventional ways of charting alternative process flows that occur repeatedly in the charting process. They are: Branching into sub-routines for handling normal variations in the process flow. Branching into sub-routines for errors. Returning from a sub-routine to the standard flow.

We refer to these conventions as: Alternative Correction/Rejection Rejoin (and if it involves looping back in a process it will also include Connector Labels)

Alternatives & Rejoins

There are many conditions that cause flow lines to branch. Purchase orders involving millions of dollars may require much more complicated processing than those involving small amounts. Receiving tickets for office supplies are likely to be processed by different people than receiving tickets for factory supplies and they process them altogether differently. But these obvious differences just scratch the surface. The more closely we become involved in actual processes the more variations we discover. We find that all receiving tickets for office supplies are not processed in the same way. Receiving tickets for equipment are reviewed differently from those for supplies. If the supplies are replacement parts they are processed a little differently. If they were purchased from a particular supplier with whom we have a contract the treatment is a little different again. Or they may involve international customs, or partial shipments, or rentals, COD, demurrage, consignment, etc. Understanding these variations is often what distinguishes the most effective employees. They have learned the ropes. If we prepare our charts well they will include the ropes and help all of our employees to understand them and to be more effective. When we are charting alternatives we always have at least two paths, but there are often more. Since the paths all involve items that are correct they are all charted with solid lines. Generally, we think of the most common branch as 35

the main line and chart it straight ahead. Then, the less common alternatives branch up and/or down. (It may be helpful to think of the alternative convention as a fork in the road and there will be as many tines in the fork as there are alternative routes for the items.) Sometimes alternative paths rejoin. Sometimes alternative paths do not rejoin. Alternative paths do not loop backward. Here are some examples. A police officer routes an arrest report.

An office supervisor sorts sales inquiries.

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A cashier accepts payment in cash or by check.

A claims adjuster puts a special note on an international claim.

Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector Label

Whenever an inspection symbol appears on the chart there should be some indication of how the items that fail the inspection are processed. What do we do about the errors that is different from what we do with the others? When we are charting error-processing we almost always have two paths (unless the incorrect items are immediately corrected), one for the correct items and the other for those with the errors. We chart those that are correct straight ahead and branch off the line for those with errors. We use a solid line for those that are correct and a dotted line for those in error. Where errors are corrected the lines rejoin but where errors are rejected they do not. And, finally, errors may result in looping backward to repeat portions of a process. Here are several examples. A document, found to be in error, is set aside and later corrected. We chart the steps for the correct documents straight ahead on the line we have been using. We chart the steps for the incorrect documents along a dotted line that branches up or down from that line. At the point where 37

these lines separate we place a decision point -- a small solid circle. Once the steps needed for correction are completed and the document is ready for normal processing, the lines rejoin.

Documents with errors are sent to another department to be corrected. Once again the steps taken with those that are incorrect are not the same as with those that are correct. Once again we need two lines, a solid, straight line for those without errors and a dotted line branching up or down for those that contain errors.

A person doing an inspection simply corrects the errors as they are found. The flow is not altered except that there is a correction step for those with errors which is not required by those without errors. It is not necessary to show the correction on a separate dotted line and we may choose to ignore the correction step altogether. We can indicate what is happening in the description next to the symbol and this should be clear to people reading our chart.

However, we may want to call attention to the correction step because it is particularly time-consuming or for some other reason. We can chart a correction routine as follows:

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A credit clerk rejects an application and returns it to the field representative. In this case the dotted line does not return to the OK line. It simply terminates, although we may chart a number of steps before the line is ended.

An engineer returns a drawing to the drafting department for rework that involves repeating a sizeable portion of the process that is already charted. We use a Connector label with grid-coordinates and a Target Connector name that direct the reader to a Target Connector earlier on the chart where the process will re-start.

A supervisor asks for a re-write of a report. It is to be returned to the supervisor for a final check after the correction has been made.

In each of these cases we have shown what happens to documents found to be in error. The decision points and the dotted lines make it easy to find and follow the correction routines. Notice that there is text located next to each of the lines, after the decision point, to identify the lines. The Rejoin leads the reader back to the main flow after the correction and the Connector label provides us with a great deal of flexibility where processes loop back. 39

Determining How Much to Include on a Chart

Because we chart in detail it is unrealistic to attempt to cover all of the items that appear on our charts from their originations to their final dispositions. That would be somewhat like trying to draw a local street map that follows all roads as far as they go. Each local street map would become a map of a continent. We prepare local street maps by deciding on the area we would like to cover on one particular map and ignoring what lies beyond. We do the same thing when we draw process charts. We select a process to chart, record what is central to that particular process and ignore what is less relevant. This is not always completely obvious. Sometimes relevance seems to be a matter of degree. But as we work at it we find there is a rationale to it that makes sense, as follows: We receive many documents from other organizations. Customers send us orders. Vendors send us bills. Transportation carriers send us shipping manifests. Rarely will we chart what happened to these documents before they got to us.

Also, note the Price Tag and the Customer ID in the Sales Process illustrated on page 43. The prior processing of those documents is not relevant to this Sales Process.

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We are charting a procedure in which our company is required to submit information to a government office. It would be unlikely that we would chart what the government office does with those records, although at times we might be curious. We simply end the line at the point where the information leaves our offices.

Again note the Sales Slip on page 43. We are not concerned with what the customer does with it after the sale.

The same thing happens with items that are prepared and processed completely within our own offices. For instance, our hiring processes affect payroll records, insurance records, health records, etc. When we chart the hiring process there is no need to include all of the processes that are touched by the hiring process. If we had a compulsive urge to follow every record to its end we would be in trouble. We could start out charting a hiring process and find ourselves charting payroll processes. We then find that the payroll processes get involved with production records. The production records flow into inventory records. The Inventory records are reduced by sales records. That compulsive urge can turn each project into a study of the entire organization. Rather than getting into all of those areas, we chart the hiring process by focusing on the key hiring records only. We chart them thoroughly, avoiding tangents.

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Connector Labels
Because we cannot follow all items, many appear only briefly on our charts. Since we have little interest in what happened to them before we received them or after we sent them on, we build no records of those portions of the processes. As our charting activities mature we accumulate libraries of processes. Eventually we find that lines that run off one chart can be found on another. To help readers follow a document from one chart to another we use chart Connectors. We place a Connector label after the last symbol on the chart that the document is leaving. It contains the name of the chart where further processing can be found and the grid coordinates on that chart where this document will first appear.

We place a Target Connector label before the label on the chart into which the item has entered. It contains an identifier name that corresponds to the Goto Connector on the chart from which the item came.

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Stop/Start Convention
In most of the places where we show a part of the flow of a document the missing data are at the begining or the end of the flow line. They are the equivalent to roads which run off the edge of the map. However, there are times when there is a portion of a process that we choose not to chart that is in the middle of a flow. In these cases we use a Stop/Start convention as follows: We are charting an automobile insurance application and our process includes sending a request for information to the Motor Vehicle Bureau. In this case we are interested in the processing prior to and after sending the request, so we would use a Stop/Start convention and put a few words in the Stop/Start to indicate what happened in the portion of the process that we are not charting.

Conclusion
These are charting basics. Work with them. Become comfortable with them and you will be able to chart anything in the world of information processing. As you use your charts with teams you will find that the care that you have taken in preparing your charts will make them easy for others to follow. They are far easier to read than to prepare. Team members will see how their own work affects and is affected by the work of others and opportunities for improvement will become apparent. Sometimes ideas seem to leap off the charts. You can raise the level of process understanding and the level of cooperation within your organization. You can help your people to discover and bring about improvements. You can be a part of raising the level of process mastery in your organization.

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Working With Employee Teams Who Should be Included

Team members should represent all of the areas that are affected by the process under study. When choosing team members, firsthand experience should be the top priority. Dont underestimate the value of experience. It is accumulated imperceptibly and tends to be taken for granted. Yet, it is a vast resource, not to be squandered. For instance: Cab drivers routinely learn the streets of enormous cities, the many locations of traffic snarls, including unique features of each one, timing of factory and office hours, theaters, sports events, effects of weather, alternative routes, even the timing of the stop lights, bus and subway schedules, hotel check-in and check-out patterns, etc. They generally keep current on recent traffic changes, construction, etc. And, they learn how to work a dispatching system, how to keep their vehicle operating and in the best place at the right time. They learn about different customers too, individual customers, groups of customers, danger signs with customers, crimes specific to their business, police enforcement and very much more. This is not some young person who started driving yesterday. This is that same person several years of cabbing later. And cab drivers are by no means the epitome of experience in our society. There is an equivalent to learning the streets of a city in jobs of inventory control, processing insurance claims, nursing, time-keeping, coordinating research projects, shipping and receiving, processing sales orders, air traffic control, accounts payable, building maintenance, pricing, loan processing, licensing, etc. There are people with different but equally appropriate and necessary experience working throughout our organizations. They are the principal reason organizations get things done. Find those people and you have found the most important ingredient needed for developing procedures that make sense.

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When there are several people who have first-hand experience with the same tasks chose the one who is the most knowledgeable. More on this choice: Do not choose a person because he or she can be easily spared. The goal is to build the best possible experience into the process. Dont ignore first-hand experience because of a notion that people with experience get so used to the way things are done that they cant view their work creatively. It is far easier to get experienced people to view their work creatively, with fresh eyes than to provide experience (as described above, equivalent to knowing a city) to people who have fresh eyes from seeing the work for the first time. Both experience and fresh eyes are needed to create process improvements that will work. If you want people on the team who do not have first-hand experience, include them in addition to first-string veterans. Do not accept process revisions until they make sense to and have the support of these, your best operating people. The fact that these people may be tough to satisfy makes the revisions all the better.

Specialized Systems Skills

Where specialized skills involving systems technology (imaging, LANS, programming changes, etc.) are required, team members who have experience in those areas should be included. Team members with operating experience and those with systems experience serve on a team as equals. All team members must keep the priority of developing a best procedure ahead of any desire to be involved with impressive technology. Team members from operations should not become enamored of technology and abdicate their responsibility. When the new procedure is installed it must work and their role is to see to it that operating needs are met. Team members representing technology must act in a support role to operations. Team members from operations should keep to their areas of experience, which is their strength. They should only redesign the work of areas represented on the team. If the project expands, bring in additional people at least while working with the newly included areas. 46

Team members representing technology should keep to application, not advancing systems technology, while they are serving a team. Confucius spoke to these issues 2,500 years ago: Man can make system great, It isnt system that makes man great. and The ancients never exaggerated for fear they would not live up to the lofty expectations.

Organizing Experience
The more a person knows about a subject the harder it is to explain, particularly to others who do not have the same in-depth experience. Do not assume that a person who knows a great deal about a subject will: Be able to articulate the subject. Have ready answers for improving methods. Assume only that operating experience will provide the understanding of conditions needed to figure out the best answers. Conversely, the less you know about something the easier it is to explain everything you know. Do not assume that an articulate and creative person unencumbered by experience will: Know the necessary details. Have answers that will work. Do assume that if we organize our facts and our talents we have a chance of coming up with procedures as good as our people, an accomplishment not often found in bureaucracy. When people ignore experience it is easier to assimilate the facts because there are fewer of them. They are ignoring facts. Dont confuse ignoring facts with organizing them. Facts do not cease to be relevant because we ignore them. The role of the Graham Process Chart is to organize facts so that people who have experience can work their way through the processes they share and develop best solutions.

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Team Member Roles

Team Leader
A team benefits from having a leader who: Chairs the meetings. Makes assignments. Coordinates with other groups. The team leader should be a person with first-hand experience from an area of operations central to the process, who has the respect of the other team members. Team leaders are often chosen by the team members.

Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External)

A Consultant (Internal or External) assigned to a team can do an excellent job of preparing the Graham Process Charts. This can also be the same person who serves as Recorder. The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts must do this work in an uninterrupted block of time. (For Instance: If a two day (16 hour) chart were prepared by a person giving it one hour a day it would take considerably longer than 16 days to prepare because of all the stopping and starting. A two day task is completed in five or six weeks. Spending weeks to accomplish what could be done in days destroys project momentum.) The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts should be skilled at charting but does not need to know the details of operations. (For Instance: You do not have to know nuclear physics to record that the scientist initials the proposal. You dont have to be a police officer to record that an officer completes the arrest report.) The person who prepares the charts will be the first to spot some obvious improvements but should refrain from suggesting them to the team until the team members have had a chance to become thoroughly familiar with the chart and make some of these discoveries for themselves (See Recording Techniques Discovering Instant Improvements). If the team members discover the obvious for themselves the mystery of process 48

improvement disappears and you get an involved team. Once they are involved, they can bring to bear on the process their wealth of intuitively available experience. This tends to be an issue over who will get the credit for the ideas. This choice is usually between getting all of the credit for a superficial and ineffective change, or a share of the credit for a carefully thought through, well supported, successful change. This is what teamwork is all about. The person who prepares the charts can greatly facilitate the improvement effort by recharting the process between meetings to reflect the ideas of the team. The goal should be to hold meetings that require little time and generate large numbers of quality ideas.

Team Recorder
There should also be a person attending to the records of the team, who: Records ideas as they come up so they wont be lost. Records assignments. Assembles documentation, copies of forms, reports, charts, etc.

Team Size
If, in order to represent the different areas of a procedure more than eight people are needed, break the project into sub-projects. When sub-projects are used, the team leaders of the sub-projects should meet together periodically to coordinate their work.

Meeting Agendas
Improvement meetings involve: Reviewing the current method. Questioning the steps in sequence. Generating ideas. First eliminate the unnecessary. Then make sure the necessary is done: at the right time. in the right place. by the right person. 49

Then consider how it is done, which usually involves technology. Note, you should not start with automating and risk automating unnecessary work or automating with bad timing and poor choices of location and staff. Many improvements have the flavor of, We were planning to do something about that, one of these days. One of these days finally arrives. The best improvements are usually simple, surprisingly simple. They have a feeling of good sense about them. Team members often feel a bit awkward that they hadnt made the changes sooner. It is easy for a team to get off on tangents. (i.e. Fantasizing sweeping solutions, fretting over anticipated management reactions, drifting into areas beyond the project scope, etc.) Use the chart to get the team back on the subject.

Meeting and Project Duration

Keep the meetings short and on the subject - one to two hours. With a well-prepared chart and a team of the right people, three or four meetings spaced over a week or two are sufficient to analyze most procedures. More on the Right People: If you have the wrong people it doesnt matter how long you have them. They will not have access to the detail that they need and as soon as they start making assumptions (in order to complete the project) they will begin to build in flaws. Experienced people would not have made these mistakes. With the wrong people you spend much more time and get inferior results. Delay is an enemy. Conditions that affect the procedure change. (i.e. market conditions, laws, technology, etc.) Team members are lost. Managements priorities change. Enthusiasm wanes. Stay on schedule. Dont try to design procedures that will be perfect for all time. 50

Do make things better than they have ever been, not by throwing everything out and replacing with all new, but by keeping what is good and making specific changes that are clearly better. Then consider how it is done, which usually involves technology. Note, you should not start with automating and risk automating unnecessary work or automating with bad timing and poor choices of location and staff. Many improvements have the flavor of, We were planning to do something about that, one of these days. One of these days finally arrives. The best improvements are usually simple, surprisingly simple. They have a feeling of good sense about them. Team members often feel a bit awkward that they hadnt made the changes sooner. It is easy for a team to get off on tangents. (i.e. Fantasizing sweeping solutions, fretting over anticipated management reactions, drifting into areas beyond the project scope, etc.) Use the chart to get the team back on the subject.

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Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy What is Work Simplification?

Work Simplification is the organized application of common sense to eliminate waste and find better and easier ways of doing work. It is a work study process that puts easily understood tools and techniques into the hands of employees and results in continuous improvement. Work Simplification involves the entire organization - with corporate vision provided from the top down and operating solutions provided from the bottom up. Work Simplification is a reality-based approach to conducting the conversation of mankind through which each group continually passes on the best that it has and the next group improves upon it. Work Simplification rejects those approaches that stifle this conversation (ie. approaches that encourage throwing out what we have and replacing it with all new... often creating more problems than they cure). Work Simplification recognizes that our strongest grip on reality is intuitive and only available to those who have lived there. Work Simplification is for rational adults who enjoy being alive, who accept that all is not perfect and are willing to use their abilities to make life better. Work Simplification is not for people with adolescent mentalities who think they have all the answers before they have begun the study. Work Simplification recognizes the work force as a resource to be treasured and utilized rather than an expense to be shed at the first opportunity. Work Simplification rejects making operating decisions at a distance from reality, the standard practice in bureaucracy and the central thread of insanity. Work Simplification recognizes that any time a less informed elite imposes its will on people who are more informed the results will be wasteful and distasteful. It does not matter if the elite is cognitive, ethnic, hereditary, religious, etc. Work Simplification is a practical way of living that is consistent with the way 53

most decent people believe life should be lived but like nutrition and exercise, it requires discipline.

Where is Work Simplification used?

It can be used wherever people would like to get more done, with better quality, in less time. It was first used extensively in manufacturing. It has also been used in farming, mining, petrochemicals, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, transportation, retail, insurance, banking, food processing, public utilities, hospitals, universities, consulting, engineering and research, and in government at all levels city, county, state, and federal, military and civilian.

When is Work Simplification used?

It is used when people are willing to take the time for it. It is an organized technique for continuously adjusting and refining the way we do our work - a way of life. It was first used in the US and Canada over fifty years ago and has since made its way around the world.

Who does Work Simplification?

It involves the people who have been doing, are doing and will continue to do the work. When the tools of improvement are put into the hands of the people who do the work they are able to find and install improvements quickly. The person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way of doing that job and is the one person best fitted to improve it. Allan H. Mogensen - The founder of Work Simplification.

How is Work Simplification done?

1. Select a particular process to improve. 2. List the steps of the process, with attention to detail. This software helps us to keep the data at the elemental level needed for realistic improvement.

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3. Question the steps of the work and find opportunities to improve - Why, What, Where, When, Who and How. (See Meeting Agendas, Working with Project Teams) Eliminate unnecessary steps Combine steps Smooth out the sequence of steps Change who does them Improve how they are done 4. Make sure that the people affected agree on the changes. 5. Do what has been figured out and agreed upon.

Why do we simplify work?

Sometimes we are pushed into simplification because of changing conditions: competition, technology, regulation, etc. We have to improve. But, we do not have to be pushed. We can improve by choice. We dont like to waste time. We want to be proud of what we are doing. We improve so that we and our organizations will be more successful. Or, we improve simply because there is a better way. Work simplification involves doing our best and for many responsible people there is no more reason needed.

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Appendix B - A Brief History Frank B. Gilbreth

On July 12th, 1885, a handsome young, third generation New Englander rode Bostons Columbus horsecar to his first job. Frank Bunker Gilbreth was five days past his seventeenth birthday, a high school graduate, wearing a crisp new pair of white, bricklayer overalls. He had impressed a partner of the Thomas J. Whidden Company, contractors and builders, who offered him an opportunity to learn the business from the bottom up and earn his way into partnership. Frank had passed examinations for entrance to MIT, but he decided against university studies in favor of this job. His university would be a scaffold and his first professors would be Tom Bowler, an IrishAmerican, and George Eaton, a Nova Scotian, both, to use Franks words, natural, rollicking, first-class human beings and top-notch journeyman bricklayers. On that scaffold, he gained an insight that transformed him into, perhaps, the greatest contributor of all time to industrial productivity. First he saw that each bricklayer used slightly different motions while accomplishing the same result. Then he noticed that the motions they used when demonstrating were not the same as those they used throughout the day. Later he saw different methods being used for difficult parts of the wall, others when the worker was rushed, etc. Instinctively, he sorted through these methods, looking for the best. In time, he became an excellent bricklayer and developed a method that incorporated the best he had seen plus new ideas of his own, including a bricklaying scaffold, which he patented. 57

By the age of 22, Gilbreth had improved a five-thousand-year-old job and had enabled bricklayers to lay brick faster with less effort and fatigue. On one particularly difficult type of wall, where the previous record had been 120 bricks per hour, his methods allowed them to lay 350 bricks, an increase in productivity of over 190%. This early success launched his lifelong search for the one best way for doing any of the tasks of life; a search he shared with his psychology-trained wife, Lillian, with their twelve children, with employees in his own company, and eventually with leaders of industry, academia, professional groups, government and mankind. Frank Gilbreth was certainly not the first or only person to find a better way of doing work, but he may have been the first to make that search the center of his life and apply it to all aspects of living. He began with a single, highly successful improvement, followed it with many more and eventually uncovered essential secrets of how to improve. Gilbreth developed a number of improvement tools that clearly display the facts of work and make improvement opportunities obvious. These tools include the flow process chart, therblig analysis, micro-motion study using motion pictures, the chronocyclegraph using special lighting techniques with cameras, factory layout modeling, measurement with predetermined times, and more.

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Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth

Trained in Industrial Psychology, Dr. Lillian Gilbreth brought an important human balance to the engineering of process improvement. She understood the importance of maintaining excellence through continuous improvement. We strive for the one best way, as of today. Of course, that one best way changes with time....Lillian M. Gilbreth She also understood the delicate relationship between employees and their work that ranges from enthusiastic, responsible performance through apathy to alienation. She supported the views presented in this material that call for employee involvement, continuous improvement and proud, enthusiastic performance. When Frank Gilbreth died unexpectedly in 1924 he was scheduled to speak at the first international management meeting to be held later that year in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Lillian went to Prague, delivered his address and returned to the U.S. to continue their work alone. She survived her husband by almost a half century and during that time wrote several books, lectured at numerous universities and professional meetings and carried on a running conversation through the mail with over 2000 people including leaders of nations, industry, academia and numerous friends and family. In spite of the fact that engineering at that time was almost exclusively a male discipline, Lillian not only worked in the field but she earned the admiration and respect of its leaders. She continued the raising and educating of her eleven children (one had died earlier of measles) and helped them all to complete college educations. The two eldest, Ernestine and Frank Jr. later wrote two marvelous best sellers describing their family, Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes. When Allan Mogensen began the Work Simplification Conferences in the thirties, they were based on Gilbreth material and Lillian was a major member of the Conference staff. In 1944, Ben Graham, Sr. attended this conference and when 59

he adapted the material to the simplification of information processing, he maintained a close association with both Lillian and Mogensen. Lillian participated in all of the twenty-one public workshops that he conducted. When Ben Sr. died in 1960 and the work was continued by Ben Jr., Lillian participated in all of the workshops through 1966.

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Allan H. Mogensen
I first met Allan Mogensen when I was a teenager while my father was attending his Work Simplification Conference at Lake Placid, New York in 1944. I recall him as a dynamic man, usually in the center of a discussion or racing about in his grey Mercedes. I didnt see him again for years but I heard of him often. My father was a member of Mogys staff each summer at Lake Placid and later, when my father started his Paperwork Simplification Conferences Mogy participated in them. I next saw him in 1962. My father had died in 1960 and I was continuing his work. I was conducting a workshop in Quebec when Mogy called asking to visit. He flew up in his Navion and after observing a few sessions invited me to become a member of his Lake Placid staff as my father had been. Thus began a relationship which has been extremely fulfilling. I rode with him in his Mercedes and his Navion, I listened to him deliver fiery presentations to rapt audiences and I joined him in discussions with workers and with senior executives. And I found that, even if he was simply walking from one meeting to another at a convention, he exuded enthusiasm. Mogensen was still running the socks off people half his age when he was in his eighties. A good deal of the prosperity we all enjoy today is here because of Mogy and others inspired by him and in turn by them. 61

When Mogys career began, dramatic increases were occurring in our American productivity. Frederick Taylor had introduced careful scientific analysis of work. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth increased the effectiveness of this analysis enormously with an astounding assortment of analytical techniques which enabled people to increase their output with reduced effort. Mogy experienced the excitement of the awakening of scientific management. He was in touch with fundamentals and the more he worked with them and understood them, the more steadfast became his belief in them. He found that when the techniques of work improvement were applied they often produced resistance sufficient to kill the process. Since he knew the problem was not in the techniques, he did not question them. Instead, he got at the resistance in a much more direct and innovative way. He gave the techniques to the would be resisters and let them see the benefits for themselves and share in the excitement of creating the improvements. This was his unique contribution and it distinguished work simplification from most traditional work improvement efforts. By 1937, he had the process well enough organized to begin his Work Simplification Conferences. Each year he carefully introduced a small number of people to rigorous training and over the years hundreds carried a message back to their companies. Some accomplished little, many returned the cost of their training quickly and easily and some revolutionized their companies with previously unimaginable productivity gains. As the years passed Mogy and his work have been discovered and rediscovered many times. An impressive list of authors, Erwin Schell, Douglas McGregor, Peter Drucker, Ren Lickert, Chris Argyris, Warren Bennis, Tom Peters and Bob Waterman have come across his handiwork. The last two discovered quite an alumni group from Mogensens Work Simplification Conferences in the companies they termed excellent.

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During this time the merit of Mogys work has also been recognized by several professional societies. Today, three impressive awards are given periodically to outstanding leaders in the field of productivity improvement. They are the Taylor Key of the Society for the Advancement of Management, the Gilbreth Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Mogensen Bronze of the Improvement Institute. Only two people have received more than one of these. Art Spinanger, a Mogensen student, 1944, who built the Proctor and Gamble program has received the Taylor Key and the Mogensen Bronze. Mogy alone has received all three. Ben S. Graham, Jr. February 1989 1985 recipient of the Mogensen Bronze ____________________ * excerpted from the Preface of Mogy an Autobiography Father of Work Simplification by Allan H. Mogensen with Rosario Zip Rausa. Idea Associates, Chesapeake, VA. 1989. ISBN 0-9623050-0-6

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Ben S. Graham
The Graham method of process charting was developed by Ben S. Graham, Sr. (1900 - 1960) He began his career in the Insurance Industry and throughout his working life he was involved with work that was primarily information processing. In the early forties he joined the Standard Register Company where he directed his talents towards analyzing the use of forms in order to develop smooth procedures and well designed forms simultaneously. Then, in 1944 he attended Allan Mogensens six-week Work Simplification Conference in Lake Placid, New York. There he learned the outstanding techniques being used to improve factory operations. Immediately after that conference he adapted several of the factory work improvement techniques so that they could be used in the analysis of information processing. He then made two films. One showed a series of clerical operations as they had been done and as they were improved by applying principles of motion economy. The other focused on workflow analysis and displayed his newly developed method of Multi-Column Flow Process Charting the forerunner of the Graham Process Charting Method. Throughout the late forties and into the fifties he pressed this development work. He developed the techniques of Recurring Data Analysis for displaying the redundancy of entries in a procedure. He developed the Typewriter Analysis Technique, a work measurement technique used for designing forms so that a form currently in use could be redesigned and the savings to be gained from the efficiency of the new form could be calculated. He also developed a similar technique for speeding up computer output through form design.

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During this time he wrote numerous articles describing these techniques and how to use them. As he outlined their use, he continually emphasized the importance of using the first-hand experience of the work force. As more people began to hear about his work he received requests to conduct a public conference covering these developments. In 1953 he conducted the first of twenty-one public conferences held before his death in 1960. It covered all of the techniques organized around an improvement excercise. Delegates drew charts, designed forms, and applied the principles of motion economy in a handson case study. The following quote appeared in a letter written to his son in 1958. Participation by the worker in developing the method eliminates many causes of resistance and assures enthusiastic acceptance. This is more important than all the techniques put together. If he were alive today he would undoubtedly be delighted to see the development of the Graham Process Charting Software and even more so, the increasing attention that many organizations are giving to the job knowledge of their people.

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Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

Ben Graham, Jr., was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was discharged at the end of the Korean War, and with his fathers encouragement, he completed masters studies to prepare him to join in the family business. When his father died in 1960, he continued the work begun by Ben Graham, Sr. For the next six years, Lillian Gilbreth participated in Ben Jr.s conferences and guided him. She died in 1972, having continued her husbands work for over forty years and left a legacy of dignity, decency and skill. Many people accomplished far more in their lives because of her than they would have otherwise. Ben Graham, Jr., who is one of them, has trained scores of thousands of people from over a thousand different organizations and continues to do so today. Today, Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. is the president of the Ben Graham Corporation, which has provided training and consulting services in methods and systems improvement to over 1,000 client firms. He is also Chairman of the Ben Graham Group that puts on workshops throughout Canada, and he is President of Work Simplification Software, the company that produces Graham Process Charting software. He is a leader in the field of office systems improvement and has helped thousands of people make sense of their paperwork and adapt to electronic systems. He holds four university degrees; B.A. (with Phi Beta Kappa), B.F.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Behavioral Science (awarded with distinction).

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Index
A
aaa 7

I
Instant Improvements 14

C
Conventions 35. See also Process Charting

M
Meetings 51, 53 Mogensen, Allan H. 14, 63, 69

D
Data collection 12 Detail level 13

N
No loss of employment 10

E
Employee Teams 47. See also Teams

O
Observation 7, 13

F
Fact Gathering 7, 8 Guidelines 7 How to Initiate 9 Introduction to the Employee 10 Keep the Data Organized 16 Protocol 10 Recording Technique 12 Authority of the Facts 12 Defused Resentment 14 Discipline 16 Discovering Instant Improvements 14 Level of Detail 13 Observation 13 Same Day Capture of Data 17 Working Quickly 17 Respect 11 Why? 8

P
Process Charting 19, 72 advantages 19 Conventions 35 Alternative 37 Closing Bracket 35 Correction/Rejection 39 Effect 35 Opening Bracket 35 Ease of Reading 21 Graham Process Charting Method 72 Grammar 28 horizontal 23 Labels 28 Multi-Column Flow 72 Symbols 24

R
Recording Data 12 Resentment 14

G
Gilbreth, Dr. Lillian M. 67 Gilbreth, Frank B. 65 Graham, Ben S. 72 Graham, Dr. Ben S., Jr. 5, 71, 74 Graham Process Charting Method 19. See also Process Charting

S
Specialized skills 48

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Symbols 24 Mutually Exclusive 26

T
Teams 47 Chart Preparer 50 Consultant 50 experience 47 Meeting and Project Duration 52 Organizing Experience 49 Recorder 51 Size 51 Specialized Systems Skills 48 Team Leader 50 Team Member Roles 50 Who Should be Included 47

W
Work Simplification 62, 69 Conference 69 continuous improvement 62 Defined... 62 How is Work Simplification done? 63 Philosophy 62 Who does Work Simplification? 63 Why do we simplify work? 64

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