Itsm | Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education

More on Toyota’s A3 Process …

enterprise architecture, strategic planning 1 Response »

Jan 262011

After my original post about Toyota’s A3 Process, I received several tweets and comments about the use of the A3 Process in organizations.

Redge posted a great comment:

Having worked in the automotive industry and as a supplier to Toyota, I can attest to the value of the A3 format for problem solving.

The objective is to create a standardized format and also to ensure that the focus remains with the problem at hand. I caution you not to be fooled by it’s relative simplicity.

Problem solving using this form can be difficult as it’s limited space is purposefully restricted to encourage a concise and definitive presentation.

I highly recommend reading Toyota Kata by Mike Rother where he discusses Toyota’s improvement process at length. Definitely worth the read if you really want to understand how improvements and problem solving are integrated into Toyota’s culture.

One of my colleagues Johan Lindberg (@johanlindberg) pointed me to the shmula site which had a very good post on the Toyota A3 Report. There are several links to other A3 resources, I listed them below (I will update this list over time):

Peter Abilla from shmula.com The Toyota A3 Report and A3 Sample Template
Dr Durward Sobek’s website A3 Process
Cindy Jimmerson’s article in Lean Directions A3 Problem Solving: simplicity at work
Lifecycle Engineering video Using A3 Proposal as a Problem-Solving Tool
Mark Graban from leanblog.org Toyota’s Training Center and LAPD Template
Jon Miller from gemba panta rei A3 Report Title 189 Apologies
John Shook “Toyota’s Secret: The A3 Report”

On Monday, I used the A3 template to work with our Director of Student Services and Director of Library to capture information about a request they had to expand services to our satellite campuses. I will write about this in a later post as we work through the process. Based on our first use of the A3 template, I expect great results from taking this disciplined approach.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Adding Toyota’s A3 Report Process to your EA Toolkit

enterprise architecture, strategic planning 7 Responses »

Jan 162011

Joe McKendrick (@joemckendrick) wrote about Lean IT on ZDNet on Dec 27, 2010 titled Eight steps to achieve lean IT.

In his set of steps, Joe mentioned the Toyota A3 Report approach to looking at problems and A3 Thinking. He refers to this site about the A3 Process. You can download a template here.

Here are the 7 steps to the process:

Identify a problem or need
Conduct research to understand the current situation
Conduct root cause analysis
Devise countermeasures to address root causes
Develop a target state
Create an implementation plan
Develop a follow-up plan with predicted outcomes

In my masters studies on Technology Change Management, we were introduced to Toyota’s A3 approach as a tool for structured, problem solving. John Shook wrote about “Toyota’s Secret: The A3 Report” in the MIT Sloan Management Review. The article explores:

“How Toyota solves problems, creates plans, and gets things done while developing an organization of thinking problem solvers”.

Shook describes Toyota’s use of a two page mechanism called the A3 Report for attacking problems. He found the following:

The A3′s constraints (just 2 pages) and its structure are the keys to the A3′s power
The A3 process can be used to effectively solve problems and plan initiatives, its greatest value may be how it fosters learning and it provides ideal opportunities for mentoring
The A3 report becomes the basis for collaboration

We constantly look for ways to show value using Enterprise Architecture and the A3 process should be another tool to add to an EA’s toolkit. I recommend reading the article I linked in this post and would be interested in hearing from any of you who have used this process.

Shook, J. (2009). Toyota’s Secret: The A3 Report. MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer 2009, Vol. 50 No. 4 P. 31-33.

Managing Customer Service Expectations with Information

itsm 6 Responses »

Jun 202010

Do your customers understand how to get service from your organization?

Do your customers understand what to expect from the services you deliver?

Are your customers frustrated and upset when they interact with your Service Desk?

Recently, I was on the customer end of service delivery. It got me thinking about what we could do better in order to deliver quality customer service. Here is my tale:

My doctor wrote an order for me to get some x-rays. I arrived at the radiology lab and took a number and waited to be called. After a short period, the receptionist called my number, took my details and asked me wait for my x-ray. There were about 20 people in the waiting area. As time went by, all the people in the waiting area who were there when I arrived were called in as well as a group of people who arrived after me. I waited patiently for 30 minutes, then 45 minutes getting more and more agitated. I felt like I was not being treated fairly and that made me angry. Finally, when someone arrived 50 minutes after me and was called in for their procedure, I approached the receptionist and asked if they forgot me. The answer I got blew me away …

No sir, we did not forget you. There are 4 queues and the order that people arrive in is not the order they are served in.

Well, I could have avoided a good half hour of annoyance had someone told me that!! Never in the process (verbally or written) was I informed that once I was registered, that there were multiple queues. All I had to was the information I could see … everyone but me was getting service! So I happened to be in the slowest queue but what blew me away was how my frustration was reduced once I knew that I was being treated fairly (very slowly but fairly). I went back to reading my book and my name was called and I got my x-ray.

My experience at the radiology laboratory highlighted the power of information and communication with our customers. This is exactly what we should provide our clients/customers in service organizations. While we may have implemented service management systems that show a person the status of their request, we almost never show them where they are in the queue (or queues!). Imagine the impact on our clients if we could show them not only the status of their request AND where they were in relation to all the other requests in the queue or queues. This does pose a challenge for service delivery organizations because we would have to become more open and transparent about how we do our business. Our ability (or inability) would be exposed for all to see! Read more...