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Moving Mountains with Process Improvement…
One Rock at a Time

by Karl G. Kraber

We were a bunch of guys standing at the front of a friend’s house looking at a huge pile of retaining wall rocks too big for any one of us to lift alone. We were there to help our friend move these rocks from the front to the back of the house and down to the bottom of a steep hill, to be used to build a wall on that hill that was next to a lake. We were too “macho” to say this was bigger than us . . . until an hour later. Then it sunk in that 1) we were still too macho to give up, and 2) we were going to have to be smarter than the rocks were heavy if we were going to succeed. Had anyone said, “Let’s do process improvement,” he would have been, well, to say it politely -“teased.” Instead, we started throwing out different ideas, trying stuff, swearing at what didn’t work (because it usually meant pain) and then trying something else. By day’s end, we had destroyed the wheelbarrow, some planks and a pickup truck bed. But we had accomplished the task and salvaged our pride – which, after all, was the most important thing. “Necessity is the mother of invention” and, in this case, continuous process improvement.

By our nature, we are process improvement beings. Often, however, we don’t call it that. We usually just say we’re trying to find the fastest or easiest way to get something done: get to work, mow the lawn, or vacuum the carpet. Some of us even have an exact 1-2-3 routine at “O’Dark-thirty” to make sure we don’t forget to put on a belt, or take our keys, or grab our lunch bag . . . in our just-woke-up-induced fog of mental activity.

At work, we do the same thing: we find the fastest or easiest way to get a job done. We just don’t do “process improvement” or “QI.” Or, at least, give it that name.

The reality is, we frequently improve, standardize, and stabilize processes in our job. The difference is that we typically don’t bring everyone else along with us. Usually, we do it in our heads. We do it for ourselves and by ourselves.

What makes doing and using the tools of process improvement different with a group, versus by ourselves, is that: 1) we need to communicate our thoughts to others, 2) we usually need to have an open mind to different perspectives, and 3) we frequently don’t get to impose our ready made “solutions” without some exploration of the real cause of the problem.

Our quality improvement tools serve all three of these differences in the “by myself” versus “with others” scenarios. The cause and effect (fishbone) diagram with its use of four categories (machines, methods, manpower, materials; or policies, equipment, procedures and people) is a good example. Without this tool, most people will focus on only one or two of these categories. Using this tool to brainstorm causes three things to happen: 1) we get to “see” what others are thinking is the cause, 2) our view of the problem has to include at least four different “perspectives,” and 3) because there are more than just one person participating, we may have to give up pre-conceived notions about the cause of the problem – because their pre-conceived notions may be different than ours, which, in turn, requires that we discuss it until we reach agreement.

Going back to the story about moving the rocks . . . because it was a group of us, we had many different thoughts and perspectives on how to solve the problem and were able to come up with ideas that no one of us would have. Despite the work being incredibly physically demanding, and because we were doing it together and respecting each other’s contributions, we actually had fun and were quite proud of what we had accomplished.

That’s one of the things that I like most about doing process improvement; it is a constant reminder that all of us are smarter than any one of us alone, and having the sense of accomplishment from working well with others to make work much easier and faster.

By the way, I hadn’t met all of these guys before. So, I had the extra bonus of getting to meet new people who became new friends.