Rapid Improvement Event (RIE)
Designed for process improvement project team members, this Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) Survival Guide helps the Team during that week-long workshop. This is a must-have document for anyone who' is going to be involved in an RIE (courtesy of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and LeanOhio).
“All of these changes require a fundamental shift in the culture of government, and we have no more important partner in this effort than our state employees. Making government more effective, efficient, and elegant means listening to our state employees and learning from them how we can do better.” – Governor John Hickenlooper
Day 1
Introductions
Scope
Training
Level-Setting
Current State
Day 2
Current State
Waste Identification
Brainstorming
Day 3
Analysis
Future State Development
Day 4
Implementation Planning
Details
Metrics
Day 5
Refine Plans and Projections
Report-Out Presentation
Ground Rules
Everyone participates
Open, honest dialogue
Respect opinions
Consensus
Leave rank at the door
Housekeeping
Silence your cell phones
Minimize interruptions
Be on time
Stand and stretch
It is always snack time
Dress casually
Expectations
A transformed process
Resource savings
Customers served faster
Less waste in processes
Hard work
Post-It notes change (for the better)
This is what transformation looks like!
After a Rapid Improvement event, this redesigned process has 183 fewer steps (80% reduction), 52 fewer decision points (84% reduction), and 11 fewer delays (61%). The fully streamlined process will move 1.5 months faster.
Topics
SIPOC
Process Mapping
WORMPIIT
Impact-Control Matrix
Clean-Sheet Redesign
Measures of Success
Action Registers
After the Event
Quick-view Reference
Words you'll hear (and use) during Rapid Improvement Events
5S / 6S
A method for creating and maintaining an organized, high-performance workplace. 5S stands for sort, set-in-order, shine, standardize, sustain. We have a 6th "S" at CDOT: safety.
Consensus
Agreement in which all members of the group publicly state that they will actively support the decision, even if it might not be the first choice for some in the group.
Cycle time
The length of time, on average, that it takes to complete a step or set of steps within a process. Sometimes referred to as "touch time."
Lead Time
The average time it takes to meet a customer request or demand - from the very start of the process to the end. This includes the time when the unit is being actively worked on, plus wasted time due to delays, lookbacks, rework, and other forms of waste (See WORMPIIT). Also known as "throughput time" or "turnaround time."
Mistake-proofing
Any effort to eliminate the root causes of defects, so that rework-generated problems don't occur in the first place. Also known as "defect-prevention" or "error-proofing." Often used for form development.
Pareto Principle
The observation that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Also known as "the law of the vital few."
Round-robin
Getting a comment from everyone in a group, with one person speaking, then the next, and then the next - until all voices are heard.
SIPOC
Stands for suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs, and customers. You obtain inputs from suppliers, add value through your process, and provide an output that meets or exceeds customer requirements.
Swimlanes
Separate rows on a process map that indicate separate functions.
Value-added (VA)
Work activities that transform information into services and products that the customer is willing to accept.
To qualify as value-added, an activity must meet these three requirements:
Done right the first time with no defects
Transformational in that it adds form or function
The customer is willing to pay for it.
Typically, just 1-5% of a process is value-added.
Non-value-added, or NVA: Consumes resources, does not contribute directly to service and is not important to the customer
Non-value-added but necessary, or NVAN: Not important to the customer, but the work activities/steps are required by statute or law
Waste
Any activity that uses resources but does not create value for the customer (See WORMPIIT).
WORMPIIT
Acronym used to remember the eight forms of waste:
Waiting
Overproduction
Rework
Motion
Processing
Inventory
Intellect
Transportation
“That is why we initiated the Lean program in almost every state agency, where employee teams are now actively identifying waste and inefficiency to create savings.” – Governor John Hickenlooper
SIPOC
Suppliers
Who provides inputs that are needed to make this process work?
Can include people, other offices, agencies, organizations, etc.
Inputs
What resources do you need to perform this process?
Can include materials, supplies, information, authorization, services, etc.
Process
What are the 5-7 major milestones that make up this process?
Outputs
What is produced by this process?
Can include services, products, information, decisions, etc.
Customers
Who benefits from this process?
Example: SIPOC in action
SIPOC stands for suppliers, inputs, process, outputs, and customers. In one of the first steps of every Rapid Improvement Event, the team develops a SIPOC to establish a common understanding of the big picture. The SIPOC shown here was created during a Rapid Improvement Event at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Process Mapping
Process Mapping is all about making the invisible visible. By creating a process map, you will:
Get a clear and detailed visual of what is occurring in the process
Create a common understanding
Identify all stakeholders involved in the process
Identify process handoffs and loopbacks
Identify waste and value-added activities
![](https://www.google.com/images/icons/product/drive-32.png)
Process mapping tips:
One voice
Write tasks in “one noun, one verb” format, or “one verb, one noun”
Stay at a consistent level
Start by identifying the functional area that starts the process
Detail the tasks, decisions, and delays in each functional area
Follow a “swim lane” model
Draw in your swim lane lines
Connect steps with arrows
Process mapping questions:
Who starts this process?
How does the process start?
And then what…?
What happens next…?
Are we in the weeds?
If I am the customer, I do…?
Notes: This is a great source of information about all things relating to Lean, Rapid Improvement Events, and Six Sigma in Colorado state government!
While you and your colleagues are developing the current-state process map, you will likely come up with ideas for improvement. Write these below so you will have them ready later in the Rapid Improvement Event.
WORMPIIT
Waiting
Nonproductive time
Waiting for:
Copier
Scanner
Delivery
Catchup
Person upstream
Mail/shipper
Computer
Overproduction
Making too many
Making in advance of requests
Throwing away the excess
Things getting outdated
“We have to be ready”
Not cautious, but wasteful
Rework
Mistakes
Broken
Inaccurate
Can’t read
Can’t understand
Wasted materials
Returned
Motion
Inter-office movement
Office to office
Cubicle to cubicle
Going to the copier or scanner
Going to the fax
Going to the storeroom
Reaching
Bending
Processing
Adding things that nobody wants
Report that nobody reads
“Gold plating”
The best
Better than good enough
Beyond meeting customer expectations
Information, Inventory
Finished product
Storage
Printed in advance
Work in process
In the warehouse
Requiring unnecessary info on a form
Intellect
Employees
Talent
Office space
Technology
Equipment
Transportation
Transport from office to office
Transport from floor to floor
Transport from building to building
Other transportation and travel
Impact Control Matrix
Write down all of your improvement ideas.
2. All ideas are collected
3. The ideas are discussed and placed on the impact-control matrix.
4. The result will look like this, with the ideas sorted and the group moving closer to clean-sheet redesign.
Clean-Sheet Redesign
Make it:
TRANSFORMATIONAL
Create a new process that is significantly better than the old one
Reduce process steps, costs, and time by at least 50%
Delight the customers
Tips for designing a new and transformed process:
Design process around value-adding activities
Ensure that work is performed where it makes the most sense
Provide a single point of contact for customers and suppliers
If the inputs coming into the process naturally cluster, create a separate process for each cluster
Ensure a continuous flow of the "main sequence"
Reduce waiting, moving, and rework time
Reduce or eliminate batching
Reduce checks and reviews
Push decision-making down to the lowest reasonable level
Build in quality in order to reduce inspection and rework
Example of a clean-sheet redesign in action
In the photo, a discussion is underway regarding a newly created redesign of the process. This subgroup is one of three subgroups (from the Ohio Department of Insurance) that are working simultaneously, each developing a separate clean-sheet redesign.
Below are three clean-sheet redesigns from a Rapid Improvement Event at the Ohio Development Services Agency:
Measures of Success
Time-Based process measures
Lead time (beginning to end)
Cycle time (touch time)
Waiting time
Time to complete the form
Motion, travel time
Count-Based process measures
Process steps
Handoffs
Decision points
Loopbacks
Delays
Customer complaints
Number of forms
Inventory quantity
Backlog
Outcome measures
Customer satisfaction
Redirected work hours due to gains in efficiency
Direct cost savings $
Customer cost savings $
Cost savings can accrue from reductions in:Imaging, scanning
Paper, forms
Printing
Postage, shipping
Storage, inventory
Fuel usage
Other supplies
Travel
Overtime
Etc.
Examples of Measurement in action
Dashboard:
Action Registers
What?
What task or objective needs to be accomplished?
Who?
Who will take the lead to ensure that the team accomplishes it?
When?
When will the task begin, and when it will be completed?
Example of Action Registers
In a Rapid Improvement Event with the Ohio Board of Nursing, the team developed action registers for IT, consumer information, complaint processing, training, communication, and more.
After the Rapid Improvement Event
Use this action register to write down your own action steps:
What?
What actions steps are you responsible for?
Who else?
Who else (if anyone) will you involve?
When?
When will you begin and complete this activity?
10 WAYS YOU CAN MAGNIFY THE MOMENTUM
Follow through and begin implementing your action items.
If there is a briefing for staff about the Rapid Improvement Event, be sure to attend. Serve as a presenter if you have the opportunity.
If you have co-workers who were not in the Rapid Improvement team, fill them in. Over time, involve them in the change process.
If you hear comments from colleagues that suggest they are unclear or mistaken about changes that will result from the Rapid Improvement Event, kindly provide the correct information.
When there are meetings related to your Rapid Improvement project, attend and participate.
Also, attend the more formal update meetings to check implementation progress and clarify the next round of action steps. Update meetings typically occur 30, 60, and 90 days after the event.
Resist slipping back to your old way of doing things. Go with the new way, knowing that change will be challenging in the short term but better for everyone in the long term.
Exercise patience and persistence. After the fast-moving Rapid Improvement Event, things at work might seem a bit slow by comparison. Do not lose your focus. You have a plan - now work the plan.
If you see that key actions are not being implemented - actions you are not responsible for but you know to be important - bring it up with the appropriate person and offer to help.
Be thoughtfully flexible as implementation unfolds. Keep an open mind and willingness to make a good project even better.
Go/No-Go Checklist for Rapid Improvement Events
This checklist covers the major elements that are necessary to get a Lean Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) set up for success.
1. SCOPE: Is the Project’s Charter complete and is the scope appropriately sized?
___ Is the Project scoped well, or is the scope too large to achieve success? (Don’t try to boil the ocean.)
___ Is the Project scoped well, or is the scope so small that success will not be transformational? (Don’t spend this kind of time and energy unless you can achieve significant results -- at least 50% improvement.)
___ Are you improving a complete “system”, rather than simply putting band-aids on parts of the process?
___ Are there any information/decisions made about future plans, “sacred cows,” and/or past or potential problems that the Project Team needs to understand to be fully empowered to implement change?
2. PEOPLE: Are the right people on the team?
___ Do you have people from all the areas of the process on the Project Team?
___ Do you have the horsepower needed to make critical decisions on the team?
___ Do you included customers as part of the improvement process; or have you surveyed and discussed the event with process users, so the “voice of the customer” is well-represented?
___ Have you included thoughtful, good organizational thinkers with little or no knowledge of the process to provide a fresh perspective (“fresh eyes”) to the Project Team?
___ Are the team members effective, well respected, knowledgeable people?
3. DATA AND OTHER INFORMATION: Are the necessary data and information to ensure and measure success available?
___ Is there baseline data (such as monthly, yearly volumes; a number of FTE’s assigned to the process; time; error
rates) available for a current lead time, cycle time, and other process performance measures?
___ If there was a data gathering plan developed, has that information been collected and is it available to the Project Team?
4. READINESS TO IMPROVE: Is the organization ready to immediately implement significant improvements and changes?
___ Are there decisions that need to be made by the Sponsor Coalition (or others in management) before the Project Team can implement changes?
___ Is there a strong mandate to do things differently?
___ Does the Project Team understand that is responsible to consider the people side of change, in addition to designing an improved process?
5. PRIORITY: Is the Event a top priority of the organization?
___ Is the entire Project Team committed and scheduled to spend the full week focused on the event?
___ Are the same adequate-sized large room and breakout rooms available for the entire week?
___ Is the Team Leader committed to change, available all week and able to put in the time before, during and after the event to ensure success?
___ Are subject matter experts able to be on “stand-by” to support the team as needed?
___ Is the Sponsor (and his/her Sponsor Coalition) committed to implementing the results, and available to help remove barriers during the course of the Event week?
6. UNDERSTANDING AND COMMITMENT: Is there a common understanding of, and commitment to, the Rapid Improvement Event approach?
___ Is there an understanding within the organization that the team is not just making recommendations, but rather will make decisions in consultation with the Sponsor Coalition management the week so that changes will begin to be implemented immediately?
___ Are all affect parts of the organization (managers, front-line employees, etc.) aware of the Rapid Improvement Event and understand that there will be significant changes coming?
___ Is there a commitment to designing and implementing the best solution and improvements for the customer by using data, Lean tools, and the Lean approach?
Note: much of this material is borrowed from our Lean colleagues within Ohio’s state government