Wouldn’t It Be Nice…if we all designed for excellence

Posted by Jamie Ambrosi

For my first blog entry, I thought I’d share with you something that is frequently on my mind...design successes and failures. You may not think about it…but examples of both are all around us.

--The sophistication of smart phones and other handheld devices  

--The seamlessness of a well-written symphony or Beach Boys harmony

--The complexity and bottlenecks of the traffic patterns on many major highways...often because the volume has surpassed the capacity of the original designs…sometimes because the designs are simply confounding and illogical.

We are surrounded by designs that either help us achieve our ends or inhibit us from doing so.  Joy versus frustration…success versus failure…or at least delays.

The same is true in our work lives.  We design strategies, work systems, and processes for the purpose of advancing our organizations and getting work done.  Sometimes we succeed.  Sometimes we fail.  Hopefully, we learn.  

Through the Baldrige Criteria, we all have the framework needed to design in an intelligent and informed way and to evaluate what we design and make improvements where needed.  In short, we have the framework needed to succeed.  Some call this framework Plan-Do-Check-Act.  In Baldrige, we call it A-D-L-I:  Approach, Deployment, Learning, and Integration (page 66 of Baldrige Criteria).   

Is this framework easy or a short term solution?  No!  But the cost of poor design is felt by your employees who have to do workarounds and your customers and stakeholders who have to deal with poor quality and delays.  It took Brian Wilson years to produce the layered harmonies on Pet Sounds.  If it were easy, everyone would do it…not just those who seek to be best in class.  

The Baldrige Criteria provide the road map needed to create successful designs, and they are your companion on the road to excellence.   Take a look and let me know what you think.  And... let me know your thoughts on the greatest design successes and failures of all time.  

Comments

[Judy Malsbury]

PDCA is similar to ADLI but not identical. One of the differences is the "I" in ADLI, which is how the process/system/etc. is integrated across the organization to support key organization-wide goals. The "check" of PDCA could cover this, but there is nothing that explicitly states it that I have seen anywhere. The "check" in PDCA usually is limited to how well a process itself is working.

[Jamie Ambrosi]

Judy,

You raise a great point. ADLI does apply across an organization's processes and systems...both in the learning and integration dimensions. Thus, it is similar to but goes beyond the typical PDCA, and when done right, it leads not just to process excellence but overall organizational excellence. Thanks for adding to the discussion and commenting on my first blog post!

[Larry Potterfield]

At MidwayUSA, we have identified the need for a core competency in Process Design, and are working to develop it.

We execute many Action Plans each year that typically modify existing processes or create new ones. Unfortunately, we are not able to 'ace' every one of them by the scheduled completion date. We believe a core competency in Process Design would improve our on-time delivery of high-quality Action Plans in support of our Strategic Plan.

We use ADLI only informally to evaluate the maturity of our processes(not whether they are correct), which we believe is the intended purpose of Baldrige; and we utilize an earlier version of PDCA called POSEC -- Plan, Organize, Staff (Hire and Train), Execute and Control to outline and drive all Action Plans.

It is the POSEC process that we are not executing well enough, primarily the Organize stage -- where we need more innovation. Larry

[Jamie Ambrosi]

Great information Larry. Thanks for offering us insight into how you are working to improve your process management at MidwayUSA. ADLI is definitely effective at assessing process maturity, and it also helps in assessing whether a process is aligned with your organizational mission/purpose, strategies, action plans, and with your other processes. It seems like you are clearly onto this when you talk about improving your Strategic Plan implementation. Good luck with the effort. See folks...even Baldrige recipients have opportunities for improvement...they know Baldrige is an ongoing journey.