Kaizen is a Japanese word that roughly translates into “slow improvement”. It is a perfect method to use to perfect a process and begin the practice of continuous improvement. It makes tasks easier and more effective. Isn’t that what a good productivity system is meant to do?

Here are the three key steps to use Kaizen to improve productivity.

1. Break It Down Into Smaller Tasks

Regardless of what you have to do, small or large the best way to get it done is to break it down into smaller more manageable tasks.

Putting It Into Practice

Let’s say your task is to paint a room. You don’t start by grabbing your paint and roller and hit the walls. You have to break the goal of painting the room down into small steps. Here is a short task list that breaks down the goal into small steps.

1. Select the color you want to paint the room
2. Buy the paint and supplies you will need
3. Remove everything from the room and clean it
4. Prepare the room for work
5. Fix any areas on the walls that need it
6. Prepare the room for painting
7. Paint one wall at a time, one section at a time
8. Let the paint dry then clean up the room
9. Place everything back in the room
10. Task completed

2. Eliminate Waste

Another principle of Kaizen is to eliminate waste wherever you find it. You do this by reviewing a process and asking yourself “is this step needed”. If the answer is no then eliminate it. If the answer is yes the ask yourself “can it be improved”.

You can improve your productivity by eliminating Muda or waste. Using the painting example you will examine each step and look for waste. Waste of time, motion, unnecessary steps and other forms of Muda.

There are 7 categories of Muda. Learn ways to eliminate waste from the workplace.

3. Continuous Improvement

Everything can be improved. From the simplest to the most complex you should always be looking to improve the processes of how you get things done. From personal productivity to departmental productivity, it all can be improved.

Take the example of painting a room. Each time you paint a room you may learn a better way to complete one of the tasks. You refine your process to include the improvement. These refinements will improve your productivity.

See Deming’s PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle.

Why Kaizen Will Improve Productivity

This method can be applied to any task, goal or initiative you have to do. It is simple and effective.

• Smaller tasks are more manageable, easier to plan for and allocate time for.
• Each task you complete is an achievement which is encouragement that you are achieving your ultimate goal.
• This method eliminates waste which will improve productivity.
• Using continuous improvement you will improve the process.
• It is simple to use, simple to plan for and easy to follow.

Another way to improve productivity is by implementing a 5S System.

IT is charged with providing an ever-increasing line of products and services to the business. In our nanosecond world the quality of those products and services is paramount. To meet the desired level of service quality management needs to become an essential part of IT.

Many best practices have the goal of improving the quality of these services and products delivered by IT. They are essentially, quality management systems. There are certain basic principles of quality management that every best practice should follow.

Just as the keys to successful IT Service Management is “It’s The People Stupid”, the keys to customer focused quality management is, “It’s the Customer Stupid”.

The first principle in a quality management is to be customer focused. IT serves many customers, both internal and external. Each uses different products and services. Each will have different uses for those products. Each will have different requirements for those products and services. IT must meet the needs of everyone and to do this IT must be customer focused.

There are four keys to becoming customer focused. Since quality management needs involvement of every person enlist your department heads to direct their managers to help in each of these steps for their department.

Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.

Identify All of Your Products and Services

The first step is to create a catalog of all of your products and services. In IT this catalog will be vast and should be broken down by department to simplify your system.

This catalog should include any product or service that a department within IT produces. Products include data products such as reports. Services include tasks such as technical support.

Identify Your Customers

Now you must identify all of the internal and external customers who use your products and services. You need to go beyond “the business” as being a customer and identify the specific parts of the business you serve.

Some services are used by everyone so you need to be smart about what to include. For instance your network infrastructure is the backbone of IT and everyone uses it. However some customers may have requirements such as increased bandwidth so you will need to identify them because they have specific requirements.

Rich Schiesser is an article “Optimizing IT Customer Service” has some good tips on how to identify your customers.

Now match your products and services to the the people or departments who use them.

For example:

• Product: Network Infrastructure
• Customer: ABC Data Storage
• Product: Service Desk SLA Scorecard
• Customer: Director of Customer Service, Service Desk Manager

Determine Your Customers Requirements

A key part of good customer focused service and a quality management system is defining the needs and requirements for all of your customers for each product or service they use. One may use a product or service differently than another.

For example with a data product one may need a complete listing of IP addresses and  locations for every router in your company. Another only needs a count of how many routers are used in the company. Same data source, but each customer has different needs.

The best way to define the needs and requirements for each customer is to talk with them and ask them what services and products they use, how they use them and if they have special requirements. For off site customers and vendors you can create a survey form that can be emailed to them.

Obviously you can not do this with every service and product. You are not going to email everyone in the company and ask them what their requirements are for the network infrastructure. You already know their requirement is a fast connection that is always there. Once again be smart about who you need to ask for requirements.

Meet or Exceed Your Customers Expectations

Now you know who your customers are, what products and services they use and what their needs and requirements are. Providing outstanding customer service means you need to meet or exceed the expectations of each customer for each product or service they use.

An IT department should do no less than meet the expectations of every customer. They should strive to exceed the expectations. Needs and requirements will change so you must stay in touch with your customers and update your products and services as needed. The ultimate goal is to find how to improve IT customer service.

Benefits

• By aligning your IT products and services with your customers you will find not everything your produce is used. You may find A report that takes 15 minutes to produce for a DVP is deleted as soon as it hits their inbox because they no longer need it. You will be able to trim some products and even services and save valuable resources.
• By learning the needs and requirements for each customer you are better able to tailor them so they are more useful. A report may be missing important information the customer can use. You will provide better customer service and your customer will get more from what you do produce.
• Each customer has expectations. By meeting or exceeding their expectations you are providing excellent customer service. Your customers are more satisfied and better able to use your products and services. As an IT department you are more aligned with the needs of your customers so you do not waste time and resources.

Eight Part Quality Principles Series

Read our eight part series on the principles your quality management system can be based on.

Lead Article: Quality Management Principles for IT

1. Customer Focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of People
4. Process Approach
5. System Approach to Management
6. Continual Improvement
7. Factual Approach to Management
8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

Most best practices used in IT today define a quality management system (QMS). A QMS defines the standards of quality used within the organization. Regardless of what best practice you follow there are certain quality management principles you should use as a guide.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards. The ISO 9000 family of quality management standards and guidelines are used by companies around the world to establish and improve their quality management system.

You do not need to fully implement the ISO 9000 standards to have a QMS in your IT department. However these eight principles can be guides to set up or improve your present quality management system.

ISO 9000 Quality Management Principles

This eight part series will look at the ISO 9000 quality management principles that can be used as a foundation upon which you can build your quality management system. Here are the eight ISO 9000 quality management principles.

1. Customer Focus

Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.

2. Leadership

Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization’s objectives.

3. Involvement of People

People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization’s benefit.

4. Process Approach

A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process.

5. System Approach to Management

Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.

6. Continual Improvement

Continual improvement of the organization’s overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization.

7. Factual Approach to Decision Making

Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information.

8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value

Eight Part Quality Principles Series

Read our eight part series on the quality management principles your quality management system can be based on.

1. Customer Focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of People
4. Process Approach
5. System Approach to Management
6. Continual Improvement
7. Factual Approach to Management
8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

Start by doing Gemba Walk to see how people work and obvious areas for improvement. Kaizen is about daily improvement, a change for the better and this is the goal of a 5S System. Use the Kaizen approach to look at your workplace to see where improvements can be made to create a more efficient and better work environment.

A 5S System is not a complicated best practice. It is a simple foundation on which you can build to make further improvements in your workplace. With a successful implementation of a 5S System you will raise the morale of the workplace and by getting workers to take part you open the door for many more improvements.

5S System – The Same Steps For Any Work Environment

The 5S System was developed for the manufacturing environment, but can be adapted to any workplace environment. Whether you are starting a 5S System for your office (see below) or any other department the basic concepts are the same.

• Sort – The sort step is where you remove everything from the workplace that is not used or needed to do the work.
• Straighten – The straighten step is based on the foundation “A place for everything and everything in its place”.
• Shine – The shine step is about cleaning the workplace and keeping it clean.
• Standardize – The standardize step is about making the 5S System’s first three steps part of the daily routine.
• Sustain – The sustain step is about changing the culture and creating the discipline needed to sustain the 5S System.

5S System – The Basics

As you can see above there are 5 basic steps to a 5S System. The first three steps are the meat of the system. These are the work steps that produce the results. The last two steps are about installing a system to follow and changing the culture of the workplace so it becomes a daily habit.

This set of articles will introduce you to the basics of a 5S System.

• 5S System Step 1 – The Sort Step
• 5S System Step 2 – The Straighten Step
• 5S System Step 3 – The Shine Step
• 5S System Step 4 – The Standardize Step
• 5S System Step 5 – The Sustain Step

5S System Planning and Launch

There are several keys to a successful 5S System. The two most important are the planning phase and the launch phase.

The planning phase lays the foundation of your 5S System. Key points are:

1. Educating yourself on 5S, what it is and what it is about.
2. Getting management and leadership to buy in. This should be an easy sell since the cost is low and the benefits are high.
3. Establishing your 5S Team. A 5S System needs a team approach with members who represent a cross-section of your workplace. They should be your most knowledgeable people on how the workplace functions, what works and where improvements are needed. Educate them about 5S and the benefits.
4. Working with your 5S Team decide how a 5S System will fit into your workplace. Take the basic 5S System and adapt it. Listen to your 5S Team since these are the people who do the work. They know what works best and where improvements are needed. Get them onboard and you will have less resistance from other workers.
5. Create a plan for how each of the first three steps will be carried out, how it will be standardized so it becomes a daily habit and how it will be sustained to change the culture of the workplace.

The launch phase is where you introduce and start your 5S System in the workplace. Key points are:

1. Where will you start? If the workplace is small you can do it all at once. If it is large it is best to start in one area and move to others once the system is in place.
2. Gathering all the tools and supplies you will need to do the first three steps.
3. Creating a reinforcement system such as a bulletin board and a reward or recognition system to inspire and enforce the 5S System.
4. Designating areas for the sort step. Lots of trash and junk will be generated so plan where it will go and how you will handle it.
5. Create a system for handling the straighten step. This step is about organizing for efficiency. Remember, “A place for everything and everything in its place”. This means you must designate areas where everything goes. You don’t want the workplace cluttered up with items that are not needed to do the work, but if they are items you need time and again you will need a place to store them near where the work is done.
6. Consider the layout of your workplace. Is it efficient? One of the benefits of a 5S System is improving your work flow. Create areas to store supplies to do the work close to where the work is done, not in a remote location. Can furniture or be arranged to make it easier for workers to move around? Can office equipment be move to more central locations?
7. Finally decide on a launch date. A casual Friday is the perfect time to launch your 5S System.

For more information on how to plan for a 5S System launch read How to Plan a 5S System Launch.

A 5S System For The Office

As I said a 5S System can be adapted for any work environment including the office. A 5S Office system is a process to make sure work areas are clean and organized. The goal for implementing a 5S System in the office environment is to make the office clean, organized and more efficient. You will be able to find what you need, when you need it and know exactly where everything is.

If you want to start a 5S Office System read these articles to find out how to adapt 5S to the office environment.

• A 5S Office System – Part 1 Planning
• A 5S Office System – Part 2 Laying The Foundation
• A 5S Office System – Part 3 Your First 5S Office Campaign
• A 5S Office System – Sustaining the 5S Office System

Take Away

Spring time is the perfect time to start a 5S System in your workplace. A 5S System can be adapted to any work environment. It is a low-cost way to bring many benefits to your workplace. A 5S System lays the foundation on which you can build on for a more efficient and pleasant work environment.

A 5S System is not rocket science. It is easy to learn, plan and start. Educate yourself, form a 5S Team who will help you and create a 5S System plan. When you are ready to launch your 5S System take time to educate everyone on what 5S is and the many benefits. Expect resistance to change, but build in a system to sustain your 5S System and eventually it will become a habit.

If you want your employees to buy in to a 5S System a word of advice. Don’t go overboard with it. People are naturally resistant to change so start small. Read “5S System Challenges – Slow and Steady Implementation” for more tips. You want to sustain a 5S System by enforcing it, but nobody wants the “5S Police” after them.

Once your 5S System is in place and running well look for other areas of improvement. Use the Kaizen approach, do more Gemba Walks and see where improvements can be made. Does the break room need to be updated? Is the office furniture or equipment outdated, broken or just plain old? There are many areas for improvements that will create an even more compelling place to work.

With proper problem management any problem or issue can be dealt with in a timely manner to ensure the continuity of IT services the business depends on.

An emergency room is a good example of a team that deals with large and small problems each day. They often work under extreme pressure since lives are at stake. So let’s look at how an ER handles problems that roll through the door each day and learn how their methods can be applied to the IT world.

How An Emergency Room and IT Can Stay Prepared

Have a Plan

An ER has a plan to deal with nearly every issue that comes up. When the issue comes through the door they know exactly what to do and the team executes the plan. IT has disaster recovery plans, but we should not only plan for disaster.

Small issues can have an impact on IT services and a well laid out plan will allow you to quickly restore them. Many fly by the seat of their pants when dealing with problems. Relying on their experience and expertise to deal with it. You should be proactive in approaching a crisis or problem management.

What happens when the help desk receives a call about a problem and vital team members are not there? Running up and down the halls trying to find someone to deal with it, that is what happens. With a well thought out and detailed plan everyone maintains composure and the problem is dealt with in a timely manner.

Sometimes in an ER an issue can roll in the door that there is no plan for. Something nobody ever anticipated. This is when they rely on their past experience to guide them. In the same way you can rely on your past experience to guide you through an unforeseen issue.

These are the times when you do fly by the seat of your pants, but you should have a well-trained team that is multifunctional and  well skilled to help you. This is the time for your A-Team.

Be Well Stocked

Look in any modern ER and they have the supplies and tools needed to deal with every issue that can come through the door. Carts sitting in designated areas and teams of qualified staff are always ready to deal with nearly any problem.

IT should be prepared in much the same way. Important pieces of equipment needed to restore IT services should be ready for use when needed. Qualified and skilled staff should always be on-hand and ready to deal with any problem.

If your network goes down can your business really wait hours or worse days for the needed equipment to arrive?

Have a Well Skilled and Professional Team

The staff in an ER consists of many professionals with the specific skills needed to handle any issue. Nurses, technicians, doctors and many more skilled team members. Each one knows their job well, when to step in and when to get out-of-the-way.

In the same way IT should have teams with various skills ready to jump into action when an issue arises. The makeup of the team and the skills needed will depend on the issue. This is why planning is so important. You want to know the right people to contact that have the skills needed to get the job done.

IT Triage The Help Desk

When a patient first comes to the ER they are seen by a triage nurse. Here the patient is evaluated to determine the severity of their issue. A chart is created, vital signs are taken and any relevant information about the issue is recorded. A priority is then assigned depending on how severe the issue is.

In IT triage is done by the help desk. Their goal is to learn and document everything they can about the issue and determine the priority of the issue. Once this is done the proper person or team can be notified to handle the issue.

1. Determine what the problem is and document all the circumstances surrounding the problem.
2. Determine how critical the problem is. This will decide how quickly it must be dealt with.
3. Route the problem to the department, team or person who can best deal with it.

Putting It All Together

• Detailed steps to be taken to deal with the problem and restore full service
• One or more designated leaders with contact information who will oversee the execution of the plan and alternatives should they be unavailable.
• A list of team members needed to execute the plan with contact information and alternatives should they be unavailable.
• A list and contact information of outside vendors and technical contacts who can provide information if needed.
• A good supply of inventory that can be used to fix any problem that may arise.
• Detailed instructions on how to setup and install the equipment or bring back the service.
• Plan alternatives should the primary plan not fix the issue.
• A review session after an issue to see what went right, what went wrong and how the plan can be improved.

Any issue can best be dealt with if there is already a plan in place. A plan should include:

Summary

IT deals with major and minor problems each day just like an ER. An ER can respond to any problem that rolls through the door because they are well-trained, highly skilled and have a plan. Planning for problem large and small will restore IT services quicker and with less disruption to the business.

Plans should have detailed steps, designated contacts and alternatives with contact information. Equipment should me maintained on-site to enable teams to quickly restore vital services.

5S refers to a list of five Japanese words which are part of the Kaizen philosophy of workplace management. It is a method of organizing and managing your workspace and work flow to improve efficiency, eliminate waste (muda) and improve processes.  Another benefit is that a clean workplace will improve the morale of those that work in it.

A 5S System is not just about cleaning up. A 5S System will get rid of anything that is not needed, organizing everything that is needed, cleaning on a daily basis, standardizing to support the system and having leadership and team members exercise the self-discipline to make it a daily habit.

Here is an overview of the 5S System we have adopted in our IT Service Depot. Over the next series of articles I will go over how to plan a 5S System launch and each step in the 5S System.

SORT

• Sort through each workspace and remove anything that is not needed. The goal is to reduce the number of items in the area.
• Keep only what is needed in a workspace. Dispose of or put in place what is not needed.
• The goal is to leave nothing in a workspace except work in progress and the tools and supplies needed to do the work.

STRAIGHTEN – “A place for everything and everything in its place”

• All tools, parts and equipment to be tested or repaired have designated areas. They should be kept in and returned to those designated areas.
• Do not stock equipment to be repaired in the shop. Only bring in what you will be working on.
• All boxes to be reused will be stored outside of the shop in the designated area.
• All carts and hand trucks will be stored outside of the shop in the designated area.
• All large parts are to be stored outside of the shop in the designated areas or in the parts room.
• Parts and supplies will not be stockpiled in the workspace with the exception of a small quantity of the most used parts in 2-3 small boxes that go under the bench or on a shelf or in part bins.
• Your goal will be to have your work completed and the workspace cleared of equipment you are working on 20 minutes before it is time for you to leave for the day.

SHINE – Cleanliness

• Clean at the end of each day and as you work. Dispose of trash, scrap and cardboard in the designated areas.
• Dispose of anything no longer of use as you work.
• Benches should be wiped down daily and testing equipment cleaned as needed.
• Floors should be swept at the end of each day and mopped once at least once a week.
• Trash cans more than half full should be emptied at the end of each day.

STANDARDIZE

• Parts should be put up when they are received in their designated area.
• Trash can liners will be used. No heavy parts are disposed of in trash cans.
• The SORT-STRAIGHTEN-SHINE Checklist is performed during the last 20 minutes of your work day.
• Detailed system maps show the designated areas for everything.

SUSTAIN – Self-Discipline

• Maintaining a stabilized workplace is an ongoing process of continuous improvement.
• Service technicians should take pride in keeping their workspace clean and organized.
• The 5 S’s should become a part of your daily routine. Make it a habit.

Low Cost, Big Return

One of the best things about a 5S System is it cost nothing to start. Often a 5S System is implemented then forgotten. The only way to make sure this does not happen is to make it visible and measurable. Put up 5S posters. Create a checklist for each workspace to be carried out at the end of each day. They are a visible reminder at each workspace what should be done.

On the last day of the month have a Sort, Straighten and Shine event. Bring in snacks, drinks and music. Be creative with the event. Involve everyone in the event.  A solid 5S System should be the cornerstone of your cycle of continuous improvement. One that you can build on to create a lean and efficient IT Service Depot.

As with any workplace system a 5S System should be subject to continuous improvement. There is always a better way to do something and you should continuously look for ways to improve the system. IT departments are in a constant state of change with new technology in need of service. You must improve your 5S System to adapt to these changes.

After the first three articles A 5S Office System – Part 1 Planning, A 5S Office System – Part 2 Laying The Foundation and A 5S Office System – Part 3 Your First 5S Office Campaign you have your 5S Office System in place. Now we will look at how you can sustain and improve the system over time.

Establish Standards

To make sure the 5S Office System is followed you must set up standards. The goal is to put to paper standards for how you want your office workspace to be maintained. These are the rules but don’t call them that, call them standards.

Here is an example of standards for conference rooms

• No food is allowed in the conference room
• Doors should be closed during all meetings
• Cell phones should be put on silent before a meeting starts
• White boards must be cleared at the end of the meeting
• All chairs must be put back in place and if extra seating is brought in it must be removed at the end of the meeting
• The meeting organizer is responsible for making sure the conference room is clean and returned to standards at the end of each meeting. (accountability)

Remember a 5S Office System is about more than keeping things clean and organized. It should include office etiquette as well. You are changing the culture of the office so this must include a code of behavior such as turning off cell phones before a meeting starts.

Standards should be established for every common workspace and personal workspace. How they should be laid out, how they should be labeled, how they should be organized, and how they should be maintained.

Other areas to consider:

• How desks and offices should be maintained
• How filing cabinets and common work areas should be maintained
• When files are pulled they must be returned to the proper filing cabinet by the end of each day
• Common work areas must be kept clean and organized
• At the end of each day desks should be cleared and ready for work the next day

Don’t become a 5S Czar by laying down rules that are so rigid people will not follow them. Standards should be best practices for maintaining a clean, organized and productive work environment. Standards are the who, what, when, where and how of your 5S Office System.

Sustain The 5S Office System

The fifth and last step in a 5S Office System is the sustain step. With the sustain step you want to instill the self-discipline needed for everyone to follow the 5S Office System. You also want to lay the groundwork for changing the office culture.

Reinforce Your 5S Office Team

Continue to hold regular meetings with your 5S Office team to check the system. 5S utilizes Kaizen which is a philosophy of small, but continuous improvements. No matter how good your system is it can always be improved.

Evaluate your system to see if your goals are being met and if new goals need to be added. Look at areas where the system is not working well and find out why. These meetings should cover the 5S Office System as well as the office culture.

Reinforce Your Employees

Old habits die hard over and over time the newness of the 5S Office System will wear off and some people will be tempted to return to their old habits. The sustain step will make sure this does not happen. By nature people are resistant to change and others may think this is just another fad that will fade away.

One way to reinforce your employees is to hold monthly 5S Office campaigns. Over time slippage will occur and more extensive sort, straighten and shine steps will need to be carried out. As with your first campaign make it an office event. Make it a jeans Friday and bring in snacks.

Hold a meeting or have a lunch to get feedback from employees. The goal is to keep employees engaged in the 5S Office System so they know it is not going to fade away. Only then will it become a habit and part of the office culture.

Contests are often used in 5S Systems. Rewards are good incentives and the benefits you reap will be well worth the cost. The contests can be the best example of a 5S Office workspace, and awards for teams or departments. It will raise morale and yield better results than disciplinary actions.

Three Keys to Success

1. Ensure everyone knows what is expected of them. How can you expect people to follow a system they do not understand or is not clearly defined by standards?
2. Set aside a specific time of day to carry out the sort, straighten and shine steps. This is the biggest key to success. You must give your employees the time to support the system. Those 10-15 minutes at the end of each day are likely already lost with people preparing to go home. Utilize this time to support the system. You want this to become a habit and habits are formed by repetition.
3. Reinforce both your 5S Office team and your employees to keep the 5S Office system from fading away.

The 5S Office System Series

• Part 1 – Planning
• Part 2 – Laying the Foundation
• Part 3 – Your First 5S Office Campaign
• Part 4 – Sustaining the 5S Office System
• Part 5 – Building on Your Success

Using standardized resolutions will make your resolutions more accurate, reduce confusion over what the resolution is, develop a common language that will improve communications and make the training of new team members easier.

Your help desk software may already have a method of dealing with this issue. If it does not this may be a solution to improve your incident management process and the final incident resolution.

Why To Standardize Resolutions

As an example a customer calls the help desk because their monitor is no longer working. The help desk analyst troubleshoots the problem, but it is clear the monitor needs to be replaced. The help desk analyst enters a resolution “replace monitor”.

What type of monitor? A LCD for the desktop, a CRT for the security system? You would hope every team member would put in an accurate resolution description, but often this is not the case. Resolution boxes can include information related to troubleshooting that can confuse team members as to what they are supposed to do.

Nothing should be in the resolution box except how the incident should be resolved!

So why leave it to chance. Establish a set of standard resolutions and enforce that that is the only thing that should be put in the resolution box. This type of system has many benefits as you will see below.

How To Standardize Resolutions

PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) is a good business improvement process to use in this case. PDCA at its heart is about quality control and that is exactly what you are doing here. This process improvement method can be used in many different circumstances.

Plan – Define the Problems, Set Your Goals, Develop the Process

In the plan step you will identify the problems, set the goals you want to accomplish with the process changes and develop the new process that will accomplish the goals.

Some common problems are:

• Inaccurate documentation of the resolution to the problem.
• Confusion about what the problem is or how it should be resolved.
• The lack of a common language that makes communications between team members and other teams difficult or less effective.
• Training new team members is less effective without a common language and a standard.

So your goals may be:

• Create resolutions that accurately describe how to resolve the incident.
• Eliminate any confusion about how to or what the resolution is.
• Errors and rework are reduced due to misinterpreted resolution descriptions.
• Develop a common language that will improve communications and training.

Develop the new process:

Create a list of all of possible resolutions and break them down into groups on different sheets. Your groups may be your equipment such as “Replace monitor” or “Replace laptop”. Actions to be taken such as “Test the router”or “Dispatch service company x”. Escalations should be included such as “Escalate to level 3 support”.

For each group go down the list and next to the equipment, action or escalation write the standardized text for what should be placed in the resolution box. The description should be as short as possible, clearly defined and specific.

For example instead of “Replace monitor” list all of the types of monitors.

• “Replace 15” Dell desktop LCD monitor”
• “Replace 17” Viewsonic desktop CRT monitor”
• “Escalate to network support and test the router”
• “Escalate to vendor support and dispatch XYZ to replace the switch”

As you can see these are very specific and for a good reason. You want to eliminate any confusion about what is to be done. Keep in mind that you are developing the common language that will be shared by many teams so keep them clear and to the point.

Each list should be broken down by the type of resolution. For example your equipment list should first be broken down into types of equipment such as monitors, PC, laptop, router, etc. Then under each type list the standard resolution. This will make it easy for everyone to find the specific equipment they are looking for.

Do – Implement Your New Process

You should now have lists of standard resolutions. You may want to just start with one group such as equipment to test the process then expand it to other resolutions.

Deploy on Media

How you distribute your lists will depend on what media types you have available. The ideal situation is to utilize your intranet and have them web based. You can list your groups on one page with a hyperlink that will take you to the next page that will list types.

If this 2nd page is your equipment list it will have the short descriptions such as “Monitor”, “Laptop”, “Router” and so forth each type of equipment with a hyperlink that will drill down to the standard resolution descriptions.

The 3rd page will list your standard resolution descriptions. If it is your monitor page then every type, size and model of monitor used throughout your company will be listed. The team member now only needs to copy the standard description and paste it into the resolution box.

When a team member needs to enter a resolution description they are just three clicks away from a standard resolution that they can copy and paste. Problem solved.

If your company does not have an intranet or other type of electronic media for your lists you can always use paper ones. Each group such as equipment, actions or escalations will be a separate document. If your list is large use a table of contents which will be the list with short descriptions pointing to a page number. On the page for that type of resolution each standard resolution will be listed.

Training

Now train everyone who will either enter or read resolutions on the new system. This is not rocket science so it should be easy. Point out the benefits of standardized descriptions and of sharing a common language that will improve communications.

Enforce

By nature people are reluctant to change so you will need to enforce the new process. Most will be thankful to have a process where they are not left up to their own assumptions on what to enter.

Check – Is The New Process Meeting The Goals?

The check step requires some form of measurement to determine if the new process is achieving the goals your outlined. You may already have metrics in place that can be used to measure this. Watch for a reduction in rework caused by inaccurate resolutions. For instance the resolution of “Replace monitor” may have caused a CRT monitor to be taken to a cubicle when it should have been a LCD monitor.

Another way to measure is to talk with the help desk analyst, support teams and anyone else who is touched by the resolution to see if the new process is more efficient. Record any issues that you can later evaluate for modifications to improve the process.

Act – Improve and Standardize The New Process

During the check step you may have come up with some issues that require you to refine the process. Keep tweaking and monitoring the new process until your goals have been met. Once they have establish the new process as the standard that everyone will use.

Embrace the philosophy of continuous improvement. Even after the new process becomes the standard business practice, always look for ways to improve it. Lists will need to be updated, groups may need to be divided or new media resources may become available.

Any changes made should start the PDCA cycle over again to ensure problems are identified, new goals are set, the process is tested, then standardized.

Summary

Standardized resolutions has many benefits and few drawbacks. By standardizing your resolutions will be clear and accurate. Team members will develop a common language that will facilitate better communications. Training will be easier for new hires and errors will be reduced.

Over time everyone will learn most of the common resolutions by heart and not need to consult the media. Be sure and monitor the system for people not following the process. Always look for ways to improve the process and update it when changes are made.

Gone are the days when IT was disconnected from the business. IT is now an integral part of the business and has many customers, both internal and external. This is why integration of good customer service policies into IT departments is so important.

It’s All About The Customer Stupid

For some in IT customer service is difficult. They are used to being in the background keeping the systems running and not really thinking of themselves as providers of products and services. They may not care for or about the customer.

In the new world of enterprise wide IT it is all about the customer. We provide the infrastructure and solutions that keep the business running and growing. Today IT touches nearly every department and every employee of an organization. These departments and employees are all our customers.

I have a simple mission statement for our department. “We will continuously improve our products and services to meet or exceed our customers expectations”. The purpose of this is to remind us of who we serve and how we do it. This highlights our need to continuously improve and that all of our products and services must meet our customers expectations.

How to Meet Your Customers Expectations

From the CIO to the office worker everyone has a customer. For an IT department most of our customers are internal to the organization. Our customers are the people within our organization that consume or depend on our products and services.

Your goal should be to meet or exceed the expectations of your customers. To do this here is a simple plan. It is high-level and should be tailored to your specific department. It borrows a lot from quality management since our goal is to provide our customers with a quality product.

1. Identify Your Customers – Determine what people and departments consume your products and services, both internal and external.
2. Determine Your Customers Expectations – Sometimes customers will give your their expectations. With others you will have to seek them out. Survey them, talk with them, find out how they use your products and services. Find out how they think your products and services can be improved.
3. Define The Processes – Think of it as products and services that must meet strict quality standards. There is only one way to produce a product or service, the right way. The right way can be documented into a set of processes or work instructions. Standardization is the key to good customer service. Everyone should know the best way.
4. Follow The Process – Demand strict adherence to the processes or work instructions. If the right way is the only way to do it, deviations produce inferior products that will not meet the expectations of the customer.
5. Get Feedback – Perform regular follow-ups with all of your customers to see if your products and services still meet their expectations.

Continuous Improvement

Change is an inevitable part of business. Needs, requirements and expectations will change. This is one reason feedback is so important. This is also why continuous improvement must be built into your system.

Process improvement is one area you can always look at. If you have standardized process or a set of work instructions as outlined in step 3 examine them step-by-step.

• First decide if the step is needed, if not discard it as a waste of time.
• If the step is needed look at it and see if it can be improved. Is there a way to do it faster, cheaper or more efficiently? Can it be changed to better align with or exceed the customers expectations?
• Implement the change in the process and carefully monitor it. Does it have the desired result? Does the change degrade or improve the product or service? Does it have an unforeseen impact?
• If the change improves the product or service it then becomes the new step in the process.

Go through each process and each set of work instructions in this way. I am a firm believer that there is always a better way to do something. Continuous improvement is never-ending. Always look for a better way to produce your products and services. See Deming’s PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle.

Listen To Your Customers

Another way you can improve your products and services is getting feedback from your customers as outlined in step 5. Does your product or service still meet their needs? Have their needs changed or expanded? They usually do.

Take this feedback and set up a new set of customer expectations as defined in step 2. You will then need to look at your processes or work instructions using the steps defined in continuous improvement and tailor them to meet or exceed these new expectations.

Whenever you change a product or service get feedback from the customers to see if there has been any adverse impact and if the product or service meets their new expectations. If so you now have the new standard for your product or service. If not it is back to process improvement.

Summary

Good customer service is about producing a product or service that meets or exceeds the expectations of the customer. You must define your customers, learn their expectations, develop standardized processes, always follow those processes and get continuous feedback from the customer.

By continuously improving your products and services you will be sure that they always meet or exceed the expectations of the customer. Since the right way is the only way to do something, standardization is important. But to stay on top you should always look for ways to improve and produce better products and services.

The first thing to remember is there is no cookie cutter solution when it comes to developing and implementing a 5S System. Each organization is different as are the people who work in them. You must examine how your organization works and tailor your 5S System to fit.

For a 5S System to be successful you must be successful at changing the culture and the behavior of employees and management. Since by nature people are resistant to change this can be the biggest obstacle to overcome. By using the slow and steady approach you will be able to gradually change the culture.

The key is to start small and never stop improving. By using the Kaizen approach of small incremental changes it allows your employees to adapt to the changes with little disruption. With this type of implementation the 5S System will be better received and be more sustainable.

One Small Step at a Time

Start with one area of the office, department or other area you want to implement a 5S System in. Then gradually work your way through the organization step by step. This makes it much easier to plan for and implement. You are working with smaller groups so education about 5S is less of a burden. Once you have that area squared away and running under a sustainable 5S System move on to the next one.

Be sure that before you move to the next area you have put in place a system to sustain the 5S System. You don’t want to go in, implement the 5S System and move on to the next area. Be sure you have properly trained and followed up with the employees in this area before you move on to the next.

Your first 5S System implementation should be your best. It will be the showcase of how much better the work environment is. Consider it your training ground for building your 5S System. Learn what works and what does not. This will help you avoid mistakes when you move on to other areas and improve your 5S System.

A successful implementation of a 5S System in your first area will show the rest of the organization that there is nothing to fear. Once they see how much better the sustained 5S area is and how well the employees like it, it will make it much more acceptable as you move on.

Get Managers and Supervisors Onboard

Spend a lot of time with your managers and supervisors. Educate them on 5S and get them onboard early. They will be the ones who will help sustain the 5S System and can give you valuable insight into how it will best work in their area.

A 5S System is change and change is often met with resistance. By starting small you avoid the overwhelming effect that some may feel. For many organizations, particularly large ones this slow and steady approach works best.