Assess organizational design and policy to ensure the promotion of human development and the flow of value. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic It would be easy to pass over the first word in this sentence, but that would be an error.  The word ‘assess’ is often overlooked and invokes assumptions…

Gather and analyze metrics to make problems visible, and to identify and develop opportunities to create capacity for growth. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic I once asked a CEO this question, “If you discover a problem in February, would you wait until November to address it?”  You can imagine his…

Use Standard Work for Leadership and Non-production Processes. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This OpEx TopEx immediately calls to mind leader standard work and all the resistance I have experienced over the years.  If everything we produce is the result of a process, and we expect process standard work to…

Reduce and eliminate excess metrics that micromanage behaviors and outcomes. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic It is still strategy deployment season, and I am even more deeply engrained in the thinking.  As momentum builds and our 3D deployment work continues, number 167 is perfectly fitting. In a recent conversation with…

Communicate how specific improvement efforts are affecting larger business results. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic Since it is strategy deployment season, OpEx TopEx number 163 fits the season.  In a current strategy deployment engagement, with a frequent client, we are exposing the executive team to this new experience in strategy…

Set Expectations for Frequent Progress Checks Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic As soon as I read this OpEx TopEx this morning, I recalled a consistent conversation from a client visit last week.  Among the many terms that included in those coaching conversations were accountability and responsibility.  When we set expectations…

Set Goals for Improvement Efforts Across Value Streams Practitioners: Integrative, and strategic One of my favorite books comes from George Koenigsaecker.  His classic work, Leading the Lean Enterprise Transformation, comes to mind when I read today’s OpEx TopEx.  One way to set goals for improvement efforts across value streams comes…

Identify and develop measures to drive improvement and signal problems. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic With the strategy deployment season just getting started, number 129 seems an appropriate focus.  When we recognize the objective of strategy deployment is to create a condition of readiness, we should be challenged to define…

Explain the relationship of “parts to the whole.” Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic One of my favorite topex of study is systems theory.  A large part of systems theory is the relationship between parts and to the whole.  These relationships play a key role in the SMPL OpEx framework I…

Use jidoka (autonomation) to conduct projects. Practitioners: tactical, integrative, and strategic This is one of my favorite topex to discuss.  Jidoka is associated with automation in machines that detect defects, shutdown to avoid producing a defective product, and alert the appropriate human being necessary to correct the abnormality.  The challenge…