Standard Work is part of The Toyota Production System (TPS) commonly referred to as Lean. This was one of the techniques made popular by Taiichi Ohno, the father of TPS. This article will cover how Lean and The Scrum Framework makes Standardisation transparent.
The article: Kaizen – a dripping tap of ideas, explains that people closest to the work drive the ideas that will continuously improve a process. But how can a process be improved if it’s not been written down or visualised? A baseline is required to experiment from.
Taiichi Ohno’s famous Standard Work quote: “Without Standardisation there can be no Kaizen.”
For example, without Standard Work (a reference point) how will you know:
- What is normal and abnormal?
- What is better or worse?
- What is predictable and repeatable?
- What is the correct or wrong sequence?
Standard Work maps out how the work should be performed. It is likened to a recipe whereby anyone can follow the sequence of steps to create the dish as described.
Taiichi Ohno joined the Toyoda Spinning and Weaving works in 1932 and retired as Vice President of Toyota in 1978. During this period he helped develop core concepts of what later became known as the ‘Toyota Way’. Another brilliant quote:
“Standardised work at Toyota is a framework for kaizen improvements. We start by adopting some kind – any kind – of work standards for a job. Then we tackle one improvement after another, trial and error.”
When Kaizen was performed in the workplace to adapt to a new condition, Taiichi Ohno had three minimum requirements for people to ‘think’ about when changing the Standards.
- Takt Time – the rate at which a product needs to be completed to meet customer demand.
- Work Sequence – the step-by-step operations that are needed to complete the work.
- Standard Inventory – the minimum inventory required for the process successful at takt.
To capture the data consider using Time Observation and Standard Work sheets. These will cover the flow of the process, area layout, work in progress and data collection on the steps.
The benefits of Standard Work are many and are not limited to:
- Eliminates non-valued added work.
- Enables continuous improvement.
- Enforces a consistent pace of production.
- Ensures consistent high levels of quality.
Think of Standard Work and Kaizen as living happily together as a married couple. Cheesy!
In the 2020 Scrum Guide™ written by developers Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, the Scrum definition is:
“Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.”
It’s all too easy to pick out key words that mirror Lean Thinking in that quote. But we’re not here to compare Lean to Scrum in its entirety, but to discuss Standard Work. The Scrum Guide is full of examples but one standout is the ‘Definition of Done’.
“The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product.”
The similarities to Standard Work are clear. That the product backlog item is not considered complete if it has not met the criteria written by the team (preferable) and/or organisation.
Another example of where Standardisation is examined and for Kaizen opportunities is at the ‘Sprint Retrospective’.
“The Scrum Team identifies the most helpful changes to improve its effectiveness. The most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible.”
The next time you write Standards on how best to perform or to conform to the completion of some work, think of it as the notes to a song. Hopefully the tune is music to your ears but if not, just keep rewriting the musical sheets until you’ve created a beautiful sound!
Sing along!