NEWS
We have not yet had a failed effort. Projects support his hypothesis. Until we have data ceived packages going to the same floor
usually fail for one of two main reasons. The there is no project. The main problem with then resulted in the need for them to be
project was either scoped poorly, or the that project is that it crossed functional ‘re-aggregated’ during the delivery pro-
project manager skipped the step of gath- boundaries. The other project simply had cess. It wasn’t sufficient to just change pro-
ering the appropriate data to support the to be re-scoped and a new champion was cess without understanding the overall
need for change. assigned. impact of the process change.
In the first case, Green Belts, Black Belts – Geguzys, Broadlane Inc. – Rudomin and Jagdev, HealthCare
or their manager sets off on a project that Solutions Bureau, LLC
has no beginning or no end. A perfect ex- We are not yet seeing spontaneous report-
ample is a project that every company I ing of waste and sufficient requests for pro-
Six Sigma failed efforts
have ever worked in tries to tackle. It is cess modification from employees across Conversion timeframe – from the time the
usually called something like ‘Purchase the institution to suggest a thorough trans- product is approved, entered into the sys-
Order to Remittance.’ The team starts to formation of our culture. tem, ordered and received the timeline in-
work on it and quickly finds that there is – Reiter, Thomas Jefferson University creased from four-to-six weeks to eight-to-
no part of the organization or process that Hospital 10 weeks. A meeting to discuss the
is not somehow included in that project. breakdown is being scheduled.
Some would argue that it would be easier A hospital commissioned its lean manage- –Cox, Texas Children’s Hospital
to ‘Boil the ocean’ or ‘Solve world hunger.’ ment team to help streamline the receiving
For a project to be successful, a reasonable process at the receiving dock. A team of lean Our initial flurry of Six Sigma projects failed
scope has to be set and adhered to. consultants was established internally to ad- to respect the learning curve for the
In the second case, no project, Six Sigma dress many process issues across the sup- methodology. This resulted in too many
or otherwise, will be successful if you don’t ply chain. projects in too little allotted time, diluting
– or can’t – define the problem with data. As a first step, the lean team documented resources and reducing the overall effec-
You won’t get the support you need if you the current process to understand improve- tiveness. This lesson was learned, and fu-
don’t adequately describe what you are ment opportunities. It was concluded that ture schedules are more practical and
trying to improve and why the change is instead of each person on the receiving team achievable.
needed. A good analogy that we often use performing each step of the receiving pro- – Reiter, Thomas Jefferson University
is, ‘Show them the bear is at the door.’ cess, it would be more productive for each Hospital
What we mean by that is, in order to gain person to perform a specific part of the pro-
support and drive action, you have to cess with greater efficiency. A similar effort was put in place by another
clearly articulate or prove that there is in Upon implementation, the number of hospital where too many KPIs were picked
fact a problem and we need to change. packages received per day did not improve. by the departments. This made the process
We do have a couple projects today that One of the key reasons for this outcome was cumbersome with participants spending ex-
are at risk of failing. One is for lack of data that the lean team did not completely un- cessive time collecting information. Al-
and the other is a scope issue. What we derstand the details of the entire process, though this may have improved quality in
have done in both cases, is stopped the leading to lower productivity. some instances, it also decreased produc-
project and started over. In the case of the The key lesson learned was that in order tivity due to the amount of effort involved
lack of data issue, we simply told the green to successfully implement a process in collecting the requisite information.
belt to stop designing a new process and change, it is important to dissect all ele- – Rudomin and Jagdev, HealthCare
asking for people’s time and go get data to ments of the process; e.g. segregating re- Solutions Bureau, LLC HPN
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www.hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS November 2009 13
0911-Performance.pmd 13 10/9/2009, 5:04 PM
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