Hello, folks:

Marc suggested that I make pieces of my new book ("The Continual Improvement Process: From Strategy to the Bottom Line," Paton Press, 2003) available to Cove regulars. This is a great idea. So, here is the first chapter of the book. The chapter is entitled Deciding What's Important. I've also attached the three appendices that go along with the chapter. This is only being provided to Elsmar Cove folks; feel free to use the chapter and appendices in your own work, but please do not distribute the materials further.

I will post additional chapters and tools from the book in the coming days. Please let me know what you think about what you read.

Craig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Cochran
Center for International Standards & Quality
Georgia Institute of Technology
craig.cochran@edi.gatech.edu

Craig, there's some good advice in there - particularly for one of my clients who has waaaaaay too many quality objectives. Their president wants to "focus on everything" and consequently has postponed their management review twice because they don't have time to collect the data. :frust: I think with a little more persuasion (including some of the logic presented in your book) the management rep and I will be able to convince him to focus on just the key measures...

Craig,

your generosity is great, and so should be your complete book. Of being generously fruitful in helping at the bottom
line.

I am personally interested to set in a process of continual improvement in teaching (especially in engineering institutions). I had sent a private message too thru' cove's facilities provided herein. Help! Here or anywhere!

...here is the first chapter of the book.
Great! Thanks!

I'm 75% through it and will finish it later. I like the style. Plain english...no attempt to impress with your mastery of the English language. You know me Craig. I have to have some fun. What possessed you to put Howard Atkins in charge of reducing inventory? :vfunny: And, I'm a great believer in digesting copious amounts of beluga caviar and bourbon while brainstorming! :bonk: Your generousity in providing this practical glimpse for developing key measures is truly appreciated. :thanx:

Craig,

Firstly, after reading chapter I, I discovered that the majority of our measurables are correct and appropriate to our business. We do not have accounting (profit / loss) statements but do track over-run, nonconforming product, scrap, etc that all affect profit. Three years ago we did have a profit margin goal included in our measurables. It was useless information and we never hit our goal. So we took a close look at and determined what was most important to us. You brought to light more good points that I intent to share with management when we review and determine 2004 measurables in January. I look forward to reading the next chapter.

I would also like to say that the first Chapter was not filled with big "Quality" words that sounds good while you are reading and let you know that the author is educated but add no value to the reader or transfer ability. The first Chapter was not confusing and was arranged in a logical order and the transaction was smooth from subject to subject. Very easy to apply, relates to any company and within the 10th grade average reading level.

In case you did not know, that is the sign of a good writer. Well Done!
:)

Craig,

How very generous of you!! :thanx:

I agree with the posts above, I dig the plain English and the flow of the subject matter. Looking forward to chapter 2.

Hello, folks:

Marc suggested that I make pieces of my new book ("The Continual Improvement Process: From Strategy to the Bottom Line," Paton Press, 2003) available to Cove regulars. This is a great idea. So, here is the first chapter of the book. The chapter is entitled Deciding What's Important. I've also attached the three appendices that go along with the chapter. This is only being provided to Elsmar Cove folks; feel free to use the chapter and appendices in your own work, but please do not distribute the materials further.

I will post additional chapters and tools from the book in the coming days. Please let me know what you think about what you read.

Craig


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Cochran
Center for International Standards & Quality
Georgia Institute of Technology
craig.cochran@edi.gatech.edu



Craig:

What do I think about what I read?

Well, why don't you post a link to where we can buy it?

Append. 1B alone could very well be worth much more than the cost, IMHO.

In short:

GOOD WORK!!! Congratulations!

The other Craig

Common sense. I love it! If I put all my random thoughts, notes, and files on the subject together into something coherent and well organized, it would be your book. However, I couldn't and you did. Thank you very much for your generous sampling of the book. I will use some of its insights in my next management meeting.

Craig H,

Craig C. did hyperlink us to the Paton Press publishing source in another thread entitled "continual improvement book".

Concise, clear and to the point.

I'm off this week, so I look forward to reading your material and I'll post back when I have. I'm curious, though, how you decided on the use of "continual" rather than "continuous" in the title. Not that it makes much difference, but I'm sure the choice was deliberate and I'd like to hear your thought process. If it were me, I would have used continualous (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=170008#poststop) :D

Jim,

Happy Holidays to you! Hope you're not freezing up in Wisconsin. The use of 'continual improvement' (as opposed to continuous improvement or something else) was simply because ISO 9001 and related standards use the that term. . I actually prefer your term: continualous. It's brilliant! I'll start using it immediately.

Craig

Sorry for the 3 years late comment, but I might not have been on the Cove when this first came out. Good to see someone comment on this recently.

As a Deming person, I am dissapointed to see so many numerical targets included in the primary write-up. For something that is "Deciding What Is Important", I would separate the "Choice of Key Measures" from "How to Manage with Key Measures". I basically agree with the logic for the Key Measure selection. But I firmly disagree with guiding people towards numerical targets (example - 4.6. Reduce inventories of all parts to less than 45 days in stock or 4.4. Improve reliability of components and final assemblies by at least 30%).

This approach is very "top-down" - from the Mission statement and flowing down. I do generally agree with the approach, but it can be very idealistic and likely to fail in some environments. I usually do a "top-down" approach until the group runs out of steam. Then, I ask - what data are you collecting now? We then work up from the bottom and see if we can get a meeting in the middle. This helps folks realize that some of the data they are collecting NOW could be used NOW. And it can show data that they are collecting that is a waste of money to collect, and point to where new data streams should be developed.

Not to have "dueling papers", but I do have a power point on the general topic of choosing indicators attached. Personally, I don't try to force people to choose their "key" indicators up front, but to get them moving collecting data (and analyzing what they have on hand) and refine into a set of "key" indicators.

FYI, Steve: I noted a few typographical errors on some slides.

FYI, Steve: I noted a few typographical errors on some slides.

Boy, and that's after getting through our communications department who usually are good at finding my errers!

Thanks, I'll take another look through.

Steve,

Your feedback is strong and well-taken. Thanks for looking at the chapter. It's worth noting that the next chapter in the book is called Communicating What's Important and the subsequent chapter is Analysis and Action. These 2 chapters address how to actually use the information from measures in a meaningful way. Page 42 of the book reads, "Targets must only be set with an understanding of the variables that influence key measures. For this reason, many organizations find it appropriate to review the measures for a month or two before setting targets. The targets then have some basis in experience and wisdom about the movement of the data."

"Targets occasionally have a way of becoming knee-jerk, as opposed to being based on logic and reality. Many organizations are famous for automatically saying, 'Two percent better than last year,' for every target. Never mind that there’s no rationale basis for the target, it’s a target nonetheless. Targets should provide some stretch, but they should certainly be achievable and based in reality. Impossible and/or arbitrary targets quickly become de-motivators, which is the exact opposite of what they’re supposed to do. The actions that will help achieve the targets must be clearly defined, and this is the single most important activity that takes place during the review of key measures."

Nice work on that presentation. It's got some very good material in it, which is exactly what I would expect from you. Wes Bucey is a master proof-reader, so I'm not surprised he found a few typos. He always finds some opportunities in my writing. I can't proof read a cocktail napkin.

Warm regards,
Craig

Thanks, Craig. You are welcome to make use of anything from my presentation you find useful. It has been "public released" by the US Government. Kind of interesting working as a government contractor - anything you write on government money is basically exempt from copyright and goes into the public domain - unless my employer could claim it is a trade secret. Hopefully using 75 year old methodologies won't become a trade secret. :lmao:

Even targets that meet your criteria in Chapter 2 would be avoided by Deming. That doesn't make it "good" or "bad" (I abstained from voting in the poll for that reason), however, it all depends upon your underlying management theories.

I'd like to keep an eye on your forms. Every so often I get a request from folks for forms - though I am of mixed opinion on forms as I have seen some folks just fill in the boxes with no knowledge of theory.

Happy New Year.

feel free to use the chapter and appendices in your own work, but please do not distribute the materials further.

Craig,

I saw this thread today for the first time and found your chapter most informative. It's extremely generous of you to make it freely available to "Covers". :thanx:

Tupham,

Thanks for your nice message. If you'd like to see other chapters, just let me know. I would be happy to post them here or send them to you.

Craig

Tupham,

Thanks for your nice message. If you'd like to see other chapters, just let me know. I would be happy to post them here or send them to you.

Craig
Craig,

I have been a document controller in past roles and have now taken on the responsibility of helping my current employer gain ISO 9001:2000 certification with extremely limited support and even less information. :bonk: I'm most grateful for all of the information I glean from this forum and its generous contributors and would be most appreciative to have access to your other chapters. :thanks:

Kind regards,

Tupham,

Here is the book's final chapter: The Culture of Continual Improvement. Thanks for your interest.

Craig

No quibbles. Remarkable, huh?;)

Wes,

No quibbles from you? This is impossible! ;)

Thanks for taking a look at it.

Craig

Tupham,

Here is the book's final chapter: The Culture of Continual Improvement. Thanks for your interest.

Craig
Thanks so much, Craig. What I have read so far is fascinating and most helpful. Now for some bedtime reading! :D

Trish,

For insomnia cures, here are some of the appendices to that chapter.

Craig

Jim,

Happy Holidays to you! Hope you're not freezing up in Wisconsin. The use of 'continual improvement' (as opposed to continuous improvement or something else) was simply because ISO 9001 and related standards use the that term. . I actually prefer your term: continualous. It's brilliant! I'll start using it immediately.

Craig

Good reading Craig. Thanks. Btw, how would you define "Continuous" "Continual" and "Continualous" :)

ccochran:

Good stuff, and easy to follow. Many people love graphics, have you ever considered including a pareto chart of the key measurable in attachment #1a? Either in the body of the chapter or as an additional attachment.

Al...

Trish,

For insomnia cures, here are some of the appendices to that chapter.

Craig
Cool! Thanks very much. :D

Qualityalways,

Someone much smarter than me would have to define those words. 'Get mo better' is the way I describe Continuous/Continual/Continualous improvement.

Trish,

You're very welcome. Let me know when you'd like to see more of the book.

Al,

That's an interesting idea. Do you mean Pareto diagramming the prevalence of those measures in actual practice? If so, I think revenue and profit would be far and away the biggest ones. Maybe we could post a poll on the most prevalent Key Measures / Objectives.

Warm regards,
Craig

Craig,

I would like to thank you sincerely for providing access to the first chapter of your book. As yet I have not had time to read it word for word, mainly because I kept jumping around and skip reading, in delight.

I have worked in the industry from a sales point of view for about 5 years and have only recently passed my lead auditor course, so I’m still learning. From what I have seen so far I feel just understood more in five minutes than in the last five years.

I now intend to spend the rest of this Saturday reading through it properly.

Thanks very much

Alan

Alan,

Thanks for your kind feedback. I'm very happy that the book might be helpful to you. Congratulations on getting through the lead auditor course. It sounds like you're going to be very successful in the field of quality. Your sales skills will come in very handy...

Warm regards,
Craig

Thanks Craig, encouragement is always welcome.

When do you think the book will be completed and published? If the first chapter was anything to go by I think this is a book I would spend money on. Cant wait to read it.

Alan in Snowy France

Alan,

This book was published by Paton Press in 2003, believe it or not. You can buy it at www.patonpress.com or www.amazon.com. The full title is "The Continual Improvement Process: From Strategy to the Bottom Line."

Stay warm,
Craig

LOL

Sold. And I call myself a Salesman :lmao: