FC Lean Newsletter

In efforts to better support our Lean Environment and our graduates of Lean courses, the FC Lean Team will be providing information on ongoing improvement efforts across the City and continuing education opportunities. If you are not a subscriber, but would like to be added to the subscription list, please email lean@fcgov.com.  

Announcements

New FC Lean Service Area Dashboards can be found on the new FC Lean Sharepoint site

Success Stories

2020 was riddled with old processes needing to be refurbished to meet the safety demands of a global pandemic and as so was the case with our sales tax rebate program. Sponsored by Travis Storin and led by Jennifer Poznavovic, the team of Marci White, Salina Hemmen, Tina Chandler, Ryan Malarky, and Katie Andrews set out to covert a historically in-person process into a contactless one. Initial discussions with Jennifer and Marci determined that not only did the process of completing an application needed to be redone, so did the applications itself.

The first item of business was to run the application through FC Lean’s Form Lab process. The team diligently compared the form with other forms from surrounding municipalities, discussed what was truly needed, and reorganized the flow of the form to reduce confusion (since form confusion was a contributing factor for in-person visits).  

Next, the team addressed the contactless portion of the rebate form process. The largest obstacle faced was to create a process that did not allow walk-in visits. With the guidance of SRM’s Katie Andrews, the team created a future state process that accounted for no walk-in visits. The team modified how they aided customers, photocopying of documents, and submission of the application itself.

The overall goal of creating a safe and contactless environment for Fort Collins community members and Fort Collins staff was achieved, but not without some growing pains. As a result of the new process, repeat customers who were used to the old process had the most questions and needed the most assistance. The error rate, of submitting a correct application the first time, increased by 20% and the assistance needed increased the staff time cost by $1,851. This is a great example of how one goal can be achieved and a new goal can be set for the future, which is Jennifer’s intent.

Improvement Tool Highlight

FC Lean’s new Sharepoint site offers information on all things FC Lean: upcoming classes, a link to our toolkit, a repository for past newsletters and quarterly reports and more. But perhaps the most useful tools are the new FC Lean Service Area Dashboards. These dashboards are meant to help City leaders, department heads, project sponsors and team leads track their engagement with FC Lean.  

On each dashboard you’ll find completed projects, current numbers on staff training, and Service Area Lean Leaders. In addition, there is a FC Lean Current Projects spreadsheet that transparently tracks all current projects. This spreadsheet shares information such as Project Lead and Sponsor, Project Phase, Status, and Updates. The spreadsheet is updated by FC Lean every Tuesday to provide the most up-to-date information so that viewers have real time information about current steps and project progress.  

Each project will appear on the dashboard once FC Lean has completed an intake which includes scoping the project, identifying the customer and metrics, and working through a couple of foundational forms. Once a project is completed it will stay on the dashboard through the end of the quarter and will be moved to the Completed Projects section one month after completion. 

The Project Phase tracks the life cycle of each project whether it’s a traditional Problem|Solve|Fix process improvement or one of our other products such as Process Builder or 6S. Every project will start in the intake phase but will move through the phases differently depending on the type of project. For the traditional FC Lean Problem|Solve|Fix methodology, the project will list each phase as it progresses and will move into the Sustain phase once it is ready for implementation. For other products such as 6S, FormLab, and Process Builder the phases will show as 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% completion as each project progresses.  

Finally, the Status and Updates columns allow for any pertinent information to be shared so that leaders, managers, sponsors, and leads can understand how the project is progressing. The status is listed as On Track, Stalled, or At Risk depending on how the project is progressing. If the project is listed as At Risk for six months, then the project will be dropped from the list. The updates column includes next and last meetings, barriers/or sticking point, implementation schedules, and/or team adjustments. Together this information offers a quick at-a-glance review of all projects the Service Area is engaged in as well as provides contact names for leaders and managers so that they may follow-up with any questions or conversations.  

Check out our current projects by visiting https://coftc.sharepoint.com/sites/FCLean/SitePages/FC-Lean-Dashboard.aspx. If you’d like to schedule an intake with FC Lean email us at lean@fcgov.com.  

OMG Help Documenting Real-Life Facilitation Struggles

Documentation! As a Lean Leader and a facilitator of problem solving, documenting the steps of what the team did, helps with the story of the improvement. Additionally, documenting as you go aids in ensuring the appropriate sequencing of the Problem|Solve|Fix methodology. In other words, it will keep you on track and help you plan for what is next. Finally, documentation helps with celebrating the team’s efforts. A well-written publication can be easily shared with the team lead, sponsor, and others.  

FC Lean currently has 3 main documents made for the purpose of capturing the story: the Process Improvement Form, the Process Builder Form, and the Just Do It Form.  

The Process Improvement Form is the primary form FC Lean and Lean Leaders use to document improvements. It guides the facilitator and the eventual reader through the problem statement, baseline metrics, root cause analysis, brainstormed fixes, improvement metrics, action planning and how the team plans on sustaining the change.  

The Process Builder Form assists in documenting processes that didn’t exist before or processes that need to be completely re-engineered. This form will walk the reader through the current process, the gaps and issues associated with the current process, the mitigation strategies the team brainstormed, and the future state with incorporated fixes.  

The Just Do It Form is a form meant to capture small improvements performed by City employees. Students of FC Lean’s Lean Basics are taught the Problem|Solve|Fix method and the form, at a high-level, captures that improvement. The Just Do It Form is short and made to keep the documentation simple. The form walks the reader through what the problem was, why the problem was occurring, and what they did to fix it. Furthermore, the Just Do Form is meant to be sharable with the employee’s supervisor and with FC Lean. FC Lean documents the improvement, shares the success in our quarterly newsletter and uploads it into the Service Area Dashboard.   

Documenting the improvement as you go versus documenting afterwards is the preferred method. Documenting as you go, will remind the user of the steps used in the Problem|Solve|Fix methodology and the tools associated. Documenting as you go, will reduce the chance of falling into the pitfall of implementing a preconceived fix. Preconceived fixes are part of traditional problem solving, and in most cases, require many attempts to realize success.  

You can find the documentation forms online at the FC Lean Toolkit. 

What is Going on Around the City?

Julianna Potts and Jenne Loffer completed Broadband's financial escalation workflow. As a result, the team was able to reduce the response time for customers seeking financial compensation from 2 weeks to 1 week. 

Suzanne Fling and Sarah Olear finished a months long 6S project that freed up 500 square feet of space. This has been beneficial with Covid restrictions and can be a source of revenue in the future since it can be used for birthday parties and other events. 

 

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FC Lean

215 N Mason St

Fort Collins, CO 80524