© copyright 2000 the process group and dennis j. frailey. all rights reserved. 1 version 1.0...

© Copyright 2000 The Process Group and Dennis J. Frailey. All rights reserved. 1Version 1.0

THE

GROUPPROCESS

Meeting Tight Schedules Through Cycle Time Improvement

The Process Group (Neil Potter & Mary Sakry)Dennis J. FraileyP.O. Box 700012

Dallas, TX 75370-0012

Tel. 972-418-9541Fax. 972-618-6283

E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.processgroup.com


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GROUPPROCESS

Why Improve Development Cycle Time?

To improve the organization’s capability to develop products quickly

This does not necessarily mean that you will always need to develop products quickly– Not all situations require short cycle time– But for those that do, you are more

competitive


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What If You Don’t Need Short Cycle Time?

You can use this capability to:• Achieve competitive costs• Start development later in the program cycle• Allow less time to change requirements• Get development off of the critical path


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A Common Cycle Time Issue

Requirements changes result in excessive rework, higher costs and product delays

The key is to develop the products quickly so today’s needs can

be met

We’ve changed this requirement.


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GROUPPROCESS

How Can Cycle Time Be Improved?

• The following video illustrates how to improve cycle time in an area that many of us are familiar with

• As you watch, think of ideas that might be applicable to software development


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How Is Cycle Time Improved?• Doing every process step faster?• Working longer hours?• Piling up work?

Faster!!!


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GROUPPROCESS

• Doing every process step faster?• Working longer hours?• Piling up work?

Faster!!!

How Is Cycle Time Improved?


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Cycle Time Improvement is ...

• Improving the process

• Reducing the critical path

• Eliminating waits, queues, bottlenecks

• Helping people work smarter

• Increased cycles of learning

• Reengineering the process

• Achieving smooth flow


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GROUPPROCESS

What Is Cycle Time?

• The time required to execute all activities in a process. This could be:– 1st operation to ship– a single operation– a group of operations– customer order to ship

• Cycle time includes actual processing time AND all waiting time

Consider a “10 minute” oil change


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1. Reduce variability

2. Simplify the process

3. Achieve smooth flow

Three Ways to Reduce Cycle Time


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• Movement of programs or documents or material

between workstations or systems• Machines or software not being available• Hot lots / priority jobs that disrupt normal activity• Defects that require rework and debugging• Special cases that require holds and delays• Inconsistent processes• Excessive approval requirements• Hundreds more...

Sources of Variability


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• Tendency is to establish many levels of priorities

• HOT• SUPER HOT• IMMEDIATE• PER THE BOSS

• Pressure exists to raise the number of hot jobs

• The list always grows

• Managing priorities consumes many resources

• And it delays other jobs

Hot Lots and Priority Jobs


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Impact of Inconsistent Processes

• Tools do not share data• Individuals do not understand each others’ work• Excessive time and effort spent on interfaces between

different individuals and organizations


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Impact of Inconsistent Processes

On one project, roughly 50% :– Converting documents and

software from one tool/format to another

– Correcting problems due to different design styles

– Handling interfaces between computer programs written in different languages


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SIMPLIFYING THE PROCESS


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Value Added• A process step adds value if it does ALL THREE of the following:

– Does something that changes the product– Does something that the customer wants done– Does it correctly the first time

• Examples of non-value-added:– Waiting time (in queues)– Rework and debugging– Gold plating (extra, unnecessary work)– Reviews, inspections, testing and approvals– Measurement– Management


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Non-value-added Essential• Because our processes are not perfect, they must

include certain non-value-added steps:– Management– Measurement– Inspections and reviews– Testing

• These are known as “Non-Value-Added Essential”• They are very hard to eliminate, but are good long-

term targets

Value Added

Non-Value-Added

Essential


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Areas To Focus On• Procedures and methods

– Are they working effectively?– Are they interfacing well with each other?

• People– Are they using their time efficiently?– Are they spending too much time waiting between tasks?

• Computers and software– Are they available and effective?– Is too much time spent getting them to work?

• Materials/specifications/other inputs– Are they available when they are needed?


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Identifying Queues And Waits

Think of yourself as the product being developed.

Take yourself through the process.

At what points are you just waiting with no useful work being performed?

These are bottlenecks, waits or queues that should be removed.


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Eliminating Queues And WaitsProblem: you take a long time to complete test because

everyone needs the test facility at the same time

Options:• Stagger development schedules to even out use of test system

– costs more up-front planning– requires people to be flexible in their schedules

• Obtain more test systems– costs more money?– but may be worth it

• Selective testing


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Look For Rework

• REWORK is anything you do because you didn’t do it right the first time– debugging– correcting documentation– correcting designs– correcting requirements– retesting– responding to customer complaints

• SOME rework is necessary but most is not• Total rework is a measure of process efficiency• You probably have a lot more rework than you think


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REDUCING BARRIERS AND BOTTLENECKS

ELIMINATING EXCESS WORK IN PROCESS (WIP)

The Key is to Achieve Smooth Flow


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Smooth Flow• The ideal process flows smoothly, like

a train running on tracks.• Note: tracks are empty most of the time

• The typical process runs unevenly, like vehicles on a city street– Lots of entrances and exits– Vehicles of different sizes and speeds– Some drivers uncertain of what they

want to do– Lots of stoplights to “control” the flow

(mainly to prevent collisions)• Note: streets are usually crowded


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GROUPPROCESS

Excessive WIP for Software

• Code waiting to be tested

• Designs waiting to be coded

• Specifications waiting to be inspected

• Change requests waiting for approval

• Hundreds more...


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• A bottleneck is any resource with capacity less than the demand placed upon it

– This could be a person, a computer, a network, a machine, etc.

• The constraint regulates the output rate of the entire process

What is a Bottleneck?


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• WEBSTER’S DEFINITIONS:

• UTILIZE: To make use of

• BUSY: Constantly active or in motion

• PRODUCTIVE: Yielding or furnishing results, benefits or profits

• We tend to measure utilization by how busy we are, BUT utilization tells us little about how productive we are

• We should work to increase productivity rather than increase utilization

Utilization is NOT Productivity


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Running assets at a high effective utilization requires a costly cycle time trade off

per Erlang, 1917 (see Gross and Harris, Fundamentals of Queueing Theory, Wiley, pp 10-11, 101-102)

Why Reduce Effective Utilization?

EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION

CY

CL

E T

IME

100%


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GROUPPROCESS

SOME OBSERVATIONS AND CAVEATS


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We Tend to Look for Technical Solutions to Organization Problems

• 30% of the improvement comes from technical changes– Process changes– Tool changes– Changing rules and operations

• 70% of the improvement comes from organizational and people changes, such as– Education– Communication– Management– Teamwork


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• Practitioners generally focus on their work and on what they THINK is happening rather than on what IS happening

– They tend not to see all of the waits, queues, etc. that they cause themselves

– Their perception of how they spend their time is generally incorrect

Independent Observers (Coaches) See Better than Practitioners


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GROUPPROCESS

Examples of Software Cycle Time• “Just-in-time” training• Plan testing and test equipment well in advance• Rethink the detailed design process

– Do you need to maintain detailed design documentation?– Do you need to do detailed design at all?

• Use on-line requirements and design models instead of paper documents and specifications

• Use focused product teams or Integrated Product Teams• Electronic approvals• Customer access to environment• One location for product team members• Standardize formats and tools


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Common Cycle Time Barriers

• Poor communication/cooperation between engineering development and the rest of the organization

• Poor management of unstable requirements, algorithms and interfaces

• Contention for test assets -- need better planning, assets allocated to test needs

• Extreme multi-tasking


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Common Cycle Time Barriers

• Excessive paperwork, signatures, and reporting

– Negotiate reductions with management and customer

• Poorly qualified subcontractors

• Reuse of products or software not designed for reuse

• Attempts to use the latest tools and methods -- without adequate support and integration


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Summary

• Define value

• Analyze process

• Reduce variability in processes

• Simplify processes

• Look for barriers and bottlenecks

• Make the whole process more efficient and effective


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GROUPPROCESS

Recommended Reading

Goldratt, Eliyahu M. & Jeff Cox, The Goal, (North River Press, 1984.) Also, Theory of Constraints and It’s Not Luck. GOLDRATT’S THEORIES OF CYCLE TIME, CONSTRAINT MANAGEMENT, AND

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Hammer, Michael & James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation, - A Manifesto for Business Revolution (Harper Collins, 1993.)

PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE REENGINEERING

© copyright 2000 the process group and dennis j. frailey. all rights reserved. 1 version 1.0...

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