What is Evenness?
- Evenness is a constancy of flow or condition that results in a beneficial outcome.
- In Business, Evenness is a state in which those involved in a process, or invested in an outcome, can count on inputs, processing, and outputs that are regular, consistent, and predictable.
- Evenness is also a matter of perspective. What some perceive as an Even output at one point in a process can be preceded or followed by frenzied or erratic flow. So often, Evenness is a local point of view.
- There are two types of Evenness. Enterprise Evenness is the degree to which an organization’s Values Streams are Even. One of the best metrics for Enterprise Evenness is Forecast Accuracy. Local Evenness is the degree to which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), or important conditions, are Even from the perspective of those who work in a particular process, system, department, etc.
Why is Evenness important?
- Rational Reason – when you have a high degree of Evenness in a process, you can predict the outcome. What you can predict, you can control, and what you can control, you can improve. So, Evenness provides a platform for optimization.
- Emotional Reason – Evenness reduces surprises and the need to react to them. Evenness reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue. In other words, it reduces Overburden, which is called Muri in Lean Manufacturing. It enables the customer of the process (internal and external) to benefit from the Certainty of on-time delivery that meets quality specs.
- Tangible Reason – A high degree of Evenness allows those working the process to fine-tune it because they seldom fight fires. This transition from firefighting to fine-tuning drives variation and waste out of the process while increasing velocity and quality. Evenness is a key competitive advantage that is free in that it costs only the will to keep working on it. Perhaps most importantly, when people see that their leaders relentlessly strive for Evenness, they are inspired to action.
How does an organization use Evenness as a Rally Point in Uncertain Times?
- Listen to Episode 12 of the TPL Show – Part One of Leveraging the Benefit of Evenness – What is Evenness?
- Declare the situation openly and use a formal set of written Talking Points as a guide. Brief leaders on the situation, and then cascade and reinforce your message throughout the organization. Describe the situation clearly in simple language. Describe the impact on the process, on those who work it (suppliers & employees), and on the customer. Use tangible descriptions, relatable examples, realistic timelines, and numbers as much as possible.
- Clarify everyone’s role. Be very specific about how it is different than during “normal” times. Clearly indicate who will lead what, even if it seems painfully obvious. Spell it all out in detail, and set the expectation that everyone must be ready to help and must be flexible, cooperative, and engaged in positive ways.
- Create an organization-wide Help Chain for this issue.
- Establish an Obeya Room using the 11 principles of Obeya.
- Identify all the actual and potential interruptions to flow. Rank them – use FMEA. Devise plans and backup plans – Use Potential Problem Analysis. Carefully determine the generic strategy for each plan. Is it Kaizen, or Kaikaku?
- Significantly increase your presence at the Gemba, keep awareness high, react thoughtfully, and be ready to reset and reshuffle as the situation unfolds.
What are the 11 Principles of Obeya?
Mindset
- People come together in the Obeya to respectfully see, learn & act on
