Are you creating value?

In the Lean view of the world, the theory of business that emanates from the Toyota Production System, the focus is on delivering a continuous flow of value and avoiding waste. Our business is formed around delivering value to customers. When our team arrives on the scene at a project- often a project that is in trouble for one reason or another, the first thing we look for is the customer. In order to provide value to the customer, one must understand what the customer values.

How do we understand what the customer values? The values must be communicated to us- but, still how, and by whom or what? Too often, we show up on a project and there is a huge document that purports to represent the customer's needs. In some cases, we are told to look at the existing systems they have and recreate them, with changes. In other cases, we are told that some other project functionaries will be spending their time visiting with the customer, and the the people designing and building the system will not be dealing with the customer. What does the lean approach tell us to do?

The Toyota Way recommends a simple thing- "Go and see for yourself to thoroughly undertand the situation." Also known as going to gemba (Japanese for "real place") or genchi genbutsu (Japanese for "real thing"), this allows you to make accurate decisions based on real observations. Rather than acting based on reports or hearsay, we should strive to create real human interactions with the people involved in the mission and understand what they are trying to accomplish. This will help put the technology in the right place.

Your job, your primary goal, is to help accomplish the mission of your customers. If you do not deeply understand this mission, you can only act in a shallow fashion. You will only be providing tools, and you will not be aware of whether or not you are providing value.