Leanable Moments take you inside my home life to show you how I apply Lean thinking to real-world problems.  Each Leanable Moment is presented in A3 format – simply click the image to enlarge – and includes discussion focusing on the finer points of the problem solving process – the type of things they don’t necessarily teach you in Lean training!  Each discussion will conclude with a summary of key lessons learned, going beyond the boundaries of just one problem to take the waste out of life.

The Current Condition

For us road warriors, the EZ-Pass is a borderline necessity.  My 68-mile commute would be that much more unbearable having to stop and wait in line for 5 minutes to pay the toll on my way to and from work.  Not to mention, there’s a slight discount – about 20% – for using the EZ-Pass over paying in cash; 400+ trips a year and those pennies really add up!

That being said, when I drive to work without my EZ-Pass – which I do a lot! – it’s a big inconvenience for me.  The problem starts when I remove the EZ-Pass from my work car – of course it’s a Toyota! – and use it when we go on trips in the family car that require tolls.  In the last year, I have not remembered one single time to put the EZ-Pass back in my work car before driving to work the following morning.

To solve the problem, I first needed to define exactly what the problem is, which is where the discussion gets interesting.  From experience, I know that how a problem is initially framed has an enormous impact on the options that are considered for addressing the problem later on in the problem solving process.  In this case, there are two ways that this problem can be framed:

1. The problem is that I forget the EZ-Pass in the family car.
2. The problem is that I drive to work without the EZ-Pass in my work car.

Take a minute to think how you would frame the problem at this point.  Why did you make that choice?

I chose to go with the latter option, driving to work without the EZ-Pass, because that is when I feel the “pain”.  It does not necessarily inconvenience me to leave the EZ-Pass in the family car; I could always remember to grab it at a later time.  I feel the pain when I drive to work without it and I have to stop and pay the tolls!  We’ll see later how the framing of the problem becomes a very important factor how the problem is eventually addressed.

The Target Condition

Note the simplicity of the goal statement.  We have a tendency to over-think our goal statements.  In this case, I simply want to make sure that every time I drive to work, I have my EZ-Pass in my work car.

Cause Analysis

The next step in the problem solving process is to understand why the problem is occurring.  I used a root cause map and drilled down to deeper levels of understanding by using the 5-whys technique (my favorite tool in the Lean toolbox).

• Why #1:  Why do I drive to work without the EZ-Pass?  Two reasons.  Obviously, one reason is that I leave the EZ-Pass in the family car.  However, the second reason is not-so-obvious and I likely would not have noticed it without practicing Go and See by sitting in the car:  the EZ-Pass is installed behind the rear-view mirror and is not visible to me when I sit in the driver’s seat.  Therefore, I cannot see that it’s missing when I start driving.  Note that this location is a safety measure – doesn’t obstruct your view while driving – and cannot be changed.

• Why #2: Why do I leave the EZ-Pass in the family car?  Three factors all contribute to my forgetfulness.  First, similar to above, I can’t see the EZ-Pass in the family car and therefore, don’t notice that it’s still in the car.  Second, when we arrive home, our first priority is to usher our three young kids in the house because we don’t want them running out into the street*.   The third factor relates to how habits are formed.  Obviously, I am not in the habit of remembering the EZ-Pass.  In Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit, he establishes that the habit loop consists of three components:   a cue that triggers a routine which generates a reward (or consequence).  In the case of the EZ-Pass, my habit loop is broken in that there is nothing that triggers the desired routine (re-installing the EZ-Pass in my work car).

* Side note, why do they call it herding cats?  In my experience, herding toddlers is much more difficult!

• Why #3: Why do I not have a trigger to remember the EZ-Pass?  I once had a mentor that claimed there were only three root causes to any problem:  there either is no standard, the standard is not being met, or the standard is not good enough.  In this case, I simply have no standard process for exiting the family car, other than attempting to herd the children safely into the house.  I stopped asking why at this point because doing so does not add new information.  The best plan of attack is to create a standard process for exiting the vehicle that triggers me to take the EZ-Pass with me before driving to work.

Countermeasures

The first and most obvious countermeasure would be to simply get a second EZ-Pass dedicated to the family car.  However, that option would require me to open up a second account in which I would have to maintain a cash balance above a designated amount.  Doing so would be akin to following conventional management thinking:  when there’s a problem, just throw more money at it.  I’m not about to go there.

Next I brainstormed ways to create the trigger that would remind me to take the EZ-Pass.  I came up with three potential triggers:

• Place a reminder on the door handle of the family car reminding me to take the EZ-Pass before exiting the vehicle.
• When removing the EZ-Pass from my work car, tilt the rear view mirror down towards the floor.  Only put the mirror back in the proper position when the EZ-Pass has been re-installed in the work car.
• When installing the EZ-Pass in the family car, place the keys to my work car in the family car.  As long as the EZ-pass remains in the family car, so do the keys.

I eliminated the first option immediately.  I’m not a big fan of reminders because I can choose to ignore them, and over time, our natural tendency is to simply stop noticing them altogether.  I liked the second and third options because the triggers are clear and I could not ignore them – think poka yoke.  However, the third option is preferable to the second because the trigger comes sooner.  In the second option, the trigger would not come until I was ready to back down my driveway on the way to work.  In the third option, I get the trigger before I ever walk out the front door . . . hey, where are my keys????

At this point, however, I want to revisit the framing of the problem statement.  Note that the proposed countermeasure would not prevent recurrence of the problem if it would have been framed around leaving the keys in the family SUV.  I still would have left the keys in the family car.  However, because the problem was framed around the actual event that was causing me pain – driving to work without the keys – there are more, effective countermeasures available.

Standardize

After standardizing the process for transitioning the EZ-Pass between the two cars, I monitored the problem to make sure the actions worked.  Three family trips so far and I’ve returned my EZ-Pass to my work car each and every time.  Simple problem solved (so far) with zero cost, and I get over an hour of time back with my family every year.

Lessons Learned

1. Solve the right problem!  Take the time to define – write it down! –  the problem that you are trying to solve and frame it so that it focuses on the actual pain that you are experiencing.
2. When trying to affect behaviors, remember the habit loop.  Don’t focus solely on the actions you want to occur.  Driving the right behaviors also requires that the right triggers and the right rewards (or consequences) are in place.  In the absence of any one of the three elements, the habit is never established.

In next week’s Leanable Moment, we will discuss how to turn kids into Lean thinking problem solvers!

Did you solve a problem that you would like to contribute to Leanable Moments?  Simply use the Contact the KaiZone link at the top of the page and tell me about it!