“HAZARDOUS” Process Journeys

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.” – Earnest Shackleton The above quote is from a newspaper advertisement by Earnest Shackleton, when he was trying to recruit a crew for his Endurance expedition. What an advertisement, it’s amazing! Shackleton was a legendary captain and leader, and his staggering Endurance expedition was one of the most notable in history. Shackleton was taking real risks: life and death risks. Fortunately, our journeys building great manufacturing processes are not so hazardous! However, we still need to be fearless and bold, otherwise we will not “swing for the fences” and try to make truly significant progress. Some ideas for being FEARLESS but not RECKLESS… Idea #1 Goals should be bold enough to be truly interesting and motivating. Who needs a new process that is only slightly better than the current process? Why aim for incremental improvements in an existing manufacturing process? Not only do these approaches not inspire us, they do not provide enough leverage to make a bulletproof and durable business case. Idea #2 Think and communicate in terms of probabilities and degree of certainty. This approach helps us understand and frame the risks better, and deal more effectively with the project funders and stakeholders. Idea #3 Have confidence in systematic approaches to de-risk and clarify the situation. A good framework to start with is MPES’s APEX (Applied Process Engineering eXcellence) approach: Technical Foundation; Generation of Actionable Data; Systematic Problem-Solving Methodologies, and, Project Management. Idea #4 Be prepared to recommend stoppage of your own project! You should be the most knowledgeable person about your project, therefore in the best position to be brutally honest and recommend stoppage if work has shown that is the best path to take. Idea #5 Enlist meaningful support before launching the project. Use a Project Initiation Sheet format to force the planning and pre-work needed for a strong launch. Get significant resources and stakeholder support up front. Then you can focus on execution and solving problems once the project is officially launched. Idea #6 Learn from (your and other’s) previous projects. Who are the most successful researchers who have had the biggest commercial impact? Who are the process builders who have built the most profitable and valuable manufacturing processes? A systematic review of their accomplishments will help ground the current effort and put your current project in a more complete context. Idea #7 “Outcome over Ego”. This is another way of saying that a “do whatever it takes approach” is needed. Focus on real progress and how it can be made as rapidly as possible. Expect, and plan for discomfort and setbacks. They are natural and unavoidable, and a sign of progress and forward momentum.

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My main learning from this line of thinking is that we have to be confident and trust ourselves to act sensibly, despite the fear and inherent risks in building bold new processes. We would do well to keep something the physicist Richard Feynman said in mind: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled”.

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CHALLENGE TO READERS

Please think about your most important current process-building projects…

• Are your researchers and process-builders fearless and intrepid? Are they working on “game changers” that will have a significant positive impact on your business?

• Do you have a “portfolio” of possible projects/ideas to pursue in the future? This is a very useful list to keep and routinely use. Keeping a list of possible projects will help you evaluate the strength of different project options and be proactive in proposing future efforts.

I’d like to know how you manage to behave boldly and fearlessly on a consistent basis, and what helps you do this over the long-term. If you email us, we will get back to you promptly. Thanks!

All the Best,

Marty

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