I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about process improvement lately. I think some of my frustration with current process improvement methodologies is that we don’t properly define process. The common process mapping acronym SIPOC (Supplier – Input – Process – Output – Customer) leaves off what I believe is the most important part of…

In this episode, Brian and Craig explore the final side of The Creativity Cube – Collaboration and Conflict.

A few weeks ago, I published a post about the Four Levels of Process Mapping. Several colleagues have asked that I elaborate on the Management View and the Process View. If you recall, the Management view shows the major areas where work-in-process inventory may be held by the process and the major flows of data,…

In Episode 4 of The Process Leadership Show, Brian and Craig discuss two more sides of The Creativity Cube: Criteria and Cultivation. The Criteria side relates to how ideas, once generated, are chosen. Craig present how to determine criteria, and then how to use those criteria to choose from our ideas. The Cultivation side is…

In this episode of The Process Leadership Show, Craig and Brian discuss the third side of the Creativity Cube: Creators. Creators are tools that are used to spark new ideas. More advanced than simple brainstorming, Creators challenge our thinking. For more information about Better Brainstorming using The Creativity Cube, head to brainstorm.coach.

In last week’s post, I discussed how Purpose is missing from the typical process mapping tool SIPOC (Suppler – Input – Process – Output – Customer) and how adding it can positively affect our process improvement. Today, I’d like to discuss how Purpose affects process quality. There has long been a debate in the quality…

Have you ever heard to map your process at the 5,000 foot view or the 50,000 foot view? Many times one of the first things we learn about process mapping is that there are different levels of abstraction, or different amounts of detail in process maps. From a conceptual standpoint, that makes sense – in…

SCAMPER is an acronym used in creativity and Lateral Thinking to stimulate creative thought. The letters in SCAMPER stands for: · Substitute · Combine · Adapt / Automate · Modify · Put to another use · Eliminate · Reverse We apply these mnemonics to the Canvas, using each trigger in each block in the Canvas….

In the second episode of The Process Leadership Show, Craig and Brian discuss the first two sides of The Creativity Cube: Challenges and Constraints. For more information about Better Brainstorming using The Creativity Cube, head to Brainstorm.Coach.

In the first episode of The Process Leadership Show, Brian and Craig discuss why brainstorming usually is unproductive and introduce a new model of Better Brainstorming: The Creativity Cube. For more information about Better Brainstorming using The Creativity Cube, head to Brainstorm.coach.

If the first step in problem solving is defining the problem, shouldn’t step zero be defining the definition of problem?  In reading “Are Your Lights On?” by Gerald Weinberg, I cam across this gem: A Problem is a Difference Between Things as Desired, and Things as Perceived. Having performed many gap analyses, I have often…

Once we are finished using the Canvas to describe the purpose, inputs, process and outputs of our process, we can start innovating.  Innovation is really a game of driving waste from the process. We can look at the value of the process, and the outputs and steps used to create it and see there are…