The Post-It Paradigm

 


Post-Its were introduced in 1977 by the company 3M  and since then they have been used in the whole world in all sort of different areas: home, office, factory, etc.

In the area of process improvement they are widely used for:
  • Brainstorming
  • Cause & Effect Diagrams
  • Value Stream Mapping
  • Storyboards
  • Job Scheduling
The method used in these work groups is to have participants write their ideas in post-its and stick them on a board or wall for everyone to see.

Advantages of this Approach:

  • All participants write at the same time so you can quickly gather inputs from everyone
  • It doesn't require any special skills
  • Post-its can be easily moved or grouped together by the team
  • The overall vision of all these ideas generate new ideas or solutions in the team
  • It enables interactions among the members of the group

Some Limitations:

  • The size of the post-it may constrain the description of some ideas
  • Hand writing of the participants may not always be readable by others, specially at a distance
  • When you start having too many post-its it may be difficult to have an overall view
  • When you finish your group exercise it may be difficult to document your conclusions: an overall photo may be impossible to read 
  • If you need to break the exercise into several sessions it may not be practical to leave a wall filled with post-its and expect nobody to touch them until the next session
  • Transcribing all the information into a computer may require a lot of work if you want to keep the work done

Paradigm Shift



     Handwriting                                    >>>            Smartphone Typing
  • Handwriting has almost disappeared from the workplace 
  • Handwriting skill and speed have, therefore, degraded for most working people
  • Most people at work are quicker typing into their smartphone than handwriting
  • Those of us who are slower can also use voice to type into our smartphone
  • Most people always carry their smartphone with them

Smartphone/ Cloud Alternative to Post-Its

Based on this paradigm shift we can consider this alternative for our brainstorming sessions:
  1. Use smartphones for data entry 
  2. Create a document in Google Drive or OneDrive and give write access to all team participants
  3. Each one can access this document with his/ her smartphone
  4. All participants can add their comments at the same time
  5. The file being worked on can be projected on a screen for everyone to see (apart from the smartphones)
  6. Comments can be organized sequentially or in a matrix form using a spreadsheet 
  7. They can be easily moved around with cut & paste
  8. Participants can also work from remote locations communicating with a video or audio conference
  9. All the work performed during the session remains in the cloud when you finish
  10. It could be distributed to other people for validation


Value Stream Mapping


 

  • After visiting the line the participants can gather in a room with a projector and build the VSM in a file in the cloud with their smartphones.
  • They can even do it in the line itself during their visit
  • You can update the file at a later stage if required
  • You can validate your VSM with other people involved in the process not present in the exercise.

Project Scheduling


  • You can build a project schedule in the cloud with start and finish timestamps for each activity and customer
  • Participants may be in different locations or different companies
  • Any delays can be communicated on the spot to all participants in order to reschedule as soon as possible and avoid misunderstandings
  • Real time communication is key for success


Cause &  Effect Diagram


  • This diagram can be built on-line by the participants. 
  • As you advance along a branch to identify possible causes the lines change color so you can easily see the different levels.
  • You can insert new lines as required or move around lines
  • This approach allows any complexity and it is easier to read than the classic fishbone
You can download this form from One Drive:  Cause and Effect Diagram 


Conclusions

  • Post-Its are a great invention used successfully worldwide in all areas
  • Most people in the workplace are quicker than handwriting with their smartphone 
  • Handwriting is not always readable by others specially from a distance
  • An alternative approach at work is to use smartphones to input into a shared file in the cloud
  • This alternative is almost for free and easy to implement
  • It makes use of an existing skill in most participants and free space in the cloud
  • All the work performed by the team is not lost at the end of the exercise
  • It could be stored, distributed, updated at a later stage without any need for a transcription


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