The LSS Fellowship is honored to be joined by Lean pioneer Steve Tendon.
Steve has focused on improving flow of all kinds in organizations. His recent work is documented in his book “Hyper-Productive Knowledge Work Performance: The TameFlow Aproach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban,” published by J. Ross Publishing (http://www.jrosspub.com/hyper-productive-knowledge-work-performance.html).
He describes this work as follows:
“My contribution to the field has focused on increasing “Flow” in an organization. Flow is well known in Lean Thinking, especially in terms of operational flow (i.e. “work flow”). Specifically, for the improvement of work flow management, I have combined the use of the Kanban Method with probabilistic forecasting and buffer management techniques from the Theory of Constraints (TOC). This adds a high degree of reliability and improved due date performance. I also developed enhanced visual management techniques, combining buffer charts from TOC with the typical cumulative flow diagrams of the Kanban Method. I applied similar visual techniques to the management of project portfolios, combining ideas from TOC’s portfolio management with portfolio kanban.
“My focus on “Flow” however was not limited to work flow, but it also extended to information flow, financial flow and psychological flow. For information flow I combined the use of Discovery Kanban, the PDCA loop and the OODA loop to tighten the feedback loops between operations management and operations itself.
“Work flow and information flow converge into the financial flow, where I have put to use the concepts of Throughput Accounting of the Theory of Constraints. This adds a systems perspective to the financial management of an organization, which is entirely consistent with the system’s level handling of work flow and information flow.
“Finally, I have given great attention to psychological flow states, whereby individuals and teams reach their own maximum levels of performance, with a profound and purposeful coordination of thought and action towards towards well identified and clear goals.
“By aligning the four flows (work, information, finance, and psychology), I ignite two vigorous transformative forces: the Unity of Purpose and the Community of Trust. For instance, when buffer management is introduced on top of the Kanban Method, the entire team get’s a more clearly defined common goal which contributes to cultivating Unity of Purpose. Similarly, the improved reliability increases the level of confidence within the organization fostering a Community of Trust. The Unity of Purpose and the Community of Trust are deeply related to the Lean principle of “Respect People.”
Welcome to the Fellowship of the Lean Systems Society, Steve!
