The voice of the process Listening to Voices The voice of the process simply and visually

What are the voices? Work Areas The Staff Media Attention Staff Surveys Media Attention Customer/Citizen Surveys Complaints Waste Efficiency Outcome & Process Measures

Wasting valuable management time How much time do you spend trying to achieve targets? Trying to achieve everything Writing reports Holding meetings to sort perceived performance issues

Performance Reports? High level examples Colourful, but are they useful.

How often do you report? Month on month This quarter compared to last quarter This quarter compared to this quarter last year The average for the: Month Quarter Year

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Why collect data? How can we compare, quantify or record changes if we cannot capture our data in some numerical form? Without measurable data we are at the mercy of anecdote. If you make an assumption based on anecdote rather than data, it will nearly always be wrong because we remember the unusual, not the mundane. “If you can’t express something in the form of numbers, you don’t really know much about it, and if you don’t know much about it, you can’t control it, if you can’t control it you’re at the mercy of chance” It may well have prompted the project. It will certainly be needed to understand the current situation. To manage by fact, you’ll need to quantify and verify possible causes - you need evidence. To baseline the current performance In developing solutions you will need data to help determine the most effective approach. And you’ll need measures in place to act as an early warning system and prompt for further improvement opportunities. 7

What are we measuring ? What data is currently being collected? How do you interpret/use these? Is this info fed back to those who collect the data?

Chasing Tails!!! Audience size Target 10 6 15 8 20 10 25 12 30 14 10 6 15 8 20 10 25 12 30 14 35 16 40 18 45 19 50 21 55 23 60 25 65 26 70 28 75 30 80 31 85 33 90 34 95 36 100 37

Chasing Tails– learning points Any process contains variation Reacting incorrectly to variation is futile

What is variation? David Williams

What is variation? “I drive to work every day. When asked, I say it takes 55 minutes. In fact, it takes about 55 minutes, but every day it is slightly different”

Histogram Static view of variation vs dynamic view

The importance of time Time is often the most important variable, but it is often lost in the aggregation of data

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Run charts How to draw a run chart Y axis The value (measure) We need a reference point to ‘test’ the data. Use the median X axis Time period (e.g. days, weeks)

Run Chart Exercise The raw data for the three departments are attached Roughly plot each directorate separately on the graph paper provided

Three graphs Looking at the same data from the previous slide in a different way can tell us a very different story… From the previous graph we thought Duncan was the best performer and Peter the worst. From the graphs above we can see that the story at the end of the year is exactly the opposite 18

Future gazing Can you predict how your process is likely to perform? How can you measure the context of YOUR variation?

SPC Chart Upper control limit Range of the process Lower control limit

What is variation? All processes contain variation The key in managing variation is to distinguish between - variation caused by the process (common cause) - variation that is caused by special events (special cause)

Special cause leading to new process One-off special cause Common cause

Match action to type of variation Common Cause Special Cause  Understand the process so that changes introduced will change the process Changing the process to deal with one-off events is only likely to increase variation and make things worse  Common Cause TYPE OF ACTION  Car example: Common cause variation, Common cause action – Understand that the time taken for the journey to work each day will vary naturally, so don’t change anything if you are able to get to work on time. If circumstances change and you need to shorten your journey time then you will need to change the process to achieve this, either by driving faster (within speed limits obviously) or find another route that does not take so long. Special cause variation, Common cause action – Every time something unusual happens on your journey, resulting in an extended journey time (e.g. traffic jam due to an accident, sheep on the road) DO NOT change your route to counter act it. As these events are rare (hopefully) your journey will probably be back to normal tomorrow so changing your route is an unnecessary step to take. Common cause variation, Special cause action – It is impossible to guarantee the same volume of traffic, the traffic lights being the same colour etc. every day you travel to work. Therefore DO NOT investigate why your journey time is slightly longer when it is caused by these normal phenomena. Simply accept that this is unavoidable and ensure that you give yourself enough time to arrive at work, even when everything seems to go against you. Special cause variation, Special cause action – When something unusual happens, resulting in an extended journey time, investigate the reason why to determine the best course of action. If your delay was due to an accident then do nothing as this is both rare and impossible for you to eradicate. However, if the delay was due to major road works forecast to take months to complete, then it may be necessary to change your route, avoiding this delay. Investigating and correcting each incidence of common cause variation will be time consuming & won’t address the system factors causing variation Investigate the occurrence and determine what factor external to the process has caused the variation  Special Cause

Dealing with common cause variation Reduce the variation e.g. by avoiding rush hour Move the centre line e.g. by changing route

Trends What is a change? What is a trend? “Last month our waiting list was 453. This month it is 441. We’re getting better!”

Point Outside Control Limits Indicates there is something different about this point UCL Average LCL

A change in the process 8+ points in a row above or below the centreline indicates a process change Centreline Process average

Trends 6+ points in a row increasing or decreasing indicates a trend in the process Upward Trend Downward Trend

Example

Example

PARETO CHART: EXAMPLE Action taken on the key causes 2 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1 8 1 6 1 4 1 2 Count Cumulative Percentage 1 8 Focus on the most important (Pareto Principle) 6 4 Reasons 2 C E B D A Other