How to Use the Story Board Layout Select the next slide by selecting the slide sorter option in the View menu. On each slide, replace the text with your own. Read the notes to each slide by selecting from the notes from the View menu. Change the background colors by adding a template to the master file in the View menu. The first version of this template was prepared by Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D. on January 2nd 1997. To include your suggestions and improvements call 216-687-4749, 703-893-3799, send fax to 703-748-1629 (call before sending fax), or write to 1319 Ozkan St. Mclean VA 22101. Send your e-mail to f.alemi@popmail.csuohio.edu

Project Title and Credits Do not use personal identifying information, if the storyboard is going to be posted in public areas or on the web. Publicly post your story board in a place often seen by the employees of the organization. Public posting of your story board puts other employees on notice that changes are being thought through. It makes the future implementation of your suggestions much easier. Post your story board before completion. The best part of a story is to tell it over time. Don’t wait till every slide is complete. Create an excitement about what is coming up by posting the problem statement first, weeks later other component will follow. If you need to, blow up this and remaining slides in your local copy center.

Permission Slide We give permission for posting of these slides to the web or other public domains, such as employee lounges. We do not give permission for posting of these slides to the web or other public domains, such as employee lounges. Make clear statements about whether the storyboard can be posted publicly, can be shared with others or can be put on the web. We recommend that you Publicly post your story board in a place often seen by the employees of the organization. Public posting of your story board puts other employees on notice that changes are being thought through. It makes the future implementation of your suggestions much easier.

What Is the Problem and How Do You Know It Is a Problem? Let the customer speak about the problem Record a customer’s voice Provide quotes No blaming of others No imbedded solutions in the problem statement. Give benchmarking data Be brief Describe only one problem Define your problem without suggesting a solution. Here is an example of a bad problem definition: “Information system is down too often.” Here is a better statement of the same problem: “Some patients wait more than 45 minutes for admission to be completed.” Improving the information system is now one of the many solutions possible. Describe problem in terms of the experience of the customer (often the patients, sometimes internal customers). Any other way of defining a problem prematurely closes some potential solutions and may blame employees and create a defensive work environment.

How Do We Work? List daily routines Draw a flow chart and describe the work process that affects customers’ experiences. Decision Start Action Event In creating a process chart try to solicit every group members ideas seperately before presenting the group with an integrated view. It is often helpful to use stick ons to present a chart under revision. Allow the group to revise your process chart. Start with an overview chart and add details later. Be careful. Data shows that people who focus on understanding the process in too much detail tend to make small scale improvements. Get an understanding of the process but be ready to put in an entirely new process. There are many commercial software avaialble for creating process chart. These software may work better than Power Point for charting. Action Go

What are our routine activities? Activities that repeat on or near daily basis Activities that repeat on or near weekly basis Activities that repeat less often than weekly Time of day Description of activity Day & time of week Period 5 a.m.   6 a.m. 7 a.m. 8 a.m. 9 a.m. 10 a.m. 11 a.m. 12 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 3 p.m. …

Scores for extent of system change using standardized tools What Might Help? You can also show this data as a fish diagram. Make sure to seperate idea generation from its evaluation. Data shows that when ideas are generated without evaluation, more and better ideas are generated. Evaluate ideas at the end. Postpone evaluation Scores for extent of system change using standardized tools

What Changes Were Made? Describe the proposed change Give details of time plan is implemented Describe cost of changes and efforts needed Provide scores of which change is more of a system change and which change is more of an effort All data collection efforts are time consuming. To shorten your improvement project consider (1) sampling, (2) relying on opinions of experts as opposed to directly observing the impact of the improvement, (3) automating data collection effort, or (4) relying on data that is routinely collected anyway.

How Would We Know If the Change Is an Improvement? A p-chart with variable samples in different time periods is shown above. Use the chart that is most appropriate for your data. For modifying the chart, click in the chart area. Analyze your data using Control Charts

What Is Next? Describe in detail the next steps for organization wide implementation. Describe timing of next improvement cycles. Give your introspection about the utility of the process you followed Do not over state your case. Be positive. Be specific. Be brief.