In many situations a simple checklist may drastically improve quality.
All too often corrective action is taken to fix an immediate problem but nothing is done to prevent it from being repeated. We convince ourselves that everyone now knows not to repeat the problem. Reliance on memory is a guarantee the problem will repeat itself. If you find your organization experiencing repeated errors, checklists may be an easy and cost effective solution - and they work for any system!
When someone tries to create a checklist they often experience writer’s block. Using a two step approach can overcome this hurtle with minimal effort.
Nothing is as obvious as an error – at least after the fact - so use the problems as the first step of the two step process.
Create a list of problems you can think of without any great mental strain, i.e., the wrong item was fabricated or shipped, the wrong quantity was shipped, an item was damaged in shipment, someone was not notified that should have been, etc.
Use real examples of problems for the particular system you are trying to improve not a generic list.
Make access to this list easy so it can be added to as new problems arise – don’t rely on memory to update the problem list at a later time. Once you start you will begin to add to the list very quickly.
After an error is discovered the natural question is or should be “what action would have prevented the error?” Whatever action would have prevented the error becomes a line item on your checklist. Solicit input from others. There may be more than one action that was needed to prevent the error.
Your list of problems for any particular product or system will grow quickly at first and new additions to the list will continue to trickle in over time then be used to generate a new line item for the checklist. Do not expect to have this completed in one cycle of the two step process.
The process is deceptively simple and only in hindsight will you see how precarious your system was without a checklist. If you give this method a try I would be eager to hear how it worked for you. JoeG@JAGEngingrg.com
The 80/20 rule applies here also in that the first round will get a huge portion of the issues. The remaining problems may require a more formal Root Cause Analysis approach to arrive at the correct line items on your checklist. I plan to cover that topic in future postings.
All too often corrective action is taken to fix an immediate problem but nothing is done to prevent it from being repeated. We convince ourselves that everyone now knows not to repeat the problem. Reliance on memory is a guarantee the problem will repeat itself. If you find your organization experiencing repeated errors, checklists may be an easy and cost effective solution - and they work for any system!
When someone tries to create a checklist they often experience writer’s block. Using a two step approach can overcome this hurtle with minimal effort.
Nothing is as obvious as an error – at least after the fact - so use the problems as the first step of the two step process.
Create a list of problems you can think of without any great mental strain, i.e., the wrong item was fabricated or shipped, the wrong quantity was shipped, an item was damaged in shipment, someone was not notified that should have been, etc.
Use real examples of problems for the particular system you are trying to improve not a generic list.
Make access to this list easy so it can be added to as new problems arise – don’t rely on memory to update the problem list at a later time. Once you start you will begin to add to the list very quickly.
After an error is discovered the natural question is or should be “what action would have prevented the error?” Whatever action would have prevented the error becomes a line item on your checklist. Solicit input from others. There may be more than one action that was needed to prevent the error.
Your list of problems for any particular product or system will grow quickly at first and new additions to the list will continue to trickle in over time then be used to generate a new line item for the checklist. Do not expect to have this completed in one cycle of the two step process.
The process is deceptively simple and only in hindsight will you see how precarious your system was without a checklist. If you give this method a try I would be eager to hear how it worked for you. JoeG@JAGEngingrg.com
The 80/20 rule applies here also in that the first round will get a huge portion of the issues. The remaining problems may require a more formal Root Cause Analysis approach to arrive at the correct line items on your checklist. I plan to cover that topic in future postings.