WAITING FOR RESULTS JURAN STUDY FINDS FAULTS IN SLOW-MOVING TQM PROJECTS Someone in your organization identifies a process or quality problem. A team is assigned and charged with analyzing the problem, brainstorming solutions, then implementing those solutions. Next, you sit back and wait for the results. And you wait. And you wait. And you wait some more. Why is it that some quality projects take so long to bear fruit? Juran Institute researchers John Early and A. Blanton Godfrey recently studied 20 TQM projects from 10 different businesses in five industries. Their work is detailed in the July 1995 issue of Quality Progress magazine. On average, the projects took more than 68 weeks to complete. Early and Godfrey found that nearly two-thirds of that time could have been saved if team members had avoided some serious time-wasters, including: * Failure to spend enough time "on task." No surprise here, really. The researchers found that teams that spend at least 4 hours per week working on their project are more likely to wrap up their work in a timely fashion than those who fail to commit sufficient time. * A failure or delay in confronting internal resistance to the project. In same cases executive leadership must step forward, on behalf of the team, to clear away resistance on the part of other employees or work groups within the organization. * A lack of existing measures. In order to improve something, you have to be able to measure it. If no measures exist, one of a team's first steps--often a time-consuming one--must be to invent appropriate, meaningful measures. * A vague mission statement, which can leave a team wandering and floundering. * Failure to focus on what the Juran people call the "vital few" root causes of the problem. If it's determined that a problem has multiple root causes, a team is advised to determine whether the 80/20 rule applies--is most of the problem (80 percent) caused by a relative few (20 percent) of the root causes. If so, focus on fixing those vital few. * A flood of flow charts. The researchers found that some teams spend far too much time concocting elaborate flow charts, some or all of which can turn out to be a waste of time. Early and Godfrey cite one example of a team charged with speeding up a purchasing process. After eight weeks of painstakingly flowcharting work flow within the purchasing department, the team came to learn that at least 90 percent of the wasted time happened while purchase orders were being approved, well before they even arrived in the purchasing department. * Providing basic TQM training during team meetings. Training is training. Team problem solving is team problem solving. If the latter must occur before the former can happen, then you'd better plan on the team taking extra time to accomplish its project. * Jumping to solutions. Teams that hastily seize on an ill-conceived solution to a problem often find their solution has no impact, forcing them to retrace their steps and squander additional time. [For further information about PSQR or to subscribe, contact: Public Sector Quality Report 17733 Kingsway Path Lakeville, MN 55044-5209 Phone: (612) 898-5058 Fax: (612) 892-7710 e-mail: 74363.3644@compuserve.com]