Lean Waste (NVA): Unused Talent
What do we mean by Unused Talent, and why is it considered to be waste or non-value-add (NVA)? Consider two contrasting real-life scenarios, both involving major OEMs in the computer business working with Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) companies for prototype and volume production.
The Operations Director (right, in blue hardhat) confers with workers in the production area who are demonstrating the results of recent process improvements to the CFO (in dark suit).
1st Scenario
The OEM (call them “Goldilocks Corp.”) was a corporate customer of the global EMS (call them “Papa Bear, Inc.”), although at the time, not a customer of the plant where I was Engineering manager. Goldilocks set up a project in my Papa Bear facility to perform a correction for an unexpected design defect. The correction required a ball grid array (BGA) chip replacement on servers to be returned from their end customers in worldwide locations.
The Goldilocks team contracted with us because we had full capability to do the work, and were 20 miles from their HQ. The original product design and manufacture took place in an Asian Papa Bear plant, but the Goldilocks account manager was concerned that Customs problems could delay inbound and outbound shipments if the servers had to go to Asia for rework.
Goldilocks’s engineers wanted Papa Bear technicians to just disassemble each server, remove the main circuit board, remove and replace the BGA and 3 other parts, reassemble, and test using a fixture they provided. The Goldilocks forecast was for 20,000 servers to be processed over a 9 to 12-month period.
The project lasted for only 3 months and processed fewer than 1,000 servers before Goldilocks pulled out because of myriad record-keeping, logistics, and IC supplier issues they encountered. Although our plant had expertise in those areas and provided turnkey service to many customers, the Goldilocks team chose not to make use of our capability other than rework per their instructions.
2nd Scenario
This case involved a different OEM customer (“Elsa, Inc.”) and a different EMS (“Olaf Corp.”). At the time, Elsa was Olaf’s biggest customer in the computer business, while Olaf was one of Elsa’s top 3 EMS contractors. Elsa made it a practice to rely heavily on the capabilities of the test and process engineers in the Olaf plants where their products were assembled.
At the Elsa NPI Program Manager’s request, I selected 2 or 3 test and process engineers from each of the five worldwide plants where Elsa’s new products were to be mass-produced beginning a few months later. I brought them for extended visits to Elsa’s U.S. development lab to work directly on EVT & DVT product – learn the product design, provide DFM/DFT reports on design iterations, and identify product features required to improve assembly and testing of the product in volume. And no less important, to develop relationships with Elsa’s engineers.
This approach effectively quintupled the number of qualified technical people who supported Elsa’s production through many generations of their product family, at virtually no additional cost. Elsa, Inc. didn’t need a large sustaining engineering staff to handle production problems in the Olaf plants because they had invested time up front in building that support capability in the plants. And the Olaf global site people added to their own skill and expertise to a far greater degree than occurs in the arms-length approach taken by many OEMs who outsource production.
NPI – New Product Introduction
EVT – Engineering Verification Test
DVT – Design Verification Test
DFM – Design for Manufacturability
DFT – Design for Testability
General Manager Mindset
Most likely, you have figured out that the first scenario exemplifies perpetuating the NVA of Unused Talent, whereas the second scenario demonstrates substantial and creative use of all available talent.
The possible approaches to eliminating Unused Talent NVA can be as simple as cross-training people, or as complicated as creating a formal shadowing process for high-potential employees to prepare them for eventual promotions.
Often in complex projects, for example, the PM does virtually all of the task scheduling, customer communication, Sponsor relationship-building, executive reporting, and so on. Other team members “stay in their own lane” – engineering, quality, production, or whatever is their assigned functional area.
The “Stay in Your Lane” approach does nothing to build future capability. If that’s how your project team works, the most straightforward improvement plan is to proactively delegate as many tasks as possible (in the limit, ALL tasks) to team members, even though the tasks may be outside an individual’s expertise or job description.
Some of your team members certainly have the aptitude and interest to become PMs or functional managers in the next one to three years, and with proper guidance the experience of performing needed tasks outside their function can help them move toward that goal.
I often refer to this approach as building the “General Manager Mindset” in project managers and team members. The GM Mindset entails stretching the boundaries of each member beyond their primary functional role, enabling them to appreciate others’ perspectives on the project and the business.
Work on Unused Talent NVA First
One Key tenet of Lean is “Respect for people.” Good Lean leaders know their people and understand their capabilities. Good leaders use that information to help people learn new things and broaden their understanding and contributions to the business.
If you work to eliminate the NVA of Unused Talent first, your entire team can expand their knowledge by tackling the other seven types of NVA based on their skills, interests, and development goals. It doesn’t happen overnight, but with the right sponsorship and coaching, over time your business will develop a strong set of leaders from among your program and project team members.
I leave you with the words of two highly respected business leaders that succinctly address the Unused Talent NVA question.
Paraphrasing Steve Jobs:
It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do.
Instead, hire smart people and let them show you what they can do.
And quoting Richard Branson:
Train your people well enough so they can leave.
Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.
Dann Gustavson, PMP®, Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt, helps Program Managers and their teams achieve superior results through high-impact program execution. Prepare, structure, and run successful programs in product engineering, manufacturing operations (including outsourcing), and cross-functional change initiatives.
Contact Dann@Lean6SigmaPM.com.