Author: Srivatsa Seshadri

Making Sense of a Chaotic World, Life, leisure, Philosophy & Work

Irrelevance of Effort /KLOC in PPM’s

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It is high time we looked for alternatives to Effort & Lines of Code, in identifying x’s for Process performance or prediction models.

during the 80’s and early 90’s Structured / procedural programming was the de-facto method. In that scenario LOC was the primary measure to indicate progress. when we had to compare between programmers on their efficiency we resorted to Effort / KLOC. so productivity meant delivering higher Lines of Code with lesser efforts.

2 decades have passed since then, New programming languages & paradigms came. Tools & Techniques evolved. Time to write an application for modern day devices has drastically reduced. Newer Life-cycle models (Agile / Scrum / ..) have helped us go from Concept to Cash in very short times. In spite of all these changes we continue to rely on Effort & Lines of Code.

Prediction Models should be relevant & Valuable. they need to have practical applicability, so that businesses can take preventive actions based on predicted performance.

Process Design for Flow (PDF) in Knowledge Industry

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Process Design for Flow (PDF) is a fundamental LEAN principle which is about having the right materials , tools and resources at the right point of time in the right place, in right quantities to ensure Customer deliveries with minimal wastage of time, material & other resources. Designing layouts and material & information flow methods with the above principle in context is what PDF is all about.

In case of a knowledge industry, or where activities & outcomes are a result of mental effort rather then Physical effort, requires a different approach to enable Flow or to ensure Customer delivery with minimal wastage of time & effort..

Works of Mihaly csikszentmihalyi on Flow, (the psychology of optimal experience) provides the foundation for determining PDF in knowledge based industries. An individual is most productive when his skills and the challenge at hand are in sync thus creating an experience of flow.

Organizations should invest there resources & time in ensuring that employees & teams have the right set of skills for the challenge at hand. employers should create & maintain such conditions to maximize overall productivity by creating an Optimal flow environment.

Building blocks of Lean Culture sustenance

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When leading change efforts related to LEAN Transformation, it is always easy to reach the first milestone. The initial transformation and short term gains instill a sense of success. Then entropy starts playing spoilsport. Sustenance is always a more difficult challenge to address and most organizations falter in the long run.

3 Key building blocks or foundation elements play a critical role in Sustaining Lean transformation efforts.

1. Problem Solving
What’s more important “Solving a problem” or “Learning to Solve problems”. An Organization should encourage “Learning” and “Problem solving” without the fear of failure as a first step towards building a LEAN Culture.

2. Continuous Improvement mindset
Developing an eye for identifying opportunities to make small valuable changes to make day to day operations easier

3. Knowledge Sharing & Growth
Ability to capture, codify & share Domain & Technical Knowledge to accelerate growth. It is important to ensure that when problems are solved or process improvements made. the learning’s and gains are shared across the organization and all relevant members benefit and rework / re-learning’s are minimized.

Ensuring right focus & attention on these 3 building blocks through the transformation journey will help make Sustainance much easier to accomplish.