I recently attended the Lean Healthcare Certification Program at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. During one of the classes, a question came up from one of the participants about the use of a project charter for process improvement initiatives. Apparently, the purpose of a charter or even whether a process improvement initiative could be considered “a project” had been a hotly debated topic back at their facility amongst the project managers. What’s the difference between them and does it really matter? To paraphrase, Dave LaHote, President of Lean Education at the Lean Enterprise Institute and a speaker during the certification program, “Everyday, people are faced with a moment of truth where they have to make a decision. Will they choose to make their decision by design or do they make it by default?” I’ve come to the conclusion that there are important reasons to delineate between projects and process improvement.
Process improvement initiatives are like projects in many ways. They make use of many of the same analytical tools such as fishbone and pareto diagrams, swim lanes, decision trees (and are often tracked using the same methods of monitoring scope, budget and schedule). More importantly, they share the same practice around dedicated and advance planning, defining requirements and setting objectives prior to initiating or executing activities. In fact, many people define additional activities above day-to-day operational duties a “project,” especially when it has a specific objective.
The Project Management Institute’s definition of a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” While I will accept there is substantial flexibility in how to define a project. For example, our seven year-old’s concept of a project is to make a robot out of empty cereal and shoe boxes with tape and glue. And while superficially process improvement initiatives and projects feel similar in many ways, their overarching objectives are substantially different, and I believe it is good that they are.
Process improvement initiatives are fundamentally all about change and the creation of new behaviors that support problem solving and continuous improvement within an organization. It’s risky to define these initiatives as projects because, no matter what definition you subscribe to, projects inherently have an end and by design they run out of time and resources. Process improvement initiatives may require several trials over long periods of time and patience while the organization strives to widen its circle of alignment around improvement practices. Projects, with their temporary resources and mandated timelines, may not have enough stamina to endure a change process. You definitely don’t want the change you’ve initiated to cease when the project is over, the goal here is continuous improvement.
So, if a process improvement initiative can’t be a project, can a project be “lean”? Sure. The successive processes by which a project are performed can be improved upon and often are through examining lessons learned and conducting a debrief at the close-out phase. These processes provide an opportunity to reflect and document what can be improved upon in the next project and serve as a valuable resource for the organization and for the project manager. As of late, more standardized “lean” project management methodologies such as “The Last Planner” are becoming more popular. These systems have surfaced to respond to a need in the industry to increase the value of project management processes and eliminate the wasted steps that frequently occur in projects either due to over-planning or through attempts to meet the needs of project stakeholders.
At the root of it, projects are finite. Process improvement is infinite. Both have their appropriate applications in the effort to create change within a system.
Anastasia Vogt, PMP, is a Senior Healthcare Consultant at Blue Cottage Consulting.
Tags: Dave LaHote, lean, Lean Enterprise Institute, Lean Healthcare Certification Program, President of Lean Education, Process Improvement, Project Management, The Last Planner, the Project Mangement Institute, the University of Michigan College of Engineering
