for GRAHAM PROCESS MAPPING SOFTWARE

Business Process ImprovementMethodology

"Helping Mankind Organize"T M

The Ben Graham Corporation6600 South Troy Frederick RoadTipp City, Ohio 45371Tel 937.667.1032 & 800.628.9558 Fax 937.667.8690ben.graham@worksimp.comwww.worksimp.comwww.processchart.com

For process improvement articles, checklists and forms, visit

The Process Improvement Method

Business Process ImprovementMethodology

The Ben Graham Corporation

for GRAHAM PROCESS CHARTING SOFTWARE

An Introduction toWork Simplification

The Ben Graham Corporation6600 South Troy Frederick RoadTipp City, Ohio 45371Tel 937-667-1032 & 800-628-9558 Fax 937-667-8690graham@worksimp.comwww.worksimp.com

© Copyright 1999, The Ben Graham Corporation

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ContentsIntroduction ......................................................................................................... 5How to Gather the Facts..................................................................................... 7

Basic Fact Gathering Guidelines ..................................................................... 7Walk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand .......... 7Observe & interview .................................................................................. 7Document the facts ................................................................................... 8

Why are We Gathering Facts? ........................................................................ 8How to Initiate Fact Gathering......................................................................... 9

Public Announcement ............................................................................... 9Common Sense Protocol .............................................................................. 10

Where to Get the Facts ........................................................................... 10Introduction to the Employee at the Workplace ...................................... 10Respect ................................................................................................... 11

Recording Technique .................................................................................... 12Recording Data ....................................................................................... 12The Authority of the Facts ....................................................................... 12Observation ............................................................................................. 13Level of Detail .......................................................................................... 13Defused Resentment .............................................................................. 14Discovering Instant Improvements .......................................................... 14

How to Keep the Data Organized ................................................................. 16Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline ................................... 16Working Quickly ...................................................................................... 17Same Day Capture of Data ..................................................................... 17

The Graham Process Charting Method .......................................................... 19Why Prepare Process Charts........................................................................ 19

Narrative .................................................................................................. 20Process Chart .......................................................................................... 21Ease of Reading ...................................................................................... 21

How to Prepare Process Charts .................................................................... 22We Chart Horizontally ............................................................................. 22The Horizontal Lines ............................................................................... 22

The Symbols ................................................................................................. 23The Eight Symbols Defined ..................................................................... 23The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the Symbols ................................... 24

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Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar of Charting ............................. 26The Subjects (Names - Labels) ............................................................... 26The Verbs (Actions - Symbols) ............................................................... 27Completing The Sentences ..................................................................... 29

Conventions .................................................................................................. 33Opening Bracket ..................................................................................... 33Closing Bracket ....................................................................................... 33Effect ....................................................................................................... 34Alternative Processing of a Document .................................................... 35Alternatives & Rejoins ............................................................................. 35Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector Label ................................. 37Determining How Much to Include on a Chart ........................................ 40Connector Labels .................................................................................... 42Stop/Start Convention ............................................................................. 43Conclusion ............................................................................................... 43

Working With Employee Teams ...................................................................... 45Who Should be Included ............................................................................... 45Specialized Systems Skills ............................................................................ 46Organizing Experience .................................................................................. 47Team Member Roles..................................................................................... 48

Team Leader ........................................................................................... 48Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External) .................................... 48Team Recorder ....................................................................................... 49

Team Size ..................................................................................................... 49Meeting Agendas .......................................................................................... 49Meeting and Project Duration........................................................................ 50

Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy ............................................... 53What is Work Simplification?......................................................................... 53Where is Work Simplification used?.............................................................. 54When is Work Simplification used? ............................................................... 54Who does Work Simplification? .................................................................... 54How is Work Simplification done? ................................................................. 54Why do we simplify work? ............................................................................. 55

Appendix B - A Brief History ............................................................................ 57Frank B. Gilbreth ........................................................................................... 57Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth..................................................................................... 59Allan H. Mogensen ........................................................................................ 61Ben S. Graham ............................................................................................. 64Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. ................................................................................. 66

Index ................................................................................................................... 67

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IntroductionThis booklet is intended to help you use Graham Process Charts effectively. Itdoes not deal exclusively with the software. It addresses the much larger subjectof process improvement. It explains how to gather the facts required to drawGraham Process Charts, how to draw Graham Process Charts and how to workwith project teams.

At the turn of the century Frank Gilbreth’s desire to discover the one best way toperform any task led him to develop a collection of tools that clearly define worksteps and make potential improvements obvious. These tools are the organiza-tional foundation of work simplification — the organized application ofcommon sense. Work Simplification established a solid foothold in the early1930s when Allan Mogensen hurdled a major obstacle to improvement (workerresistance to being changed) by handing over the tools to the operating people.In the 1940s, Ben S. Graham, Sr. brought the methods from the factory into theoffice where he introduced the Graham Process Chart that adapted the method-ology to multiple information flows. He wholly embraced employee involvementand developed an employee team approach for process improvement.

Drawing Graham Process Charts is not difficult, and although it is a small part ofthe improvement process, IT IS VITAL. This booklet introduces you to thebasics of Graham Process Charting and will help you see how process chartingfits into the improvement process. More detailed technical guidance for thesoftware, with example illustrations, is available in the online Help.

Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

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How to Gather the FactsThe fact gathering associated with process improvement is a very volatile activitybecause it tends to create fears about job change and job loss. The skills andthe integrity of the professional can go a long way toward reducing these anxi-eties and gaining cooperation. Skills enable the professional to collect critical,relevant data easily and assure that once collected it will not be lost. But, integ-rity is more important. It includes making sure that the focus of improvementtreats people as a resource to be utilized and not an expense to be cut (see Whyare We Gathering Facts?).

In addition, you should make sure that you always gather data from the personwho is the top authority in the organization with respect to that data, that is, theperson doing the work. Then treat that person with the respect due a topauthority.

Most work processes pass through departmental boundaries. The improvementteams set up to study them need to include representatives from the differentdepartments. A professional who is good at preparing process charts can be agreat help to interdepartmental teams by gathering and organizing the facts andputting a clear picture of the process in front of them.

Basic Fact Gathering GuidelinesWalk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand

• Don’t trust detail to memory• Observe more than one work cycle and worker when applicable - but

don’t try to chart every variation• Don’t look for faults• Represent the NORMAL work cycle• Be methodical - follow and list steps in order• Work quickly - use the charting symbols as a note taking shorthand• Clarify uncertainties - err to the side of too much information• Be accurate and legible - so the data can be audited/reviewed• Once charted, walk the path again for verification

Observe & interview• Observe & interview the people who do the work, not managers• Observe & interview at the work area• Get facts primarily from observation - people can usually show you faster

than they can describe

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• Demonstration is much closer to reality than words• Stick to simply identifying steps and avoid detail of how steps are per-

formed - this saves an enormous amount of time• Respect work schedules and job-related interruptions• Assume the role of fact finder - the people are the experts• Make sure people understand what you are doing and why they are

involved - because they are the experts

Document the facts• Note WHAT is done at each step• Note where the work is located at the start of the process and with each

transportation note where it goes• Note when the process begins and the amount of time with each delay as

well as any other time-consuming steps• Note who is doing the work each time the person doing the work changes• Avoid getting into detail of HOW it is done• Save WHY for analysis

Organize the facts with a process flow chart• Chart the items of the process as horizontal lines• Each item line begins with a LABEL for identification• Each work step is identified by a symbol that represents what happens to

the item at that point in the process• The symbols appear in sequence along the item lines

Why are We Gathering Facts?The first question that must be answered before we set out to gather facts is,“Why are we doing this? What are we planning to do with these facts?” Ouranswer should be to improve the way we do our work so that we can use ourresources to provide better products and services. If we are looking tochange the way we do our work so that we can cut our staff (get rid of some ofour resources), we are destined for failure.

It is unfortunate that even in organizations that have never used innovation to cutstaff and have no intention of doing so, fact gathering presents a threat. Factgathering is usually required in the early stages of major work improvementprojects. Strangers appear in the work areas asking questions about proce-dures. Too often this is how employees first get wind that an improvement

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project exists. New employees don’t know the organization’s history. Employeesmay suspect that new executives will do things differently. Employees know thatmany other companies are cutting. The newspapers are full of it. There isalways a first time.

Fact gathering implies changing work methods. This threatens employee liveli-hood. Employees whose jobs are under study are likely to become anxious.Their anxieties will be increased if there have been announcements or rumors ofstaff reduction. These anxieties may prompt employees to interfere with theproject by distorting or withholding data and attempting to discredit the project.Or, worse yet, some of the best employees may suddenly quit and go elsewhere.

There is a simple way to avoid these problems. Don’t enter into work improve-ment with the objective of cutting staff. Instead, direct improvement at providingthe best products and services by using the best work methods. The focus is onthe work, not the people. People are a resource to be utilized, not an expense tobe cut. Work methods that waste their time will be changed. Work methods thatbetter utilize their time will be incorporated. Make sure the employees under-stand this!

How to Initiate Fact GatheringPublic AnnouncementA public announcement can go a long way toward inspiring cooperation. It canalso forestall the anxieties discussed in “Why are We Gathering Facts?”. Thepeople working in the areas affected by the project are informed that a five or tenminute meeting will be held at the end of a work shift and that a senior executivehas an important announcement. (This senior executive should be a personwhose authority spans the entire project.)

The meeting includes an announcement of the project, its objective, who isinvolved in it, a request for the support of all employees and an invitation forquestions. It is conducted by the executive mentioned above because it isimportant that statements about the intent of the project be made by someonewho has the authority to stand behind his or her words. It is also helpful for theexecutive to introduce the analyst and the team members who have been as-signed to the project.The issue of staff cuts may be introduced by the executive or may surface as aquestion. (Or, it may not arise at all in organizations where loss of employmentis a non-issue.) If it is addressed, it should be answered directly and forcefully.“I guarantee there will be no loss of employment because of work improvement.”

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This is not a difficult guarantee for executives who genuinely believe that theirpeople are their most valuable resource. (Note, this is not a guarantee that therewill be no loss of employment. If we go long enough without improving our work,it is pretty certain that there will be loss of employment.)This meeting can also have constructive side effects. One is that the analystgets a public introduction to the people from whom he or she will be gatheringdata. Simultaneously, everyone is informed of the reason for the project, makingit unnecessary for the analyst to explain this at each interview. And, the explana-tion carries the assurances of the boss rather than an analyst.

Common Sense ProtocolWhere to Get the FactsIt is critical that the analyst go where the facts are to learn about them. Thismeans going where the work is done and learning from the people who are doingit. If there are a number of people doing the same work, one who is particularlyknowledgeable should be selected or several may be interviewed.

Whenever an analyst settles for collecting data at a distance from reality thequality of the analysis suffers. Guesses replace facts. Fantasy replaces reality.Where the differences are small the analyst may slide by, but professionalsshould not look to slide by. Where the differences are large the analyst may beseriously embarrassed when the facts surface. Meanwhile, the quality of thework suffers and in the worst cases major commitments to work methods aremade, based on faulty premises.

Review the facts at the workplace.

Introduction to the Employee at the WorkplaceWhen we are gathering data, everywhere we go people are accommodating us,interrupting their work to help us do our work. The least we can do is show thatwe are willing to return the favor. One way of doing this is to make sure that thetime of the interview is convenient for the employee. If it is not, agree to comeback later. Occasionally an employee will suggest that it is an inconvenient timeand ask that we come back later. Sometimes, however, the employee is seri-ously inconvenienced but for some reason does not speak up about it. A sensi-tive analyst may notice this. To be on the safe side it helps to ask, “Is this aconvenient time?”

Coming back later is usually a minor problem. Typically you have a number ofplaces to visit. Pick a more convenient time and return. Don’t be surprised if the

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employee appreciates it and is waiting for you with materials set out when youreturn.

Whatever you do, don’t start suspecting that every time a person puts you offthat person is trying to scuttle your work or is a bad actor. Assume the person ishonestly inconvenienced and simply come back later. If someone puts you offrepeatedly, it is still a minor inconvenience as long as you have data to collectelsewhere. Give the employees the benefit of the doubt, knowing that every timeyou accommodate them their debt to you grows. If you do in fact run into a badactor and eventually have to impose a time, it is nice to be able to remind thatperson of how many times you have rescheduled for his or her benefit. At suchtimes you will also appreciate the project-announcement meeting when thesenior executive described the importance of the project and asked for theirsupport.

As you are about to start the interview, don’t be surprised if the employee bringsup a subject for idle conversation such as the weather, a sports event, a newbuilding renovation, etc. People often do this when they first meet in order tosize up one another (on a subject that doesn’t matter) before opening up onsubjects that are important. Since the purpose, on the part of the employee, is tofind out what we are like we will do well to join in the conversation politely andrespectfully. Then when it has continued for an appropriate amount of time, shiftto the subject of the interview, perhaps with a comment about not wanting to takeup too much of the employee’s time.

RespectMost of the time analysts gather data from people at the operating levels whohappen to be junior in status, file clerks, messengers, data entry clerks, etc. Becareful not to act superior. One thing we can do to help with this is to set in ourminds that wherever we gather data we are talking to the top authority in theorganization. After all, if the top authority on filing in the organization is the CEO,the organization has serious trouble. Don’t treat this subject lightly. We receivea good deal of conditioning to treat people in superior positions with specialrespect. Unfortunately, the flip side of this conditioning leads to treating people inlesser positions with less respect.

Unintentionally, analysts frequently show disrespect for operating employees byimplying that the way they do their work is foolish. The analyst is usually eagerto discover opportunities for improvement. When something appears awkward orunnecessarily time-consuming the analyst is likely to frown or smile, etc. Invarious ways the analyst suggests criticism or even ridicule of the way the work

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is being done. The bottom line is that the analyst, with only a few minutes ob-serving the work is implying that he or she knows how to do it better than aperson who has been doing it for years. This is unacceptable behavior. Don’t doit! Go to people to find out what is happening, not to judge what is happening.First get the facts. Later we can search out better ways and invite knowledge-able operating people to join us in that effort.

Recording TechniqueRecording DataThe keys to effective data recording are a respect for facts and knowing how tolook for them. You do not go into data collection with a preconceived notion ofthe design of the final procedure. You let the facts tell you what shape theprocedure should take. But, you must be able to find facts and know how torecord them. This is done by breaking down the procedure into steps and listingthem in proper sequence, without leaving things out. The analyst keeps his orher attention on the subject being charted, follows its flow, step by step, and isnot distracted by other subjects that could easily lead off onto tangents. Theanalyst becomes immersed in the data collection, one flow at a time and onestep at a time.

Record what is actually happening, not what should happen or could happen.Record without a preference. Let the facts speak for themselves. When youhave them neatly organized and present them for study they will assert theirauthority as they tell their story.

The Authority of the FactsThere are two authority systems in every organization. One is a social authorityset up for the convenience of arranging people and desks and telephones,dividing up the work and making decisions when there are differences of opinion.The other authority system is reality itself. Too often the former is revered andfeared and attended to constantly, while the latter is attended to when timepermits.

Yet, whether we come to grips with the facts or not, they enforce themselves withan unyielding will of steel. ‘Reality is’ - whether we are in touch with it or not.And, it is indifferent to us. It is not hurt when we ignore it. It is not pleased orflattered or thankful when we discover it. Reality simply does not care, but itenforces its will continuously.

We are the ones who care. We care when reality rewards us. We care when

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reality crushes us. The better we are able to organize our methods of work inharmony with reality, the more we prosper. When we deny reality or are unableto discover it, we are hurt. Period!

So we enter into data collection with respect for reality. We demonstrate respectfor the people who are closest to reality, who can offer us a glimpse of it. And,then we do our best to carefully record the unvarnished truth.

ObservationA person who has been doing a job for years will have an understanding of thework that goes well beyond his or her ability to describe it. Don’t expect operat-ing people to describe perfectly and don’t credit yourself with hearing perfectly.Sometimes it is a lot easier for a person to show you what he or she does than todescribe it. And, a demonstration may save a good deal of time. A person mightbe able to show you how the task is done in minutes but could talk about it forhours.

Most people are able to speak more comfortably to a human being than to amachine. Furthermore, a tape recorder doesn’t capture what is seen. If you aregoing to use a tape recorder, use it after you have left the interview site. It canhelp you to capture a lot of detail while it is fresh in your mind without causing theemployee to be ill at ease.

Level of DetailIf you try to gather enough information so that you can redesign the procedurewithout having to get help from experienced employees you will need to collectenormous amounts of data and your project will be interminably delayed. Forinstance, if you are studying a procedure that crosses five desks and the fivepeople who do the work each have five years of experience, together they have aquarter of a century of first-hand experience. There is no way that an analyst, nomatter how skilled, can match that experience by interviewing. No matter howmany times you go back there will still be new things coming up. Then if youredesign the procedure based solely on your scanty information your results willbe deficient in the eyes of these more experienced people. It doesn’t do anygood to complain that they didn’t tell us about some of the details after we havecompleted designing a defective procedure.

While the analyst cannot match the employees’ detailed knowledge of whathappens at their workplaces, it is not at all difficult to discover some things thatthey are unaware of, things that involve multiple workplaces. Save yourself a lot

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of time by not bothering to record the details of the individual steps and concen-trate on the flow of the work. It goes here. They do this. It sits. It is copied.This part goes there. That one goes to them. Etc. Never mind how they do thedifferent steps. Just note the steps in their proper sequence.

Then, when it comes time to analyze, you invite in those five people who bringwith them their twenty-five years of detailed experience. Viola! You have the bigpicture (the flow of the work) and you have the detail (the experience). You haveall that you need to discover the opportunities that are there.

Defused ResentmentWhen people who have been doing work for years are ignored while their work isbeing improved, there is a clear statement that their experience is not consideredof value. When this happens people tend to feel slighted. When the organizationpays consultants who have never done the work to come up with improvements,this slight becomes an insult. When the consultants arrive at the workplacetrying to glean information from the employees so that they can use it to developtheir own answers, how do you expect the employees to react? Do you thinkthey will be enthusiastic about providing the best of their inside knowledge tothese consultants? “Here, let me help you show my boss how much better youcan figure out my work than I can?” Really!

We don’t have to get into this kind of disagreeable competition. Instead wehonestly accept the cardinal principle of employee empowerment which is, “Theperson doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way ofdoing that job and therefore is the one person best fitted to improve it.” Allan H.Mogensen, 1901-1989, the father of Work Simplification.

By involving operating people in the improvement process you also reduce therisk of getting distorted or misleading data from them. Their experience isbrought into improvement meetings, unaltered. If they get excited about helpingto develop the best possible process they will have little reason to distort orwithhold the data.

Discovering Instant ImprovementsDon’t grab the credit for Instant Improvements. During data collection, certainopportunities for improvement surface immediately. Some of them are outstand-ing. The analyst discovers, for instance, that records and reports are beingmaintained that are destroyed without ever being used. Time-consuming dupli-cation of unneeded records is found. Information is delivered through round-

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about channels creating costly delays. The only reason these opportunities werenot discovered earlier by the employees is that the records had never beenfollowed through the several work areas. These instant improvements simplyweren’t visible from the limited perspective of one office. The people preparingthe reports had no idea that the people receiving them had no use for them andwere destroying them. The people processing redundant records had no ideathat other people were doing the same thing.

These discoveries can be clearly beneficial to the organization. However, theycan be devastating for the relationship between the analyst and the operatingemployees. The problem lies in the fact that the analyst discovers them. Thismay delude the analyst into believing that he or she is really capable of redesign-ing the procedure without the help of the employees. “After all, they have beendoing this work all these years and never made these discoveries. I found themso quickly. I must be very bright.”

Most people spend a great deal of their lives seeking confirmation of their worth.When something like this presents itself an analyst is likely to treasure it. Itbecomes a personal accomplishment. It is perceived as support for two judg-ments, “I am a lot better at this than those employees.” and “Employees ingeneral are not capable of seeing these kinds of things.” Both of these judg-ments are wrong. The credit goes to the fact that the analyst was the first personwith the opportunity to follow the records through their flow. If any one of thoseemployees had had a chance to do the same thing the odds are that the resultswould have been the same.

The analyst is apt to alienate the employees if he or she grabs the credit forthese discoveries. If this prompts the analyst to proceed with the entire design ofthe new procedure without the help of the employees he or she will be cut offfrom hundreds of finer details, any one of which could seriously compromise theeffort.

Taking credit for these early discoveries is likely to alienate employees even ifthey are invited into the improvement activity. For instance, it is not uncommonfor an analyst who is about to go over a new process chart with a group of usersto start by telling them about the discoveries made while preparing the chart.This can appear very innocent, but the fact is, analysts do this in order to get thecredit for the discoveries before the team members have a chance to spot them.The analyst knows very well that as soon as the employees see the chart thosediscoveries will be obvious to them as well.

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An analyst who realizes that the enthusiastic involvement of the team membersis much more important than the credit for one idea or another will want to keepquiet about early discoveries until after the employees get a chance to study thechart. In doing this, the analyst positions himself or herself to provide profes-sional support to knowledgeable employees. Soon, they make these obviousdiscoveries for themselves and this encourages them to become involved andexcited about the project. It makes it theirs. In the end the analyst shares thecredit for a successful project rather than grabbing the credit for the first fewideas in a project that fails for lack of support.

How to Keep the Data OrganizedOne important characteristic of professional performance is the ability to workeffectively on many assignments simultaneously. Professionals have to be ableto leave a project frequently and pick it up again without losing ground. The keysto doing this well are:

• Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline• Working Quickly• Same Day Capture of Data

Using the Tools of the Profession with DisciplineThere is more professionalism in a well conceived set of file names and directo-ries than there is in a wall full of certificates belonging to a disorganized person.For that matter, a three-ring binder with some dividers may do more good thananother certificate.

A professional simply keeps track of the information that he or she gathers.Perhaps the worst enemy of data organization is the tendency on the part ofintelligent people, who are for the moment intensely involved in some activity, toassume that the clear picture of it that they have today will be available to themtomorrow and a week later and months later. One way of avoiding this is to labeland assemble data as if it will be worked on by someone who has never seen itbefore. Believe it or not, that person may turn out to be you.

A word about absentmindedness may be appropriate. When people are goal-oriented and extremely busy they frequently find themselves looking for some-thing they had just moments before. The reason is that when they put it downtheir mind was on something else and they did not make a record of where theyput it. To find it again they must think back to the last time they used it and then

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look around where they were at that time. Two things we can do to avoid thisare:

1. Develop the discipline of closure so that activities are wrapped up.

2. Select certain places to put tools and materials and do so consistently.

Working QuicklyAn analyst should take notes quickly. Speed in recording is important in order tokeep up with the flow of information as the employee describes the work. It alsoshortens the interview, making the interruption less burdensome to the em-ployee, and it reduces the probability that something will come up that forces theinterview to be cut off. At the close of the interview it is a good idea to review thenotes with the employee, holding them in clear view for the employee to see andthen, of course, thank the employee for his or her help.

Skill in rapid note-taking can be developed over time. This does not mean thatwe rush the interview. Quite the contrary. We address the person from whomwe are gathering information calmly and patiently. But, when we are actuallyrecording data we do it quickly and keep our attention on the person. For pro-cess analysis data gathering, we don’t have to write tedious sentences. Thecharting technique provides us with a specialized shorthand (using the symbolsand conventions of process charting in rough form).

Same Day Capture of DataThe analyst then returns to his or her office with sketchy notes, hastily written.These notes serve as reminders of what has been seen and heard. Their valueas reminders deteriorates rapidly. While the interview is fresh in mind thesenotes can bring forth vivid recall. As time passes they lose this power. Thegreatest memory loss usually occurs in the first 24 hours.

A simple rule for maximizing the value of these notes is to see that they arecarefully recorded in a form that is clear and legible, the same day as the inter-view. The sooner after the interview this is done, the better. If this is postponed,the quality of the results suffers. What was clear at the time of the interviewbecomes vague or completely forgotten. Details are overlooked or mixed up.Where the notes are not clear the analyst may resort to guessing about thingsthat were obvious a few days earlier. Or, to avoid the risk of guessing, theanalyst goes back to the employee for clarification. This causes further inconve-nience to the employee and creates an unprofessional impression. We can helpourselves, in this regard, by scheduling to keep the latter part of the work dayfree for polishing up notes on days when we are collecting data.

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The Graham Process Charting MethodGraham Process Charting is the definitive tool for business process improve-ment. Graham Process Charting provides a picture of the process with enoughdetail to allow (and stimulate) common sense improvement ideas by the peoplewho do the work. “By the people who do the work” is the key. This methodol-ogy has been successfully applied by thousands of organizations across theUnited States, Canada and around the world for over fifty years. It has ac-counted for BILLIONS of dollars in productivity improvement savings. Thereason this methodology has endured and been so successful is that it has putthe responsibility for making changes directly into the hands of the people whoshould be making changes — the people who, day in and day out, are actuallydoing the work.

Why Prepare Process ChartsWe prepare charts to improve our understanding of processes and, in turn, ourperformance. Some of the advantages of well-prepared process charts are:

• Visual rather than semantic.• Break down the process into steps, using symbols.• Steps are easy to understand.• Symbols are used consistently.• Complex connections and sequences are easily shown.• Any part of the process can be located immediately.

For comparison, consider the difference between looking at a map and reading anarrative. The map is a single page. The narrative is a book. Each street drawnon the map would require at least a paragraph in the book with a sentencedefining its start, another defining its end and others needed for each bend.Some of these paragraphs would be many pages long.

Furthermore, each street intersection would require two footnotes cross-referenc-ing the two paragraphs representing the two streets. Rivers and shorelineswould require extremely complex sentences. Writing this narrative would beterribly time-consuming and the finished product would be next to incomprehen-sible.

When an organization attempts to document its procedures using narrativeonly the results are similar. To compound the problem the preparation is terriblyslow. When, or if, completed these narratives are often very costly and consider-

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ably out-of-date. Sadly, even if they were completely up-to-date they would be oflittle help because they are so hard to follow.

This is not a criticism of words. Words are powerful and we certainly use themon our charts. However, we also use lines and symbols that not only save manywords, they also guide the reader through the complexities of the process con-veying very easily things that words alone simply do not express.

To better understand the comparison between a narrative and a process chartcompare the following Form “A” Procedure which is written out carefully in narra-tive form and then displayed in process chart form. Never mind that the proce-dure is artificial and therefore of little consequence. It could just as well be a partof a procedure for preparing medication, issuing a license, hiring a new em-ployee, granting a loan, etc. The purpose of this exercise is only to illustrate therelative ease of communicating by each method.

Be honest with yourself as you make this comparison. Read both as though theprocedure is very important and you must understand it. Even though you havebeen reading narratives for years and may be looking at a process chart for thefirst time in your life you should be able to see the advantages of the chart. Bythe way, the narrative contains 333 words while the chart contains 81.

Finally, don’t allow the apparent pettiness of the exercise to arouse generalfeelings of dislike for red tape and impatience with detail. Ignoring the detaildoes not make it go away. People die, justice fails and all manner of plans goawry because we are overwhelmed with detail. We prepare charts in order tounderstand and keep track of the detail and do a better job.

NarrativeForm “A”Form A is found in the Pending File which is located in Department V. Clerk 1removes Form A from the Pending File and uses it to write Form B.(1, see Form B)

Clerk 1 also uses Form A to check that Form B has been properly written andwhen errors are found Clerk 1 corrects them.(2, See Form B) Clerk 1 then enters theform number from Form B onto Form A.(3, see Form B) Form A is then carried byMessenger 1 to Department W. Clerk 2 uses Form A to pull the matching copyof Form C from the Form Number File.(4, see Form C) and attaches it to form A.(5, see Form

C) Messenger 2 carries Form A, with Form C attached, to Department Z.Form “B”Form B is Written by Clerk 1 using Form A.(1, see Form A) Form B is checked against

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Form A by Clerk 1 who corrects errors as necessary.(2, see Form A) Clerk 1 thenenters the number of Form B on Form A.(3, see Form A) Clerk 1 then sorts Form B byregion.Form B, Northern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department X. Clerk3 enters a date stamp on Form B.Form B, Southern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department Y. Clerk4 enters information from Form B in the Southern Region Log Book.(6, see Southern

Region Log Book)

Southern Region Log BookOn receipt of copies of Form B, Clerk 4 enters information from them in theSouthern Region Log Book.(6, see Form B, Southern Region)

Form “C”Form C is found in the Form Number File in Department Y. Upon receipt of thematching copy of Form A, Clerk 2 pulls Form C from file.(4, see Form A) Clerk 2 at-taches Form C to Form A.(5, see Form A) Messenger 2 carries Form C, attached toForm A, to Department Z.

Process Chart

Ease of ReadingPerhaps as you were reading you noticed what happened when it becameconfusing. More than likely you had to back up and reread. With the narrativeyou might reread over and over again and still find it confusing. With the chart,as you glanced back the pieces seemed to fall into place. You were “getting thepicture”. A psychologist might tell you you were building a “gestalt”. The impor-tant thing is that understanding comes much more easily with a chart than with anarrative.

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How to Prepare Process ChartsWe Chart HorizontallyLarge horizontal charts are much easier to draw and to display than large verticalcharts. Our charts are large because we often use them to guide discussions ofimprovement groups. It is easier and more effective for team members to worktogether with a large chart than with individual small charts. Even a very largehorizontal chart (20 or 30 feet long) can be displayed easily at eye level. Avertical chart becomes awkward when it gets over 2 or 3 feet long. It has to becut into pieces. Sometimes we add notes connecting the lines at the bottom ofone page to the top of the next. Then the reader has to memorize these notesand mentally put the chart back together. It would have been much easier if wehad simply turned the chart horizontal and left it together.

Even in drawing the chart, horizontal is easier. It is easier to move the hand fromside to side than up and down whether handling a template or a mouse. And, itis easier to turn the head and shift the eyes horizontally. But, these are minorside benefits. The important thing is that horizontal charts are easy for others toread.

The Horizontal LinesThe horizontal lines on the charts represent physical items (documents, products,parts, email, files, database records, reference books, fax pages...). Each item isassigned a horizontal line that begins with a label (containing the item name) andends with a period (signifying we have charted all that we intend to cover, of thatitem, on this chart). The key items of a process may be charted in their entirety,from origination to final disposal.

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The SymbolsThe Eight Symbols DefinedSymbols representing the steps in the processing of an item are placed on thelines. They appear in the sequence in which the steps occur, reading from left toright. The symbols provide us with a set of categories for breaking the processinto common elements.

Transportation This symbol shows the movement of an item from onework area to another.

Storage or Delay This symbol shows that the item is doing nothing,sitting, for a period of time. This symbol usually accounts for most ofthe processing time.

Inspection This symbol shows when an item is being checked to see ifit is correct.

Handling Operation This symbol shows operations that involve handlingthe item but do not affect the information on the item.

Do Operation This symbol is used in a product flow rather than aninformation flow and shows a physical change to the product.

Origination Operation This symbol is used to show the first time infor-mation is entered on a item.

Add/Alter Operation This symbol is used each time information isentered or changed on the item after the Origination.

Destroy Operation This symbol shows the destruction of an item.

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The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the SymbolsThe symbols were developed by process of elimination so that they are mutuallyexclusive, comprehensive and universally applicable. These powerful advan-tages account for the fact that they have been in use for many decades and areused world-wide today. They provide us with a common language that helps usdiscover many common-sense improvement opportunities.

In learning to work with these symbols it is helpful to understand their mutuallyexclusive pattern. The following seven statements slice the world of work intothe eight categories represented by the symbols:

1. The arrow stands for movement. Therefore the other seven symbols arestationary.

2. The triangle stands for nothing happening. Therefore we have six symbolsthat are stationary, where something is happening.

3. Of those six stationary things that we do, one involves checking what we do.The other five we call operations, which, by process of elimination, are doingsomething at a work place other than checking work. The square stands for thechecking and the circles and the jagged line are the operations.

4. Of the five operations, three involve adding value to the items (physicalchange) and two do not. The solid circle, bullseye and shaded circle involveadded value. The blank circle and the jagged line do not involve added value.

5. Of the three that add value, one, the solid circle adds value to a product byphysically changing it. The other two, the bullseye and the shaded circle addvalue to an item (document, record, email...) by changing the information on it.

6. Of the two that involve changing the information on an item, one, the bullseye,represents the first time we enter information. Therefore the other, the shadedcircle, represents all of the subsequent times that information is added to oraltered on the item throughout its life.

7. Of the two that do not affect the information, one, the jagged line, representsthe destruction of the item. Therefore the other, the blank circle, represents alloperations that do not add value except for destruction.

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The Origination and Destroy Operations are signficant in information processingin that the Origination Operation identifies the introduction of new items into theprocess and the Destroy Operation identifies the termination of existing items.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Moving Stationary

Nothing Happening Something Happening

Checking Doing

Adding Value Not Adding Value

Physically Change Product Change Information on Item

First Information on Item Change Information after First Time

Does Not Add Value or Destroy Destroy

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Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar ofChartingThe purpose of charting is better understanding. The lines and symbols helpus to write short crisp sentences for every step in the process, that tell thereader:

• What is happening and what it is happening to.• Where it is happening.• When it is happening.• Who is doing it, if there is a person involved.• We don’t get the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it is done.• We don’t get the reader tangled up in opinions as to WHY we should

or should not do it.

Here is how we write those sentences.

The Subjects (Names - Labels)The lines on our charts represent items. The items are the subjects of sen-tences. Since every line begins with a label (a rectangle) that contains thedocument name, we already have the subjects for all of our sentences as soonas we have the chart properly labeled.

Labeling is, therefore, very important. Make sure that every line on your chartbegins with a label, regardless of how few symbols there may be on that line.Once your chart is properly labeled all the reader has to do to find the subject istrace back along the line to the label. Voila!

Labeling gives us a powerful method of sorting out subjects. Keep your presen-

tation clear and unambiguous with good labeling.

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The Verbs (Actions - Symbols)The symbols represent actions and therefore provide us with a short list of actionverbs. Because the symbols were developed by process of elimination theycover everything that can happen to a document. Therefore, they provide uswith a very powerful list; in effect a full language, a common language for de-scribing processes.

Because the items involved in our process are the subjects of our sentences oursentences are “passive” rather than “active”. (The actions described by the verbsare happening to these subjects rather than stating what the subjects are doing.)This sentence structure is generally avoided as a matter of literary style but weare not creating literature, we are telling people how items are processed. Tomake our sentences active we would use the person who is performing theaction as the subject of each sentence. This, unfortunately, would tend to put thepeople under study rather than the process and we will be better off not to dothat.

Each symbol has its own implied meaning. These meanings are rather broadand we can sharpen them by supporting them with more specific verbs, asshown on the next page.

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IMPLIED VERB

Do

Originate

Add toor Alter

Handle

Destroy

Inspect

Store orDelay

Move orTransport

ALTERNATIVE, MORE SPECIFIC VERBS

The implied meaning is too general. Indi-cate the type of action with verbs: painted,milled, drilled, cut, assembled.

Printed, filled in, written, completed. To bemore specific indicate which entries aremade: filled in “heading”.

It helps to indicate the specific entries:signed, initialed, entered quantities, deletedback orders.

The implied meaning is too general. Indi-cate the type of handling with verbs: sorted,filed, assembled, removed, separated,placed in jig, removed from lathe.

The implied meaning is already specific. Itmay be made more specific by stating howit is destroyed: shredded, trashed, burned.

The verb Checked is often used. Morespecific types of inspection include: verified,edited, proofread, tested.

Verbs such as: sits, waits, held are effec-tive.

The implied meaning of the arrow is oftensufficient and no verb is used. More spe-cific verbs indicate how the document ismoved: couriered, hand-carried, mailed.

SYMBOL

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Completing The SentencesBy using the labels and symbols we have constructed rudimentary sentences foreach step in the process. We have unambiguous subjects and clear-actionverbs. To complete these sentences we use a technique passed down amongstudents of journalism for generations. It is a very powerful technique that as-sures the journalist of writing a story that satisfies the curiosity of the reader. It isdone by answering the six basic questions that form the framework of analysis,WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHO, HOW AND WHY.

We have adapted this technique to the unique communicating needs of processcharting as follows:

WHAT (Answer this question at every step)This is the broadest of the six questions and with process analysis it is the mostimportant. Fortunately, the labels and the symbols cover this question. If wehave followed the guidelines on the previous page, this question is well an-swered.

WHERE (Answer at the first step of the chart and at each arrow.)The question WHERE addresses location, as does the arrow symbol. If we tellthe reader where we are at the beginning of the process as well as each time thelocation changes, location will be easy to determine for every step of the chart.All the reader needs to do to find the location is to trace back to the last move-ment. Obviously, if we haven’t moved since then we must still be there.

WHEN (Answer at every triangle and other time-consuming steps) Thequestion WHEN deals with time. When studying processes the time we areinterested in is really “HOW LONG”. We can answer this thoroughly by indicatingnext to each step how long it takes. The reader can then accumulate thesetimes along the lines to determine how long it takes to get from any one step toany other.

Since the vast majority of the processing time occurs at the triangles (storagesand delays), we can cut back on this effort by answering the question WHENonly with the triangles. We will have accounted for the majority of the processingtime. Then if we use good judgement and enter processing times on the non-storage steps that are most time-consuming, ignoring those that require trivialamounts of time, we will have the question WHEN well answered.

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In addition to noting the approximate amount of time consumed by each triangleit is sometimes useful to indicate the condition or conditions which cause thestorage to end. (e.g. Sits until receipt of Deed, Waits until Examination is Com-pleted.)

WHO (Do not emphasize. Introduce the players as they appear)It is important to focus the studies on the processes rather than on people. Theobject is to study the way we do things and put improved procedures into thehands of people. We are not studying people and we do not want to create theimpression that our study is a criticism of people.

An effective way of handling the question WHO is to name the persondoing the work each time the person performing a step changes. Then leave theperson as understood until a different person takes over. This not only reducesthe emphasis on the people, it also avoids repetition in our descriptions that canbe time-consuming and aggravating for the readers.

Here is an example. Consecutive steps in a process might read, “Filled out bythe admissions clerk, carried to the records office by the admissions clerk, file setattached by the admissions clerk, placed in the pending tray by the admissionsclerk.”) This scenario is covered just as well if the phrase “by the admissionsclerk” appears only with the first step. If we follow this pattern consistently thereader can always find out who the person is by tracing back along the line to thelast person named.

HOW (Answer infrequently and then, briefly)To prepare effective process charts we need to avoid getting caught up in end-less detail. One of the places where this is apt to occur is with the questionHOW. For instance, it could lead us into long discussions of the skills involved infiguring out what to enter on a form. Years of study and experience may go intomaking proper entries on forms, legal studies, medical studies, engineeringstudies, actuarial studies, accountancy, etc. All we need to show on our chart isthat the entry was made. When it comes time to improve the procedure we willneed to know more of the details but they should not encumber the chart.

We can prepare our charts much more quickly by ignoring this detail. It will besupplied during the improvement meetings by people who are experienced atdoing the work. The quality of the detail that they can provide will exceed, manyfold, what we could put on our charts, regardless of how long we might work atpreparing them.

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For instance, if a process involves 5 or 6 work areas and we invite a person fromeach area who has 5 or 6 years of experience with that work we capture a quar-ter of a century or more of first-hand experience simply by inviting them to workwith us. We could try to match their experience by questioning them and writingout what we learn. We would assemble reams of material, undoubtedly lacedwith errors stemming from the difference between what we were told and whatwe thought we heard. We would still have gained only a superficial understand-ing by comparison with what we get through the simple expedient of asking theright people to join us in improvement.

We can avoid getting caught up in this futile effort at matching the skills of manyexperts by simply staying off the subject of HOW. A general rule which helps usto do this is to mention HOW only if it can be done in two or three words asfollows:

Filled in by handCount entered in inkFiled by dateInspected against Std.#2080A

WHY (Do not answer on the Chart)On the chart, stick to the facts and save the WHY for analysis. Charts are moreobjective without reasons. When we analyze them we test the reasons rigor-ously and often find that the reasons that are normally assumed are not valid.

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Summary of Chart GrammarBy adding just a few (usually two or three) words to each symbol we have writtensurprisingly complete sentences. Our subjects are clear, our verbs simple andthe story is well told. We have given the reader:

WHAT is happening,WHAT it is happening to,WHERE it is happening,WHO is doing the work, if there is a person involved,and we have avoided getting the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it isdoneand opinions as to WHY it should or should not be done.

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ConventionsConventions are the conventional ways of drawing the lines that connect thesymbols. If a process requires only one item and it is always processed with thesame steps, it can be charted with a single line. We need only to label the line,list the steps in sequence and add appropriate words. However, very few pro-cesses are completed with a single item and even single items are not alwaysprocessed the same way. Therefore, we need multiple lines for multipleitems and for alternative processing of a single item.

There are three conventional ways of charting three conditions which occurrepeatedly with multiple items. They are: taking items apart, putting multipleitems together and using one item to supply information in order to do somethingto another item. We refer to these “conventions” as an Opening Bracket (Sepa-rate), Closing Bracket (Combine) and Effect.

Opening BracketWhen documents are separated we draw a bracket opening from the left, fol-lowed by labels identifying the separated documents.

Closing BracketWhen items are combined we draw a bracket, closing to the right.

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EffectWhen one item is used to supply information in order to do something to anotheritem we draw an Effect -- a Vee or an inverted Vee pointing from the source itemto the affected item. At the point of the Vee there will always be a symbol thatshows what is being done to the affected item. Some examples of effects are:

• Information is copied from the source item onto the affected item. Thismay be the first time information has been entered on the item, in whichcase the symbol at the point of the Vee will be an Origination, or we maybe adding information to an existing item, in which case we use theshaded circle.

• Information on the source item is used to check information on the af-fected item.

• Information on the source item is used to select the affected item.

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Alternative Processing of a DocumentThere are three conventional ways of charting alternative process flows thatoccur repeatedly in the charting process. They are:

• Branching into sub-routines for handling normal variations in the processflow.

• Branching into sub-routines for errors.• Returning from a sub-routine to the standard flow.

We refer to these “conventions” as:

• Alternative• Correction/Rejection• Rejoin (and if it involves looping back in a process it will also include

Connector Labels)

Alternatives & RejoinsThere are many conditions that cause flow lines to branch. Purchase ordersinvolving millions of dollars may require much more complicated processing thanthose involving small amounts. Receiving tickets for office supplies are likely tobe processed by different people than receiving tickets for factory supplies andthey process them altogether differently.

But these obvious differences just scratch the surface. The more closely webecome involved in actual processes the more variations we discover. We findthat all receiving tickets for office supplies are not processed in the same way.Receiving tickets for equipment are reviewed differently from those for supplies.If the supplies are replacement parts they are processed a little differently. Ifthey were purchased from a particular supplier with whom we have a contract thetreatment is a little different again. Or they may involve international customs, orpartial shipments, or rentals, COD, demurrage, consignment, etc.

Understanding these variations is often what distinguishes the most effectiveemployees. They have “learned the ropes”. If we prepare our charts well theywill include the “ropes” and help all of our employees to understand them and tobe more effective.

When we are charting alternatives we always have at least two paths, but thereare often more. Since the paths all involve items that are correct they are allcharted with solid lines. Generally, we think of the most common branch as

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the main line and chart it straight ahead. Then, the less common alternativesbranch up and/or down. (It may be helpful to think of the alternative conventionas a “fork in the road” and there will be as many tines in the fork as there arealternative routes for the items.) Sometimes alternative paths rejoin. Some-times alternative paths do not rejoin. Alternative paths do not loop back-ward.

Here are some examples.A police officer routes an arrest report.

An office supervisor sorts sales inquiries.

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A cashier accepts payment in cash or by check.

A claims adjuster puts a special note on an international claim.

Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector LabelWhenever an inspection symbol appears on the chart there should be someindication of how the items that fail the inspection are processed. What do we doabout the errors that is different from what we do with the others?

When we are charting error-processing we almost always have two paths (unlessthe incorrect items are immediately corrected), one for the correct items and theother for those with the errors. We chart those that are correct straight aheadand branch off the line for those with errors. We use a solid line for those thatare correct and a dotted line for those in error. Where errors are corrected thelines rejoin but where errors are rejected they do not. And, finally, errors mayresult in looping backward to repeat portions of a process.

Here are several examples.

• A document, found to be in error, is set aside and later corrected. Wechart the steps for the correct documents straight ahead on the line wehave been using. We chart the steps for the incorrect documents along adotted line that branches up or down from that line. At the point where

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these lines separate we place a “decision point” -- a small solid circle.Once the steps needed for correction are completed and the document isready for normal processing, the lines rejoin.

• Documents with errors are sent to another department to be cor-rected. Once again the steps taken with those that are incorrect are notthe same as with those that are correct. Once again we need two lines, asolid, straight line for those without errors and a dotted line branching upor down for those that contain errors.

• A person doing an inspection simply corrects the errors as they arefound. The flow is not altered except that there is a correction step forthose with errors which is not required by those without errors. It is notnecessary to show the correction on a separate dotted line and we maychoose to ignore the correction step altogether. We can indicate what ishappening in the description next to the symbol and this should be clearto people reading our chart.

• However, we may want to call attention to the correction step becauseit is particularly time-consuming or for some other reason. We can charta correction routine as follows:

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• A credit clerk rejects an application and returns it to the field represen-tative. In this case the dotted line does not return to the “OK” line. Itsimply terminates, although we may chart a number of steps before theline is ended.

• An engineer returns a drawing to the drafting department for reworkthat involves repeating a sizeable portion of the process that is alreadycharted. We use a Connector label with grid-coordinates and a TargetConnector name that direct the reader to a Target Connector earlier onthe chart where the process will re-start.

• A supervisor asks for a re-write of a report. It is to be returned to thesupervisor for a final check after the correction has been made.

In each of these cases we have shown what happens to documents found to bein error. The decision points and the dotted lines make it easy to find and followthe correction routines. Notice that there is text located next to each of thelines, after the decision point, to identify the lines. The Rejoin leads thereader back to the main flow after the correction and the Connector label pro-vides us with a great deal of flexibility where processes loop back.

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Determining How Much to Include on a ChartBecause we chart in detail it is unrealistic to attempt to cover all of the items thatappear on our charts from their originations to their final dispositions. That wouldbe somewhat like trying to draw a local street map that follows all roads as far asthey go. Each local street map would become a map of a continent.

We prepare local street maps by deciding on the area we would like to cover on“one particular map” and ignoring what lies beyond. We do the same thingwhen we draw process charts. We select a process to chart, record what iscentral to “that particular process” and ignore what is less relevant. This is notalways completely obvious. Sometimes relevance seems to be a matter ofdegree. But as we work at it we find there is a rationale to it that makes sense,as follows:

• We receive many documents from other organizations. Customers sendus orders. Vendors send us bills. Transportation carriers send us ship-ping manifests. Rarely will we chart what happened to these documentsbefore they got to us.

• Also, note the Price Tag and the Customer ID in the Sales Processillustrated on page 43. The prior processing of those documents is notrelevant to this Sales Process.

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• We are charting a procedure in which our company is required to submitinformation to a government office. It would be unlikely that we wouldchart what the government office does with those records, although attimes we might be curious. We simply end the line at the point where theinformation leaves our offices.

• Again note the Sales Slip on page 43. We are not concerned with whatthe customer does with it after the sale.

The same thing happens with items that are prepared and processed completelywithin our own offices. For instance, our hiring processes affect payroll records,insurance records, health records, etc. When we chart the hiring process thereis no need to include all of the processes that are touched by the hiring process.

If we had a compulsive urge to follow every record to its end we would be introuble. We could start out charting a hiring process and find ourselves chartingpayroll processes. We then find that the payroll processes get involved withproduction records. The production records flow into inventory records. TheInventory records are reduced by sales records. That compulsive urge can turneach project into a study of the entire organization. Rather than getting into all ofthose areas, we chart the hiring process by focusing on the key hiring recordsonly. We chart them thoroughly, avoiding tangents.

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Connector LabelsBecause we cannot follow all items, many appear only briefly on our charts.Since we have little interest in what happened to them before we received themor after we sent them on, we build no records of those portions of the processes.As our charting activities mature we accumulate libraries of processes. Eventu-ally we find that lines that run off one chart can be found on another. To helpreaders follow a document from one chart to another we use chart Connectors.

We place a Connector label after the last symbol on the chart that the documentis leaving. It contains the name of the chart where further processing can befound and the grid coordinates on that chart where this document will first ap-pear.

We place a Target Connector label before the label on the chart into which theitem has entered. It contains an identifier name that corresponds to the GotoConnector on the chart from which the item came.

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Stop/Start ConventionIn most of the places where we show a part of the flow of a document the miss-ing data are at the begining or the end of the flow line. They are the equivalent toroads which run off the edge of the map. However, there are times when there isa portion of a process that we choose not to chart that is in the middle of a flow.In these cases we use a Stop/Start convention as follows:

• We are charting an automobile insurance application and our processincludes sending a request for information to the Motor Vehicle Bureau.In this case we are interested in the processing prior to and after sendingthe request, so we would use a Stop/Start convention and put a fewwords in the Stop/Start to indicate what happened in the portion of theprocess that we are not charting.

ConclusionThese are charting basics. Work with them. Become comfortable with themand you will be able to chart anything in the world of information processing.

As you use your charts with teams you will find that the care that you have takenin preparing your charts will make them easy for others to follow. They are fareasier to read than to prepare. Team members will see how their own workaffects and is affected by the work of others and opportunities for improvementwill become apparent. Sometimes ideas seem to leap off the charts.

You can raise the level of process understanding and the level of cooperationwithin your organization. You can help your people to discover and bring aboutimprovements. You can be a part of raising the level of process mastery in yourorganization.

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Working With Employee Teams

Who Should be IncludedTeam members should represent all of the areas that are affected by the processunder study.

When choosing team members, firsthand experience should be the top priority.

Don’t underestimate the value of experience. It is accumulated imperceptiblyand tends to be taken for granted. Yet, it is a vast resource, not to be squan-dered.

For instance: Cab drivers routinely learn the streets of enormous cities, themany locations of traffic snarls, including unique features of each one, timing offactory and office hours, theaters, sports events, effects of weather, alternativeroutes, even the timing of the stop lights, bus and subway schedules, hotelcheck-in and check-out patterns, etc. They generally keep current on recenttraffic changes, construction, etc. And, they learn how to work a dispatchingsystem, how to keep their vehicle operating and in the best place at the righttime. They learn about different customers too, individual customers, groups ofcustomers, danger signs with customers, crimes specific to their business, policeenforcement and very much more.

This is not some young person who started driving yesterday. This is that sameperson several years of cabbing later.

And cab drivers are by no means the epitome of experience in our society.There is an equivalent to learning the streets of a city in jobs of inventory control,processing insurance claims, nursing, time-keeping, coordinating researchprojects, shipping and receiving, processing sales orders, air traffic control,accounts payable, building maintenance, pricing, loan processing, licensing, etc.

There are people with different but equally appropriate and necessary experienceworking throughout our organizations. They are the principal reason organiza-tions get things done.

Find those people and you have found the most important ingredient needed fordeveloping procedures that make sense.

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When there are several people who have first-hand experience with the sametasks chose the one who is the most knowledgeable.More on this choice: Do not choose a person because he or she can be easilyspared. The goal is to build the best possible experience into the process.

Don’t ignore first-hand experience because of a notion that people with experi-ence get so used to the way things are done that they can’t view their workcreatively. It is far easier to get experienced people to view their work creatively,“with fresh eyes” than to provide experience (as described above, equivalent toknowing a city) to people who have fresh eyes from seeing the work for the firsttime. Both experience and fresh eyes are needed to create process improve-ments that will work.

If you want people on the team who do not have first-hand experience, includethem in addition to first-string veterans. Do not accept process revisions untilthey make sense to and have the support of these, your best operating people.The fact that these people may be tough to satisfy makes the revisions all thebetter.

Specialized Systems SkillsWhere specialized skills involving systems technology (imaging, LANS, program-ming changes, etc.) are required, team members who have experience in thoseareas should be included.

Team members with operating experience and those with systems experienceserve on a team as equals.

All team members must keep the priority of developing a best procedure aheadof any desire to be involved with impressive technology.

Team members from operations should not become enamored of technology andabdicate their responsibility. When the new procedure is installed it must workand their role is to see to it that operating needs are met.

Team members representing technology must act in a support role to operations.

Team members from operations should keep to their areas of experience, whichis their strength. They should only redesign the work of areas represented on theteam. If the project expands, bring in additional people at least while workingwith the newly included areas.

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Team members representing technology should keep to application, not advanc-ing systems technology, while they are serving a team.

Confucius spoke to these issues 2,500 years ago:“Man can make system great, It isn’t system that makes man great.” and“The ancients never exaggerated for fear they would not live up to the loftyexpectations.”

Organizing ExperienceThe more a person knows about a subject the harder it is to explain, particularlyto others who do not have the same in-depth experience.

Do not assume that a person who knows a great deal about a subject will:• Be able to articulate the subject.• Have ready answers for improving methods.

Assume only that operating experience will provide the understanding of condi-tions needed to figure out the best answers.

Conversely, the less you know about something the easier it is to explain every-thing you know.

Do not assume that an articulate and creative person unencumbered by experi-ence will:

• Know the necessary details.• Have answers that will work.

Do assume that if we organize our facts and our talents we have a chance ofcoming up with procedures as good as our people, an accomplishment not oftenfound in bureaucracy.

When people ignore experience it is easier to assimilate the facts because thereare fewer of them. They are ignoring facts. Don’t confuse ignoring facts withorganizing them. Facts do not cease to be relevant because we ignore them.

The role of the Graham Process Chart is to organize facts so that people whohave experience can work their way through the processes they share anddevelop best solutions.

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Team Member Roles

Team LeaderA team benefits from having a leader who:

• Chairs the meetings.• Makes assignments.• Coordinates with other groups.

The team leader should be a person with first-hand experience from an area ofoperations central to the process, who has the respect of the other team mem-bers.

Team leaders are often chosen by the team members.

Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External)A Consultant (Internal or External) assigned to a team can do an excellent job ofpreparing the Graham Process Charts. This can also be the same person whoserves as Recorder.

The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts must do this work in anuninterrupted block of time. (For Instance: If a two day (16 hour) chart wereprepared by a person giving it one hour a day it would take considerably longerthan 16 days to prepare because of all the stopping and starting. A two day taskis completed in five or six weeks. Spending weeks to accomplish what could bedone in days destroys project momentum.)

The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts should be skilled atcharting but does not need to know the details of operations. (For Instance: Youdo not have to know nuclear physics to record that the scientist initials the pro-posal. You don’t have to be a police officer to record that an officer completesthe arrest report.)

The person who prepares the charts will be the first to spot some obvious im-provements but should refrain from suggesting them to the team until the teammembers have had a chance to become thoroughly familiar with the chart andmake some of these discoveries for themselves (See Recording Techniques -Discovering Instant Improvements).

If the team members discover the obvious for themselves the mystery of process

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improvement disappears and you get an involved team. Once they are involved,they can bring to bear on the process their wealth of intuitively available experi-ence.

This tends to be an issue over who will get the credit for the ideas. This choice isusually between getting all of the credit for a superficial and ineffective change,or a share of the credit for a carefully thought through, well supported, successfulchange. This is what teamwork is all about.

The person who prepares the charts can greatly facilitate the improvement effortby recharting the process between meetings to reflect the ideas of the team. Thegoal should be to hold meetings that require little time and generate large num-bers of quality ideas.

Team RecorderThere should also be a person attending to the records of the team, who:

• Records ideas as they come up so they won’t be lost.• Records assignments.• Assembles documentation, copies of forms, reports, charts, etc.

Team SizeIf, in order to represent the different areas of a procedure more than eight peopleare needed, break the project into sub-projects.

When sub-projects are used, the team leaders of the sub-projects should meettogether periodically to coordinate their work.

Meeting AgendasImprovement meetings involve:

• Reviewing the current method.• Questioning the steps in sequence.• Generating ideas.

First eliminate the unnecessary.

Then make sure the necessary is done:• at the right time.• in the right place.• by the right person.

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Then consider how it is done, which usually involves technology. Note, youshould not start with automating and risk automating unnecessary work or auto-mating with bad timing and poor choices of location and staff.

Many improvements have the flavor of, “We were planning to do somethingabout that, one of these days.” “One of these days” finally arrives.

The best improvements are usually simple, surprisingly simple. They have afeeling of good sense about them. Team members often feel a bit awkward thatthey hadn’t made the changes sooner.

It is easy for a team to get off on tangents. (i.e. Fantasizing sweeping solutions,fretting over anticipated management reactions, drifting into areas beyond theproject scope, etc.) Use the chart to get the team back on the subject.

Meeting and Project DurationKeep the meetings short and on the subject - one to two hours.

With a well-prepared chart and a team of the right people, three or four meetingsspaced over a week or two are sufficient to analyze most procedures.

More on the Right People: If you have the wrong people it doesn’t matter howlong you have them. They will not have access to the detail that they need andas soon as they start making assumptions (in order to complete the project) theywill begin to build in flaws.

Experienced people would not have made these mistakes. With the wrongpeople you spend much more time and get inferior results.

Delay is an enemy.• Conditions that affect the procedure change. (i.e. market conditions,

laws, technology, etc.)• Team members are lost.• Management’s priorities change.• Enthusiasm wanes.

Stay on schedule.

Don’t try to design procedures that will be perfect for all time.

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Do make things better than they have ever been, not by throwing everything outand replacing with all new, but by keeping what is good and making specificchanges that are clearly better.

Then consider how it is done, which usually involves technology. Note, youshould not start with automating and risk automating unnecessary work or auto-mating with bad timing and poor choices of location and staff.

Many improvements have the flavor of, “We were planning to do somethingabout that, one of these days.” “One of these days” finally arrives.

The best improvements are usually simple, surprisingly simple. They have afeeling of good sense about them. Team members often feel a bit awkward thatthey hadn’t made the changes sooner.

It is easy for a team to get off on tangents. (i.e. Fantasizing sweeping solutions,fretting over anticipated management reactions, drifting into areas beyond theproject scope, etc.) Use the chart to get the team back on the subject.

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Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy

What is Work Simplification?Work Simplification is the organized application of common sense to eliminatewaste and find better and easier ways of doing work.

It is a work study process that puts easily understood tools and techniques intothe hands of employees and results in continuous improvement.

Work Simplification involves the entire organization - with corporate vision pro-vided from the top down and operating solutions provided from the bottom up.

Work Simplification is a reality-based approach to conducting the “conversationof mankind” through which each group continually passes on the best that it hasand the next group improves upon it.

Work Simplification rejects those approaches that stifle this conversation (ie.approaches that encourage throwing out what we have and replacing it with allnew... often creating more problems than they cure).

Work Simplification recognizes that our strongest grip on reality is intuitive andonly available to those who have “lived there”.

Work Simplification is for rational adults who enjoy being alive, who accept thatall is not perfect and are willing to use their abilities to make life better.

Work Simplification is not for people with adolescent mentalities who think theyhave all the answers before they have begun the study.

Work Simplification recognizes the work force as a resource to be treasured andutilized rather than an expense to be shed at the first opportunity.

Work Simplification rejects making operating decisions at a distance from reality,the standard practice in bureaucracy and the central thread of insanity.

Work Simplification recognizes that any time a less informed elite imposes its willon people who are more informed the results will be wasteful and distasteful. Itdoes not matter if the elite is cognitive, ethnic, hereditary, religious, etc.

Work Simplification is a practical way of living that is consistent with the way

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most decent people believe life should be lived but like nutrition and exercise, itrequires discipline.

Where is Work Simplification used?It can be used wherever people would like to get more done, with better quality,in less time.

It was first used extensively in manufacturing. It has also been used in farming,mining, petrochemicals, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, transporta-tion, retail, insurance, banking, food processing, public utilities, hospitals, univer-sities, consulting, engineering and research, and in government at all levels -city, county, state, and federal, military and civilian.

When is Work Simplification used?It is used when people are willing to take the time for it. It is an organized tech-nique for continuously adjusting and refining the way we do our work - “a way oflife”.

It was first used in the US and Canada over fifty years ago and has since madeits way around the world.

Who does Work Simplification?It involves the people who have been doing, are doing and will continue to do thework. When the tools of improvement are put into the hands of the people whodo the work they are able to find and install improvements quickly.

“The person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best wayof doing that job and is the one person best fitted to improve it.”

Allan H. Mogensen - The founder of Work Simplification.

How is Work Simplification done?1. Select a particular process to improve.

2. List the steps of the process, with attention to detail. This software helpsus to keep the data at the “elemental level” needed for realistic improve-ment.

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3. Question the steps of the work and find opportunities to improve - Why,What, Where, When, Who and How. (See Meeting Agendas, Workingwith Project Teams)

Eliminate unnecessary stepsCombine stepsSmooth out the sequence of stepsChange who does themImprove how they are done

4. Make sure that the people affected agree on the changes.

5. Do what has been figured out and agreed upon.

Why do we simplify work?Sometimes we are pushed into simplification because of changing conditions:competition, technology, regulation, etc. We have to improve.

But, we do not have to be pushed. We can improve by choice. We don’t like towaste time. We want to be proud of what we are doing. We improve so that weand our organizations will be more successful.

Or, we improve simply because there is a better way. Work simplification in-volves doing our best and for many responsible people there is no more reasonneeded.

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Appendix B - A Brief History

Frank B. GilbrethOn July 12th, 1885, a handsomeyoung, third generation New En-glander rode Boston’s Columbushorsecar to his first job. FrankBunker Gilbreth was five days pasthis seventeenth birthday, a highschool graduate, wearing a crisp newpair of white, bricklayer overalls. Hehad impressed a partner of theThomas J. Whidden Company,contractors and builders, who offeredhim an opportunity to learn thebusiness from the bottom up andearn his way into partnership.

Frank had passed examinations forentrance to MIT, but he decidedagainst university studies in favor ofthis job. His university would be ascaffold and his first professorswould be Tom Bowler, an Irish-American, and George Eaton, a Nova Scotian, both, to use Frank’s words,“natural, rollicking, first-class human beings” and top-notch journeyman bricklay-ers.

On that scaffold, he gained an insight that transformed him into, perhaps, thegreatest contributor of all time to industrial productivity. First he saw that eachbricklayer used slightly different motions while accomplishing the same result.Then he noticed that the motions they used when demonstrating were not thesame as those they used throughout the day. Later he saw different methodsbeing used for difficult parts of the wall, others when the worker was rushed, etc.

Instinctively, he sorted through these methods, looking for the best. In time, hebecame an excellent bricklayer and developed a method that incorporated thebest he had seen plus new ideas of his own, including a bricklaying scaffold,which he patented.

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By the age of 22, Gilbreth had improved a five-thousand-year-old job and hadenabled bricklayers to lay brick faster with less effort and fatigue. On one par-ticularly difficult type of wall, where the previous record had been 120 bricks perhour, his methods allowed them to lay 350 bricks, an increase in productivity ofover 190%. This early success launched his lifelong search for the one best wayfor doing any of the tasks of life; a search he shared with his psychology-trainedwife, Lillian, with their twelve children, with employees in his own company, andeventually with leaders of industry, academia, professional groups, governmentand mankind.

Frank Gilbreth was certainly not the first or only person to find a better way ofdoing work, but he may have been the first to make that search the center of hislife and apply it to all aspects of living. He began with a single, highly successfulimprovement, followed it with many more and eventually uncovered essentialsecrets of how to improve.

Gilbreth developed a number of improvement tools that clearly display the factsof work and make improvement opportunities obvious. These tools include theflow process chart, therblig analysis, micro-motion study using motion pictures,the chronocyclegraph using special lighting techniques with cameras, factorylayout modeling, measurement with predetermined times, and more.

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Dr. Lillian M. GilbrethTrained in Industrial Psychology, Dr. LillianGilbreth brought an important human balanceto the engineering of process improvement.She understood the importance of maintainingexcellence through continuous improvement.

”We strive for the one best way, as of today.Of course, that one best way changes withtime.”...Lillian M. Gilbreth

She also understood the delicate relationshipbetween employees and their work thatranges from enthusiastic, responsible perfor-mance through apathy to alienation. Shesupported the views presented in this materialthat call for employee involvement, continuousimprovement and proud, enthusiastic perfor-mance.

When Frank Gilbreth died unexpectedly in 1924 he was scheduled to speak atthe first international management meeting to be held later that year in Prague,Czechoslovakia. Lillian went to Prague, delivered his address and returned tothe U.S. to continue their work alone. She survived her husband by almost a halfcentury and during that time wrote several books, lectured at numerous universi-ties and professional meetings and carried on a running conversation through themail with over 2000 people including leaders of nations, industry, academia andnumerous friends and family.

In spite of the fact that engineering at that time was almost exclusively a malediscipline, Lillian not only worked in the field but she earned the admiration andrespect of its leaders.

She continued the raising and educating of her eleven children (one had diedearlier of measles) and helped them all to complete college educations. The twoeldest, Ernestine and Frank Jr. later wrote two marvelous best sellers describingtheir family, “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Belles on Their Toes”.When Allan Mogensen began the Work Simplification Conferences in the thirties,they were based on Gilbreth material and Lillian was a major member of theConference staff. In 1944, Ben Graham, Sr. attended this conference and when

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he adapted the material to the simplification of information processing, he main-tained a close association with both Lillian and Mogensen. Lillian participated inall of the twenty-one public workshops that he conducted. When Ben Sr. died in1960 and the work was continued by Ben Jr., Lillian participated in all of theworkshops through 1966.

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Allan H. MogensenI first met Allan Mogensen when I was ateenager while my father was attendinghis Work Simplification Conference atLake Placid, New York in 1944. I recallhim as a dynamic man, usually in thecenter of a discussion or racing about inhis grey Mercedes.

I didn’t see him again for years but I heardof him often. My father was a member ofMogy’s staff each summer at Lake Placidand later, when my father started his“Paperwork Simplification Conferences”Mogy participated in them.

I next saw him in 1962. My father haddied in 1960 and I was continuing hiswork. I was conducting a workshop inQuebec when Mogy called asking to visit.He flew up in his Navion and after observ-ing a few sessions invited me to becomea member of his Lake Placid staff as myfather had been. Thus began a relation-ship which has been extremely fulfilling.

I rode with him in his Mercedes and hisNavion, I listened to him deliver fierypresentations to rapt audiences and Ijoined him in discussions with workersand with senior executives. And I foundthat, even if he was simply walking fromone meeting to another at a convention,he exuded enthusiasm.

Mogensen was still running the socks offpeople half his age when he was in hiseighties. A good deal of the prosperity weall enjoy today is here because of Mogyand others inspired by him and in turn bythem.

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When Mogy’s career began, dramatic increases were occurring in our Americanproductivity. Frederick Taylor had introduced careful scientific analysis of work.Frank and Lillian Gilbreth increased the effectiveness of this analysis enormouslywith an astounding assortment of analytical techniques which enabled people toincrease their output with reduced effort.

Mogy experienced the excitement of the awakening of scientific management.He was in touch with fundamentals and the more he worked with them andunderstood them, the more steadfast became his belief in them. He found thatwhen the techniques of work improvement were applied they often producedresistance sufficient to kill the process. Since he knew the problem was not inthe techniques, he did not question them. Instead, he got at the resistance in amuch more direct and innovative way. He gave the techniques to the would beresisters and let them see the benefits for themselves and share in the excite-ment of creating the improvements. This was his unique contribution and itdistinguished work simplification from most traditional work improvement efforts.

By 1937, he had the process well enough organized to begin his Work Simplifica-tion Conferences. Each year he carefully introduced a small number of people torigorous training and over the years hundreds carried a message back to theircompanies. Some accomplished little, many returned the cost of their trainingquickly and easily and some revolutionized their companies with previouslyunimaginable productivity gains.

As the years passed Mogy and his work have been discovered and rediscoveredmany times. An impressive list of authors, Erwin Schell, Douglas McGregor,Peter Drucker, Ren Lickert, Chris Argyris, Warren Bennis, Tom Peters and BobWaterman have come across his handiwork. The last two discovered quite analumni group from Mogensen’s Work Simplification Conferences in the compa-nies they termed excellent.

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During this time the merit of Mogy’s work has also been recognized by severalprofessional societies. Today, three impressive awards are given periodically tooutstanding leaders in the field of productivity improvement. They are the TaylorKey of the Society for the Advancement of Management, the Gilbreth Medal ofthe American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Mogensen Bronze of theImprovement Institute. Only two people have received more than one of these.Art Spinanger, a Mogensen student, 1944, who built the Proctor and Gambleprogram has received the Taylor Key and the Mogensen Bronze. Mogy alonehas received all three.

Ben S. Graham, Jr.February 19891985 recipient of the Mogensen Bronze

____________________* excerpted from the Preface of Mogy an Autobiography “Father of Work Simplifi-cation” by Allan H. Mogensen with Rosario “Zip” Rausa. Idea Associates,Chesapeake, VA. 1989. ISBN 0-9623050-0-6

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Ben S. Graham

The Graham method of process chart-ing was developed by Ben S. Graham,Sr. (1900 - 1960)

He began his career in the InsuranceIndustry and throughout his working lifehe was involved with work that wasprimarily information processing. In theearly forties he joined the StandardRegister Company where he directedhis talents towards analyzing the use offorms in order to develop smoothprocedures and well designed formssimultaneously. Then, in 1944 heattended Allan Mogensen’s six-weekWork Simplification Conference in LakePlacid, New York. There he learned theoutstanding techniques being used to

improve factory operations.

Immediately after that conference he adapted several of the factory work im-provement techniques so that they could be used in the analysis of informationprocessing. He then made two films. One showed a series of clerical operationsas they had been done and as they were improved by applying principles ofmotion economy. The other focused on workflow analysis and displayed hisnewly developed method of “Multi-Column Flow Process Charting” the forerunnerof the Graham Process Charting Method.

Throughout the late forties and into the fifties he pressed this development work.He developed the techniques of “Recurring Data Analysis” for displaying theredundancy of entries in a procedure. He developed the Typewriter AnalysisTechnique, a work measurement technique used for designing forms so that aform currently in use could be redesigned and the savings to be gained from theefficiency of the new form could be calculated. He also developed a similartechnique for speeding up computer output through form design.

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During this time he wrote numerous articles describing these techniques and howto use them. As he outlined their use, he continually emphasized the importanceof using the first-hand experience of the work force.

As more people began to hear about his work he received requests to conduct apublic conference covering these developments. In 1953 he conducted the firstof twenty-one public conferences held before his death in 1960. It covered all ofthe techniques organized around an improvement excercise. Delegates drewcharts, designed forms, and applied the principles of motion economy in a hands-on case study.

The following quote appeared in a letter written to his son in 1958. “Participationby the worker in developing the method eliminates many causes of resistanceand assures enthusiastic acceptance. This is more important than all the tech-niques put together.” If he were alive today he would undoubtedly be delightedto see the development of the Graham Process Charting Software and evenmore so, the increasing attention that many organizations are giving to the jobknowledge of their people.

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Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

Ben Graham, Jr., was an intelligenceofficer in the U.S. Air Force. He wasdischarged at the end of the KoreanWar, and with his father’s encourage-ment, he completed masters studies toprepare him to join in the family busi-ness. When his father died in 1960, hecontinued the work begun by BenGraham, Sr. For the next six years,Lillian Gilbreth participated in Ben Jr.’sconferences and guided him. She diedin 1972, having continued herhusband’s work for over forty years andleft a legacy of dignity, decency andskill. Many people accomplished farmore in their lives because of her thanthey would have otherwise. Ben Gra-ham, Jr., who is one of them, hastrained scores of thousands of peoplefrom over a thousand different organiza-tions and continues to do so today.

Today, Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. is the president of the Ben Graham Corporation,which has provided training and consulting services in methods and systemsimprovement to over 1,000 client firms. He is also Chairman of the Ben GrahamGroup that puts on workshops throughout Canada, and he is President of WorkSimplification Software, the company that produces Graham Process Chartingsoftware. He is a leader in the field of office systems improvement and hashelped thousands of people make sense of their paperwork and adapt to elec-tronic systems. He holds four university degrees; B.A. (with Phi Beta Kappa),B.F.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Behavioral Science (awarded with distinction).

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A

aaa 7

C

Conventions 35. See also Process Charting

D

Data collection 12Detail level 13

E

Employee Teams 47. See also Teams

F

Fact Gathering 7, 8Guidelines 7How to Initiate 9Introduction to the Employee 10Keep the Data Organized 16Protocol 10Recording Technique 12

Authority of the Facts 12Defused Resentment 14Discipline 16Discovering Instant Improvements 14Level of Detail 13Observation 13Same Day Capture of Data 17Working Quickly 17

Respect 11Why? 8

G

Gilbreth, Dr. Lillian M. 67Gilbreth, Frank B. 65Graham, Ben S. 72Graham, Dr. Ben S., Jr. 5, 71, 74Graham Process Charting Method 19. See

also Process Charting

I

Instant Improvements 14

M

Meetings 51, 53Mogensen, Allan H. 14, 63, 69

N

No loss of employment 10

O

Observation 7, 13

P

Process Charting 19, 72advantages 19Conventions 35

Alternative 37Closing Bracket 35Correction/Rejection 39Effect 35Opening Bracket 35

Ease of Reading 21Graham Process Charting Method 72Grammar 28horizontal 23Labels 28Multi-Column Flow 72Symbols 24

R

Recording Data 12Resentment 14

S

Specialized skills 48

Index

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Symbols 24Mutually Exclusive 26

T

Teams 47Chart Preparer 50Consultant 50experience 47Meeting and Project Duration 52Organizing Experience 49Recorder 51Size 51Specialized Systems Skills 48Team Leader 50Team Member Roles 50Who Should be Included 47

W

Work Simplification 62, 69Conference 69continuous improvement 62Defined... 62How is Work Simplification done? 63Philosophy 62Who does Work Simplification? 63Why do we simplify work? 64

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