Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Plan, Do, Check, Act

Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) this is a carry-over from my days in Continuous Improvement / Kaizen. At that point in my life, it was targeted at manufacturing processes, but the concept has a lot of application across all aspects of life.

So often we just "do" - or at the very best, "plan, do, " but it is in the last two pieces that the power lies.

Quick terms definition:
Plan: Pretty straight forward. Plan is the plan. Who, what, why, where, when (or by-when) and how. All of these components together create a complete plan. When you are in "plan" take the extra time to create a complete plan.

Do: Also pretty clear. Work the plan. Do what you outlined that you would do.

Check: This is the reflection time once you have worked the plan. Did the plan work? If not, why not? What can be tweaked to make the results even better? Go through the plan, step by step and make sure that you did actually work the plan. Which parts worked and which parts didn't? Dissect the both the plan and the results.

Act: Implement the changes that you came up with in "Check." Keep in mind that Check and Act are basically a loop constantly tweaking and making the plan better (hence the Continuous in continuous improvement).

So now, let's take a quick look at this. It is pretty easy to figure out how one would use PDCA in manufacturing: you want to decrease the defects produced in a widget, so you make a complete plan, work the plan, check the progess and act on the information - but how do you make the jump from making parts on an assembly line to loosing weight, or getting your dream job?

The process is completely transferable. Let's take a look:
The goal is reduce the stress in your life:
Plan: First of all, how are you going to know that your stress is lower? Determine what you see as "lower stress" and write it down. Now, who, what, why, where, when and how: Who is pretty straight forward, YOU want to reduce YOUR stress right? So it is primarily an internal process. What: This is where you would insert your definition of "lower stress" - what is the measurable result (when I say "measurable" it might just be "sleep better" or "be less cranky"). Why? This is important because it is what puts the gas in your engine. It is your motivation behind "less stress". When: in this example, when is both when you will start, and when you will measure your progress along the continuum. Finally we get to "how". How is the specific things that you will do to reduce your stress. I will meditate for 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening. I will take 5 deep cleansing breathes when I feel myself getting angry or stressed. I will read one book that I WANT to read.

Be careful to find the balance between a complete plan, and planning paralysis. A good plan well implemented is a lot more powerful than a GREAT plan never implemented.

Do: work your plan. It is that simple. Just DO what you outlined in your plan.

NOW comes the good stuff.
Check: your checkpoints should be in your plan. So you know that after 3 weeks, you are going to check in with yourself and your progess. Are you doing what you said you would? Why or why not? What obstacles can you remove? How do you make it easier to do that which you want to do?

Act: Implement the changes. Set a new checkpoint.

Check. Act. Check. Act. Check. Act.

Before you know it you have created a new normal.

Give it a try. Start small. Let yourself get a feel for this and build some success at it.
Most importantly believe that you can.

I'll check back in later.

2 comments:

lisa said...

Although I'm reading this from top to bottom in reverse posting order, these words are very helpful to my current situation. Very cool how one can be inspired by a stranger's words-however unintentionally.

Mark said...

I'm just glad I could help. This blog is meant not only to be cathartic for me, but of some help to others as well.