What Does Good Look Like? The Importance of Metrics (2024)

After people receive their white or yellow belt they ask me, where do we begin?I then ask them, "What does good look like?" We need a starting point that tells us how we are doing now. Doesn't have to be complicated. It starts with simple measurements.

I started my journey into the public sector working at a government office processing paperwork.After two weeks of training, the bureau chief asked me how I was doing.I told them I had picked up the process quickly and that I was processing around 20 documents a day.They nodded their head but offered no feedback.So, I asked, “What is my target?”They looked perplexed and my bureau chief asked what a target was?I explained, a target is a metric, kind of a like a standard or some might call it a quota.From the look on their face, you would have thought that I had just used the f-bomb. The bureau chief quickly explained that they don’t have quotas, how they don’t place such expectations on their employees and the evils of such things. "What is the average process time for these types of documents?" They couldn’t tell me. “How do I know if I am doing a good job, if I don’t know what good looks like?”

I know there is a mindset that demonizes targets and metrics.There is a belief that targets can create low morale for a number of reasons.However, how am I supposed to know if I’m doing a good job?There needs to be some metric that tells me if I am performing at the level I am supposed to.This is where I needed to start, by measuring my productivity. A simple metric measuring the time it takes to process a document from beginning to end. I did a time studyand found that I could process a document in 15 minutes.I set my target at 4 an hour. This gives me a baseline as to how I am performing.

Targets can also help us find where our waste is.Some of the waste that can lower your target can be in the form of defects, rework, waiting, over processing, etc.Now I was only processing 20 documents a day.That means I was wasting 3 hours out of the day somewhere.My office was a processing call center and when I was not processing paperwork, I was on the phone.I could have measured my time on the phone, but it was safe to theorize that time on the phone is where the majority of waste was. During an engage meeting, I asked my supervisor if the average time spent on the phone was 3 hours.My supervisor looked it up and according to our call center software, the average time spent on calls was 3 and a half hours.The metrics told me there was no need for me to improve my efficiency on the phone. I was already spending less time on the phone then the average.Improvement was going to have to be made somewhere else.

Metrics also tell us when we have made positive improvements. Using metrics, I knew improvements needed to be made to my process if I was going to increase my productivity. Long story short: I mapped out my process, looked for redundancies, bottle necks, wait time, the usual suspects in any lean project. After a couple of months of making improvements to my process, I did a second time study. Again, how do I know if I made real improvements if I do not take a measurement? I had decreased my processing time down to 10 minutes.I was now processing 6 documents an hour and averaging 30 documents a day.I had definitely made a positive impact on my productivity.

Metrics are at the heart of developing a Lean Six Sigma culture. Metrics can help monitor productivity, find waste, be used in decision making and measure the impact of improvements.Metrics give us a baseline to start from. I started with a process time of 15 minutes, made some positive changes and now my process time is 10 minutes. A simple example that I hope gives you some insight on where to start in a government office setting.