How do you manage and mitigate the risks and uncertainties associated with lean projects and experiments?

1 Identify and prioritize risks

Before you start any lean project or experiment, you need to identify and prioritize the potential risks that could affect the performance, quality, safety, or customer satisfaction of your processes or products. You can use tools such as FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), or PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) to systematically analyze the sources and impacts of risks. Then, you can rank the risks according to their likelihood and severity and focus on the most critical ones.

2 Plan and test assumptions

Once you have identified and prioritized the risks, you need to plan and test your assumptions about the solutions or changes that you want to implement in your lean project or experiment. You can use tools such as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act), A3 (a one-page problem-solving report), or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to design, execute, measure, and learn from your experiments. The key is to start small, test fast, and validate your hypotheses with data and feedback from customers and stakeholders.

3 Monitor and adjust

As you run your lean project or experiment, you need to monitor and adjust your actions and results based on the data and feedback that you collect. You can use tools such as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), SPC (Statistical Process Control), or Gemba (going to the actual place where work is done) to track and evaluate your progress and performance. The key is to be flexible, agile, and responsive to the changing conditions and needs of your customers and stakeholders.

4 Learn and share

After you complete your lean project or experiment, you need to learn and share your findings and insights with your team and organization. You can use tools such as Kaizen (continuous improvement), 5 Whys (root cause analysis), or After Action Review (a structured debriefing session) to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what can be improved. The key is to capture and document your learnings and best practices and disseminate them across your organization to foster a culture of learning and innovation.

5 Mitigate and prevent

Finally, you need to mitigate and prevent the recurrence or escalation of the risks that you identified and encountered in your lean project or experiment. You can use tools such as Poka-Yoke (error-proofing), Standard Work (documenting the best way to perform a task), or CAPA (Corrective and Preventive Action) to eliminate or reduce the sources and impacts of risks. The key is to implement and sustain the solutions or changes that you tested and validated in your lean project or experiment and ensure that they are aligned with your strategic goals and customer expectations.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?