“A lot of organizations use
lean tools at the staff level, but
they are rarely incorporated
into project and program
leadership and governance
practice. That’s where there
are huge opportunities.”
—Eric Norman, PMP, PgMP, Norman & Norman
Consulting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
the frequency and duration of other meetings, so we’re making the best use of
our time,” he says. More focused and efficient meetings also reduce potential
misunderstandings around scope, cost and schedules. “Effective communica-
tion throughout the project life cycle results in more understanding and agree-
ment, and it allows the team to identify and proactively mitigate associated
risk in the early phases of the program.”
A culture of strong communication can also make it easier to suggest
waste-reducing changes. Whether it’s reorganizing schedules to lessen conflict
among teams or changing the layout of a production site to shorten the hand-
off time between steps, the key is looking at the system with lean principles in
mind, according to Mr. Chilukamarri. “You can reduce a lot of waste by elimi-
nating staging areas and hand-off steps,” he says.
HOW TO BE LEAN
Incorporating lean initiatives and practices into a program management
process is a daunting task that can’t be completed overnight. “There’s no
silver bullet,” says Dr. Oehmen. Instead, organizations should review the
lean enablers report and then examine their own processes to see where
changes can be made.
“You need to ensure you understand how each lean initiative fits into
the corporate framework, what synergies exist between initiatives, and
the desired result of each initiative individually and holistically,” says Viq
Pervaaz, chief project officer and senior vice president for Aon, New York,
New York, USA.
He encourages companies to start at the beginning: Many challenges in
program management stem from a lack of clear, stable processes and specifications and, of equal importance, ensuring the organization understands them,
CASE STUDY
ROCKWELL COLLINS LEAPS INTO LEAN
Rockwell, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. “And we involved lean experts from the
beginning to help us plan.”
At aviation manufacturer Rockwell Collins, one team has proven that
when organizations apply lean enablers at the outset of the planning
process, they can drive substantial savings across the life cycle of a
program.
“We are specifically interested in the lean enablers that support value-
added activities,” says Brett Stephenson, principal program manager at
“It’s going to be a cutting-edge capability for this tanker and just one
subset of the program,” Mr. Stephenson says. Rockwell Collins is also
providing the flight deck, aircraft networks, surveillance and air-traffic
management equipment, and communications and navigation gear.
FILL IT UP
In June 2011, Rockwell Collins signed a contract with Boeing to provide a
range of advanced avionics and mission equipment for KC- 46 aerial refueling tankers being built for the U.S. Air Force. A key part of the project is
the development of a state-of-the-art remote-visioning system that uses
technology to guide refueling capabilities during midair operations. “The
tanker is like a giant gas station in the sky used to refuel other aircraft,”
says Mr. Stephenson, who is managing the new product activities of all
hardware products on the program.
Currently, refueling operations are conducted by a boom operator
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
To ensure the program went smoothly, Mr. Stephenson’s team relied on
Rockwell Collins’s lean engineering accelerated planning (LEAP) team,
an internal group dedicated to helping project teams apply lean principles to program planning, explains Deb Secor, LEAP’s principal project
manager. “LEAP helps project and program managers focus on the
dependencies between tasks,” she explains. “By helping team members
understand how their actions impact the preceding and following tasks,
they are able to make more efficient choices.”
