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Showing posts from 2015

DMADV for Travel Claims

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The Navy's annual budget for Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves is roughly $800 million. That sounds like a lot of money until you consider the scope and size of the effort. Between 110,000 and 160,000 PCS travel claims are processed each year. These claims include various allowances for time in training, family relocation, temporary lodging, and house hunting. Because the Navy relies on rotational duty assignments by design and Sailors are entitled to PCS-related compensation by law, the expenses associated with PCS moves are a predictable cost of doing business. However, the speed and accuracy of travel claim settlements has a significant impact on the operational availability of funds during the execution year. Adequate funds to safely cover all PSC-related expenses are obligated in advance of travel, and these funds must be held in abeyance until the travel claim is settled once travel is completed. Any excess obligations can then be de-obligated and used to fund

Telling a Good Story

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I recently came across a fantastic news story in one of our process improvement efforts. Unfortunately, the effort and accomplishment was not fully appreciated -- due in part to the way the information was presented. Month after month, we presented the change as an unadorned bar chart. The bar chart showed clear improvements, but the sense of story was lacking. After working with the team, we applied three recommendations to improve how the information was communicated. 1. We added control limits to the chart to convey a sense of context. How do we know when something changed? When the line breaks the control limits, something has changed. 2. We decided to show both the meter (the # of expired LIMDU PRDs) and the levers (the actions we had taken to influence change). 3. We made the math easy. Senior leadership no longer needs to calculate the size of the impact or guess; we spelled out the accomplishment explicitly.

Measures of Performance: A Losing Record with a Winning Spirit

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How do you measure performance in a recreational league? Do you take into account bad umpires who don't seem to know the rules of the game? Does your assessment take into account teams from competitive leagues who stay sharp in the off-season by playing in a recreational league? Do the league mandated priorities of first fun, second learning, third winning play any role? Although we have one game remaining, we will end this season with a losing record (currently, we are 1-7-1). However, we started the season with 5 of 14 players who had significant problems hitting a pitched ball. At our last game, every player on our roster got a hit. We started the season with 7 of 14 players who did not understand the basic flow of the game or how to get the other team out. At our last game, we held a very good team to two points in the first inning (a significant accomplishment for our team). Everyone plays both infield and outfield. Everyone has improved. Our defensive play as a tea