Integration of Existing Policies, Processes, and Procedures

Process Improvement Team Structure

We often find different groups working on process improvement activities in an organization. For example, an organization may have a Software Engineering Process Group (SEPG) for software processes, a Systems Engineering Process Initiative (SEPI) for systems engineering processes, and an Engineering Process Group (EPG) for processes covering other disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, safety, and reliability. In addition to these explicit process improvement groups, organizations may have other existing groups, such as Quality Improvement Councils, Business Re-engineering Teams , and Six Sigma programs.

Given this wide range of groups interested in process improvement, it is not surprising that organizations find that, regardless of their current approach, they will need to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each team, increase communication between these teams, and often simplify the effort by eliminating some teams.

To address the structure, you need to know what structure already exists. Exhibit 1 lists some questions to consider.

Exhibit 1: Questions to Consider to Determine Current Structure

What teams do you currently have? Take an inventory of the teams. Some organizations are surprised to find that they have a significant number of teams involved with process improvement across the organization. You may need to survey a number of people to identify all the teams. If it is difficult to identify all the teams, you will want to improve the communication and visibility of your teams. Process improvement teams need to be visible ” stealth process improvement rarely works.

How many teams are real? For a team to be real, it should have a plan, a charter, a budget, and active members (see Chapters 12 and 13 for more information). In addition, teams should have an executive sponsor, and the team should have produced something. Look at the processes, procedures, templates, training materials, etc., coming from each team.

What overlap exists between your teams? It is not unusual to find multiple teams with many of the same members. This may not be a bad thing when the teams have a clear charter and know their responsibilities. If you have an overlap of team members and an overlap of responsibilities, it usually means nothing is going to get done, or something will get done but twice in slightly different ways.

At what level do your teams communicate and how often? Even separate teams working in unique areas should be exchanging ideas and leveraging from each other. Ways to encourage communication include joint meetings on topics of mutual interest, peer reviews of team-developed work products across teams, and assigning a representative from a related team as a member of the team.

Do your teams have an unhealthy competition? Multiple teams within an organization have been known to spend an unbalanced amount of time protecting their spheres of influence, their budgets , and their unique processes. You need to be sensitive to this situation. If you are a member of one or more of these teams, you may need an impartial third party to look at and evaluate your work, and determine the value of what has been accomplished.

 

Once you collect this information about your teams, you should be in a position to restructure your teams for better alignment. Make sure whatever teams you keep have a charter, a plan (not just a schedule ” see Chapters 12 and 15), a budget, a management or an executive sponsor, and a communication plan. The section entitled "Scenarios" discusses two scenarios related to team integration.