Extreme Makeover: Government Edition

"I don't know how many of you have seen the television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." (Yeah, guys, I don't watch it either — my wife does. And it never makes me cry....) The premise of the show is to find families with uniquely dire circumstances who really need and deserve improvements to their homes. When the show first started, the crew would descend upon the home and make improvements and upgrades — maybe even an addition. Now that they have gained popularity, they basically show up, knock down the existing home and rebuild an entire new house on the same spot — IN SEVEN DAYS!"

"Nine months (the typical time alotted to build a home) versus seven days. Why such a discrepancy? Is it camera tricks and Hollywood magic? The answer is actually the secret to understanding how to make the operations of government run faster. Deciphering the code starts when we look at time in a different way. When viewing any work process there are two ways of looking at time. One is looking at labor or work time — the amount of time in a process where work is actually occurring. The other is to look at the elapsed time — that is, the actual amount of time that passes in the process (work time plus any time spent on handoffs, waiting, batches, backlog and so on). What's the difference between the two? Typically between 95 percent and 99.95 percent. That is, at least 95 percent of the time in most processes is waste."

"So how do you do it? 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' provides a powerful clue. (No, I'm not advocating that 400 people descend on your cubicle for seven days). What's important to notice about homes that are built on the show is that they all have roofs. And they have plumbing, carpet, lights and lawns. That is, the work still gets done. The builders aren't cutting corners. What they are cutting is the elapsed, lost time when no work is being done. The same is true for improving our government processes."