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Business Process
Improvement Method
with GRAHAM PROCESS MAPPING SOFTWARE

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"Helping Mankind Organize"
The Ben Graham Corporation
6600 South Troy Frederick Road
Tipp City, Ohio 45371
Tel 937.667.1032 & 800.628.9558 Fax 937.667.8690
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www.processchart.com
Business Process Improvement
Methodology
for GRAHAM PROCESS MAPPING SOFTWARE

An Introduction to
Work Simplification

The Ben Graham Corporation

 Copyright 1999, The Ben Graham Corporation.
All rights reserved.

Revised March 2006

The Ben Graham Corporation

6600 South Troy Frederick Road
Tipp City, Ohio 45371
Tel 937-667-1032 & 800-628-9558
Fax 937-667-8690
[email protected]
www.worksimp.com
www.processchart.com
 Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 3
How to Gather the Facts ..................................................................................... 5
Basic Fact Gathering Guidelines ..................................................................... 5
Walk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand .......... 5
Observe & interview .................................................................................. 5
Document the facts ................................................................................... 6
Why are We Gathering Facts? ........................................................................ 6
How to Initiate Fact Gathering......................................................................... 7
Public Announcement ............................................................................... 7
Common Sense Protocol ................................................................................ 8
Where to Get the Facts ............................................................................. 8
Introduction to the Employee at the Workplace ........................................ 8
Respect ..................................................................................................... 9
Recording Technique .................................................................................... 10
Recording Data ....................................................................................... 10
The Authority of the Facts ....................................................................... 10
Observation ............................................................................................. 11
Level of Detail .......................................................................................... 11
Defused Resentment .............................................................................. 12
Discovering Instant Improvements .......................................................... 12
How to Keep the Data Organized ................................................................. 14
Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline ................................... 14
Working Quickly ...................................................................................... 15
Same Day Capture of Data ..................................................................... 15
The Graham Process Charting Method .......................................................... 17
Why Prepare Process Charts........................................................................ 17
Narrative .................................................................................................. 18
Process Chart.......................................................................................... 19
Ease of Reading ...................................................................................... 19
How to Prepare Process Charts .................................................................... 20
We Chart Horizontally ............................................................................. 20
The Horizontal Lines ............................................................................... 20
The Symbols ................................................................................................. 21
The Eight Symbols Defined ..................................................................... 21
The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the Symbols ................................... 22

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 Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar of Charting ............................. 24
The Subjects (Names - Labels) ............................................................... 24
The Verbs (Actions - Symbols) ............................................................... 25
Completing The Sentences ..................................................................... 27
Conventions .................................................................................................. 31
Opening Bracket ..................................................................................... 31
Closing Bracket ....................................................................................... 31
Effect ....................................................................................................... 32
Alternative Processing of a Document .................................................... 33
Alternatives & Rejoins ............................................................................. 33
Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector Label ................................. 35
Determining How Much to Include on a Chart ........................................ 38
Connector Labels .................................................................................... 40
Stop/Start Convention ............................................................................. 41
Conclusion ............................................................................................... 41
Working With Employee Teams ...................................................................... 43
Who Should be Included ............................................................................... 43
Specialized Systems Skills ............................................................................ 44
Organizing Experience .................................................................................. 45
Team Member Roles ..................................................................................... 46
Team Leader ........................................................................................... 46
Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External) .................................... 46
Team Recorder ....................................................................................... 47
Team Size ..................................................................................................... 47
Meeting Agendas .......................................................................................... 47
Meeting and Project Duration ........................................................................ 48
Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy ............................................... 51
What is Work Simplification? ......................................................................... 51
Where is Work Simplification used?.............................................................. 52
When is Work Simplification used? ............................................................... 52
Who does Work Simplification? .................................................................... 52
How is Work Simplification done? ................................................................. 52
Why do we simplify work? ............................................................................. 53
Appendix B - A Brief History ............................................................................ 55
Frank B. Gilbreth ........................................................................................... 55
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth ..................................................................................... 57
Allan H. Mogensen ........................................................................................ 59
Ben S. Graham ............................................................................................. 62
Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. ................................................................................. 64
Index ................................................................................................................... 65

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 Introduction
This booklet is intended to help you use Graham Process Charts effectively. It
does not deal exclusively with the software. It addresses the much larger subject
of process improvement. It explains how to gather the facts required to draw
Graham Process Charts, how to draw Graham Process Charts and how to work
with project teams.

At the turn of the century Frank Gilbreths desire to discover the one best way to
perform any task led him to develop a collection of tools that clearly define work
steps and make potential improvements obvious. These tools are the organiza-
tional foundation of work simplification the organized application of
common sense. Work Simplification established a solid foothold in the early
1930s when Allan Mogensen hurdled a major obstacle to improvement (worker
resistance to being changed) by handing over the tools to the operating people.
In the 1940s, Ben S. Graham, Sr. brought the methods from the factory into the
office where he introduced the Graham Process Chart that adapted the method-
ology to multiple information flows. He wholly embraced employee involvement
and developed an employee team approach for process improvement.

Drawing Graham Process Charts is not difficult, and although it is a small part of
the improvement process, IT IS VITAL. This booklet introduces you to the
basics of Graham Process Charting and will help you see how process charting
fits into the improvement process. More detailed technical guidance for the
software, with example illustrations, is available in the online Help.

Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.

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4
 How to Gather the Facts
The fact gathering associated with process improvement is a very volatile activity
because it tends to create fears about job change and job loss. The skills and
the integrity of the professional can go a long way toward reducing these anxi-
eties and gaining cooperation. Skills enable the professional to collect critical,
relevant data easily and assure that once collected it will not be lost. But, integ-
rity is more important. It includes making sure that the focus of improvement
treats people as a resource to be utilized and not an expense to be cut (see Why
are We Gathering Facts?).

In addition, you should make sure that you always gather data from the person
who is the top authority in the organization with respect to that data, that is, the
person doing the work. Then treat that person with the respect due a top
authority.

Most work processes pass through departmental boundaries. The improvement

teams set up to study them need to include representatives from the different
departments. A professional who is good at preparing process charts can be a
great help to interdepartmental teams by gathering and organizing the facts and
putting a clear picture of the process in front of them.

Basic Fact Gathering Guidelines

Walk the path that each process follows - with a clipboard in hand
Dont trust detail to memory
Observe more than one work cycle and worker when applicable - but
dont try to chart every variation
Dont look for faults
Represent the NORMAL work cycle
Be methodical - follow and list steps in order
Work quickly - use the charting symbols as a note taking shorthand
Clarify uncertainties - err to the side of too much information
Be accurate and legible - so the data can be audited/reviewed
Once charted, walk the path again for verification

Observe & interview

Observe & interview the people who do the work, not managers
Observe & interview at the work area
Get facts primarily from observation - people can usually show you faster
than they can describe
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 Demonstration is much closer to reality than words
Stick to simply identifying steps and avoid detail of how steps are per-
formed - this saves an enormous amount of time
Respect work schedules and job-related interruptions
Assume the role of fact finder - the people are the experts
Make sure people understand what you are doing and why they are
involved - because they are the experts

Document the facts

Note WHAT is done at each step
Note where the work is located at the start of the process and with each
transportation note where it goes
Note when the process begins and the amount of time with each delay as
well as any other time-consuming steps
Note who is doing the work each time the person doing the work changes
Avoid getting into detail of HOW it is done
Save WHY for analysis

Organize the facts with a process flow chart

Chart the items of the process as horizontal lines
Each item line begins with a LABEL for identification
Each work step is identified by a symbol that represents what happens to
the item at that point in the process
The symbols appear in sequence along the item lines

Why are We Gathering Facts?

The first question that must be answered before we set out to gather facts is,
Why are we doing this? What are we planning to do with these facts? Our
answer should be to improve the way we do our work so that we can use our
resources to provide better products and services. If we are looking to
change the way we do our work so that we can cut our staff (get rid of some of
our resources), we are destined for failure.

It is unfortunate that even in organizations that have never used innovation to cut
staff and have no intention of doing so, fact gathering presents a threat. Fact
gathering is usually required in the early stages of major work improvement
projects. Strangers appear in the work areas asking questions about proce-
dures. Too often this is how employees first get wind that an improvement

6
project exists. New employees dont know the organizations history. Employees
may suspect that new executives will do things differently. Employees know that
many other companies are cutting. The newspapers are full of it. There is
always a first time.

Fact gathering implies changing work methods. This threatens employee liveli-
hood. Employees whose jobs are under study are likely to become anxious.
Their anxieties will be increased if there have been announcements or rumors of
staff reduction. These anxieties may prompt employees to interfere with the
project by distorting or withholding data and attempting to discredit the project.
Or, worse yet, some of the best employees may suddenly quit and go elsewhere.

There is a simple way to avoid these problems. Dont enter into work improve-
ment with the objective of cutting staff. Instead, direct improvement at providing
the best products and services by using the best work methods. The focus is on
the work, not the people. People are a resource to be utilized, not an expense to
be cut. Work methods that waste their time will be changed. Work methods that
better utilize their time will be incorporated. Make sure the employees under-
stand this!

How to Initiate Fact Gathering

Public Announcement
A public announcement can go a long way toward inspiring cooperation. It can
also forestall the anxieties discussed in Why are We Gathering Facts?. The
people working in the areas affected by the project are informed that a five or ten
minute meeting will be held at the end of a work shift and that a senior executive
has an important announcement. (This senior executive should be a person
whose authority spans the entire project.)

The meeting includes an announcement of the project, its objective, who is

involved in it, a request for the support of all employees and an invitation for
questions. It is conducted by the executive mentioned above because it is
important that statements about the intent of the project be made by someone
who has the authority to stand behind his or her words. It is also helpful for the
executive to introduce the analyst and the team members who have been as-
signed to the project.
The issue of staff cuts may be introduced by the executive or may surface as a
question. (Or, it may not arise at all in organizations where loss of employment
is a non-issue.) If it is addressed, it should be answered directly and forcefully.
I guarantee there will be no loss of employment because of work improvement.

7
This is not a difficult guarantee for executives who genuinely believe that their
people are their most valuable resource. (Note, this is not a guarantee that there
will be no loss of employment. If we go long enough without improving our work,
it is pretty certain that there will be loss of employment.)
This meeting can also have constructive side effects. One is that the analyst
gets a public introduction to the people from whom he or she will be gathering
data. Simultaneously, everyone is informed of the reason for the project, making
it unnecessary for the analyst to explain this at each interview. And, the explana-
tion carries the assurances of the boss rather than an analyst.

Common Sense Protocol

Where to Get the Facts
It is critical that the analyst go where the facts are to learn about them. This
means going where the work is done and learning from the people who are doing
it. If there are a number of people doing the same work, one who is particularly
knowledgeable should be selected or several may be interviewed.

Whenever an analyst settles for collecting data at a distance from reality the
quality of the analysis suffers. Guesses replace facts. Fantasy replaces reality.
Where the differences are small the analyst may slide by, but professionals
should not look to slide by. Where the differences are large the analyst may be
seriously embarrassed when the facts surface. Meanwhile, the quality of the
work suffers and in the worst cases major commitments to work methods are
made, based on faulty premises.

Introduction to the Employee at the Workplace

When we are gathering data, everywhere we go people are accommodating us,
interrupting their work to help us do our work. The least we can do is show that
we are willing to return the favor. One way of doing this is to make sure that the
time of the interview is convenient for the employee. If it is not, agree to come
back later. Occasionally an employee will suggest that it is an inconvenient time
and ask that we come back later. Sometimes, however, the employee is seri-
ously inconvenienced but for some reason does not speak up about it. A sensi-
tive analyst may notice this. To be on the safe side it helps to ask, Is this a
convenient time?

Coming back later is usually a minor problem. Typically you have a number of
places to visit. Pick a more convenient time and return. Dont be surprised if the
employee appreciates it and is waiting for you with materials set out when you
return.

8
Whatever you do, dont start suspecting that every time a person puts you off
that person is trying to scuttle your work or is a bad actor. Assume the person is
honestly inconvenienced and simply come back later. If someone puts you off
repeatedly, it is still a minor inconvenience as long as you have data to collect
elsewhere. Give the employees the benefit of the doubt, knowing that every time
you accommodate them their debt to you grows. If you do in fact run into a bad
actor and eventually have to impose a time, it is nice to be able to remind that
person of how many times you have rescheduled for his or her benefit. At such
times you will also appreciate the project-announcement meeting when the
senior executive described the importance of the project and asked for their
support.

As you are about to start the interview, dont be surprised if the employee brings
up a subject for idle conversation such as the weather, a sports event, a new
building renovation, etc. People often do this when they first meet in order to
size up one another (on a subject that doesnt matter) before opening up on
subjects that are important. Since the purpose, on the part of the employee, is to
find out what we are like we will do well to join in the conversation politely and
respectfully. Then when it has continued for an appropriate amount of time, shift
to the subject of the interview, perhaps with a comment about not wanting to take
up too much of the employees time.

Respect
Most of the time analysts gather data from people at the operating levels who
happen to be junior in status, file clerks, messengers, data entry clerks, etc. Be
careful not to act superior. One thing we can do to help with this is to set in our
minds that wherever we gather data we are talking to the top authority in the
organization. After all, if the top authority on filing in the organization is the CEO,
the organization has serious trouble. Dont treat this subject lightly. We receive
a good deal of conditioning to treat people in superior positions with special
respect. Unfortunately, the flip side of this conditioning leads to treating people in
lesser positions with less respect.

Unintentionally, analysts frequently show disrespect for operating employees by

implying that the way they do their work is foolish. The analyst is usually eager
to discover opportunities for improvement. When something appears awkward or
unnecessarily time-consuming the analyst is likely to frown or smile, etc. In
various ways the analyst suggests criticism or even ridicule of the way the work
is being done. The bottom line is that the analyst, with only a few minutes ob-
serving the work is implying that he or she knows how to do it better than a
person who has been doing it for years. This is unacceptable behavior. Dont do
9
it! Go to people to find out what is happening, not to judge what is happening.
First get the facts. Later we can search out better ways and invite knowledge-
able operating people to join us in that effort.

Recording Technique
Recording Data
The keys to effective data recording are a respect for facts and knowing how to
look for them. You do not go into data collection with a preconceived notion of
the design of the final procedure. You let the facts tell you what shape the
procedure should take. But, you must be able to find facts and know how to
record them. This is done by breaking down the procedure into steps and listing
them in proper sequence, without leaving things out. The analyst keeps his or
her attention on the subject being charted, follows its flow, step by step, and is
not distracted by other subjects that could easily lead off onto tangents. The
analyst becomes immersed in the data collection, one flow at a time and one
step at a time.

Record what is actually happening, not what should happen or could happen.
Record without a preference. Let the facts speak for themselves. When you
have them neatly organized and present them for study they will assert their
authority as they tell their story.

The Authority of the Facts

There are two authority systems in every organization. One is a social authority
set up for the convenience of arranging people and desks and telephones,
dividing up the work and making decisions when there are differences of opinion.
The other authority system is reality itself. Too often the former is revered and
feared and attended to constantly, while the latter is attended to when time
permits.

Yet, whether we come to grips with the facts or not, they enforce themselves with
an unyielding will of steel. Reality is - whether we are in touch with it or not.
And, it is indifferent to us. It is not hurt when we ignore it. It is not pleased or
flattered or thankful when we discover it. Reality simply does not care, but it
enforces its will continuously.

We are the ones who care. We care when reality rewards us. We care when
reality crushes us. The better we are able to organize our methods of work in
harmony with reality, the more we prosper. When we deny reality or are unable
to discover it, we are hurt. Period!

10
So we enter into data collection with respect for reality. We demonstrate respect
for the people who are closest to reality, who can offer us a glimpse of it. And,
then we do our best to carefully record the unvarnished truth.

Observation
A person who has been doing a job for years will have an understanding of the
work that goes well beyond his or her ability to describe it. Dont expect operat-
ing people to describe perfectly and dont credit yourself with hearing perfectly.
Sometimes it is a lot easier for a person to show you what he or she does than to
describe it. And, a demonstration may save a good deal of time. A person might
be able to show you how the task is done in minutes but could talk about it for
hours.

Most people are able to speak more comfortably to a human being than to a
machine. Furthermore, a tape recorder doesnt capture what is seen. If you are
going to use a tape recorder, use it after you have left the interview site. It can
help you to capture a lot of detail while it is fresh in your mind without causing the
employee to be ill at ease.

Level of Detail
If you try to gather enough information so that you can redesign the procedure
without having to get help from experienced employees you will need to collect
enormous amounts of data and your project will be interminably delayed. For
instance, if you are studying a procedure that crosses five desks and the five
people who do the work each have five years of experience, together they have a
quarter of a century of first-hand experience. There is no way that an analyst, no
matter how skilled, can match that experience by interviewing. No matter how
many times you go back there will still be new things coming up. Then if you
redesign the procedure based solely on your scanty information your results will
be deficient in the eyes of these more experienced people. It doesnt do any
good to complain that they didnt tell us about some of the details after we have
completed designing a defective procedure.

While the analyst cannot match the employees detailed knowledge of what
happens at their workplaces, it is not at all difficult to discover some things that
they are unaware of, things that involve multiple workplaces. Save yourself a lot
of time by not bothering to record the details of the individual steps and concen-
trate on the flow of the work. It goes here. They do this. It sits. It is copied.
This part goes there. That one goes to them. Etc. Never mind how they do the
different steps. Just note the steps in their proper sequence.

11
Then, when it comes time to analyze, you invite in those five people who bring
with them their twenty-five years of detailed experience. Viola! You have the big
picture (the flow of the work) and you have the detail (the experience). You have
all that you need to discover the opportunities that are there.

Defused Resentment
When people who have been doing work for years are ignored while their work is
being improved, there is a clear statement that their experience is not considered
of value. When this happens people tend to feel slighted. When the organization
pays consultants who have never done the work to come up with improvements,
this slight becomes an insult. When the consultants arrive at the workplace
trying to glean information from the employees so that they can use it to develop
their own answers, how do you expect the employees to react? Do you think
they will be enthusiastic about providing the best of their inside knowledge to
these consultants? Here, let me help you show my boss how much better you
can figure out my work than I can? Really!

We dont have to get into this kind of disagreeable competition. Instead we

honestly accept the cardinal principle of employee empowerment which is, The
person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way of
doing that job and therefore is the one person best fitted to improve it. Allan H.
Mogensen, 1901-1989, the father of Work Simplification.

By involving operating people in the improvement process you also reduce the
risk of getting distorted or misleading data from them. Their experience is
brought into improvement meetings, unaltered. If they get excited about helping
to develop the best possible process they will have little reason to distort or
withhold the data.

Discovering Instant Improvements

Dont grab the credit for Instant Improvements. During data collection, certain
opportunities for improvement surface immediately. Some of them are outstand-
ing. The analyst discovers, for instance, that records and reports are being
maintained that are destroyed without ever being used. Time-consuming dupli-
cation of unneeded records is found. Information is delivered through round-
about channels creating costly delays. The only reason these opportunities were
not discovered earlier by the employees is that the records had never been
followed through the several work areas. These instant improvements simply
werent visible from the limited perspective of one office. The people preparing
the reports had no idea that the people receiving them had no use for them and

12
were destroying them. The people processing redundant records had no idea
that other people were doing the same thing.

These discoveries can be clearly beneficial to the organization. However, they

can be devastating for the relationship between the analyst and the operating
employees. The problem lies in the fact that the analyst discovers them. This
may delude the analyst into believing that he or she is really capable of redesign-
ing the procedure without the help of the employees. After all, they have been
doing this work all these years and never made these discoveries. I found them
so quickly. I must be very bright.

Most people spend a great deal of their lives seeking confirmation of their worth.
When something like this presents itself an analyst is likely to treasure it. It
becomes a personal accomplishment. It is perceived as support for two judg-
ments, I am a lot better at this than those employees. and Employees in
general are not capable of seeing these kinds of things. Both of these judg-
ments are wrong. The credit goes to the fact that the analyst was the first person
with the opportunity to follow the records through their flow. If any one of those
employees had had a chance to do the same thing the odds are that the results
would have been the same.

The analyst is apt to alienate the employees if he or she grabs the credit for
these discoveries. If this prompts the analyst to proceed with the entire design of
the new procedure without the help of the employees he or she will be cut off
from hundreds of finer details, any one of which could seriously compromise the
effort.

Taking credit for these early discoveries is likely to alienate employees even if
they are invited into the improvement activity. For instance, it is not uncommon
for an analyst who is about to go over a new process chart with a group of users
to start by telling them about the discoveries made while preparing the chart.
This can appear very innocent, but the fact is, analysts do this in order to get the
credit for the discoveries before the team members have a chance to spot them.
The analyst knows very well that as soon as the employees see the chart those
discoveries will be obvious to them as well.

An analyst who realizes that the enthusiastic involvement of the team members
is much more important than the credit for one idea or another will want to keep
quiet about early discoveries until after the employees get a chance to study the
chart. In doing this, the analyst positions himself or herself to provide profes-
sional support to knowledgeable employees. Soon, they make these obvious
13
discoveries for themselves and this encourages them to become involved and
excited about the project. It makes it theirs. In the end the analyst shares the
credit for a successful project rather than grabbing the credit for the first few
ideas in a project that fails for lack of support.

How to Keep the Data Organized

One important characteristic of professional performance is the ability to work
effectively on many assignments simultaneously. Professionals have to be able
to leave a project frequently and pick it up again without losing ground. The keys
to doing this well are:

Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline

Working Quickly
Same Day Capture of Data

Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline

There is more professionalism in a well conceived set of file names and directo-
ries than there is in a wall full of certificates belonging to a disorganized person.
For that matter, a three-ring binder with some dividers may do more good than
another certificate.

A professional simply keeps track of the information that he or she gathers.

Perhaps the worst enemy of data organization is the tendency on the part of
intelligent people, who are for the moment intensely involved in some activity, to
assume that the clear picture of it that they have today will be available to them
tomorrow and a week later and months later. One way of avoiding this is to label
and assemble data as if it will be worked on by someone who has never seen it
before. Believe it or not, that person may turn out to be you.

A word about absentmindedness may be appropriate. When people are goal-

oriented and extremely busy they frequently find themselves looking for some-
thing they had just moments before. The reason is that when they put it down
their mind was on something else and they did not make a record of where they
put it. To find it again they must think back to the last time they used it and then
look around where they were at that time. Two things we can do to avoid this
are:

1. Develop the discipline of closure so that activities are wrapped up.

2. Select certain places to put tools and materials and do so consistently.

14
Working Quickly
An analyst should take notes quickly. Speed in recording is important in order to
keep up with the flow of information as the employee describes the work. It also
shortens the interview, making the interruption less burdensome to the em-
ployee, and it reduces the probability that something will come up that forces the
interview to be cut off. At the close of the interview it is a good idea to review the
notes with the employee, holding them in clear view for the employee to see and
then, of course, thank the employee for his or her help.

Skill in rapid note-taking can be developed over time. This does not mean that
we rush the interview. Quite the contrary. We address the person from whom
we are gathering information calmly and patiently. But, when we are actually
recording data we do it quickly and keep our attention on the person. For pro-
cess analysis data gathering, we dont have to write tedious sentences. The
charting technique provides us with a specialized shorthand (using the symbols
and conventions of process charting in rough form).

Same Day Capture of Data

The analyst then returns to his or her office with sketchy notes, hastily written.
These notes serve as reminders of what has been seen and heard. Their value
as reminders deteriorates rapidly. While the interview is fresh in mind these
notes can bring forth vivid recall. As time passes they lose this power. The
greatest memory loss usually occurs in the first 24 hours.

A simple rule for maximizing the value of these notes is to see that they are
carefully recorded in a form that is clear and legible, the same day as the inter-
view. The sooner after the interview this is done, the better. If this is postponed,
the quality of the results suffers. What was clear at the time of the interview
becomes vague or completely forgotten. Details are overlooked or mixed up.
Where the notes are not clear the analyst may resort to guessing about things
that were obvious a few days earlier. Or, to avoid the risk of guessing, the
analyst goes back to the employee for clarification. This causes further inconve-
nience to the employee and creates an unprofessional impression. We can help
ourselves, in this regard, by scheduling to keep the latter part of the work day
free for polishing up notes on days when we are collecting data.

15
16
 The Graham Process Charting Method
Graham Process Charting is the definitive tool for business process improve-
ment. Graham Process Charting provides a picture of the process with enough
detail to allow (and stimulate) common sense improvement ideas by the people
who do the work. By the people who do the work is the key. This methodol-
ogy has been successfully applied by thousands of organizations across the
United States, Canada and around the world for over fifty years. It has ac-
counted for BILLIONS of dollars in productivity improvement savings. The
reason this methodology has endured and been so successful is that it has put
the responsibility for making changes directly into the hands of the people who
should be making changes the people who, day in and day out, are actually
doing the work.

Why Prepare Process Charts

We prepare charts to improve our understanding of processes and, in turn, our
performance. Some of the advantages of well-prepared process charts are:

Visual rather than semantic.

Break down the process into steps, using symbols.
Steps are easy to understand.
Symbols are used consistently.
Complex connections and sequences are easily shown.
Any part of the process can be located immediately.

For comparison, consider the difference between looking at a map and reading a
narrative. The map is a single page. The narrative is a book. Each street drawn
on the map would require at least a paragraph in the book with a sentence
defining its start, another defining its end and others needed for each bend.
Some of these paragraphs would be many pages long.

Furthermore, each street intersection would require two footnotes cross-referenc-

ing the two paragraphs representing the two streets. Rivers and shorelines
would require extremely complex sentences. Writing this narrative would be
terribly time-consuming and the finished product would be next to incomprehen-
sible.

When an organization attempts to document its procedures using narrative

only the results are similar. To compound the problem the preparation is terribly
slow. When, or if, completed these narratives are often very costly and consider-

17
ably out-of-date. Sadly, even if they were completely up-to-date they would be of
little help because they are so hard to follow.

This is not a criticism of words. Words are powerful and we certainly use them
on our charts. However, we also use lines and symbols that not only save many
words, they also guide the reader through the complexities of the process con-
veying very easily things that words alone simply do not express.

To better understand the comparison between a narrative and a process chart

compare the following Form A Procedure which is written out carefully in narra-
tive form and then displayed in process chart form. Never mind that the proce-
dure is artificial and therefore of little consequence. It could just as well be a part
of a procedure for preparing medication, issuing a license, hiring a new em-
ployee, granting a loan, etc. The purpose of this exercise is only to illustrate the
relative ease of communicating by each method.

Be honest with yourself as you make this comparison. Read both as though the
procedure is very important and you must understand it. Even though you have
been reading narratives for years and may be looking at a process chart for the
first time in your life you should be able to see the advantages of the chart. By
the way, the narrative contains 333 words while the chart contains 81.

Finally, dont allow the apparent pettiness of the exercise to arouse general
feelings of dislike for red tape and impatience with detail. Ignoring the detail
does not make it go away. People die, justice fails and all manner of plans go
awry because we are overwhelmed with detail. We prepare charts in order to
understand and keep track of the detail and do a better job.

Narrative
Form A
Form A is found in the Pending File which is located in Department V. Clerk 1
removes Form A from the Pending File and uses it to write Form B.(1, see Form B)
Clerk 1 also uses Form A to check that Form B has been properly written and
when errors are found Clerk 1 corrects them.(2, See Form B) Clerk 1 then enters the
form number from Form B onto Form A.(3, see Form B) Form A is then carried by
Messenger 1 to Department W. Clerk 2 uses Form A to pull the matching copy
of Form C from the Form Number File.(4, see Form C) and attaches it to form A.(5, see Form
C)
Messenger 2 carries Form A, with Form C attached, to Department Z.
Form B
Form B is Written by Clerk 1 using Form A.(1, see Form A) Form B is checked against

18
Form A by Clerk 1 who corrects errors as necessary.(2, see Form A) Clerk 1 then
enters the number of Form B on Form A.(3, see Form A) Clerk 1 then sorts Form B by
region.
Form B, Northern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department X. Clerk
3 enters a date stamp on Form B.
Form B, Southern Region - Messenger 1 carries Form B to Department Y. Clerk
4 enters information from Form B in the Southern Region Log Book.(6, see Southern
Region Log Book)

Southern Region Log Book

On receipt of copies of Form B, Clerk 4 enters information from them in the
Southern Region Log Book.(6, see Form B, Southern Region)
Form C
Form C is found in the Form Number File in Department Y. Upon receipt of the
matching copy of Form A, Clerk 2 pulls Form C from file.(4, see Form A) Clerk 2 at-
taches Form C to Form A.(5, see Form A) Messenger 2 carries Form C, attached to
Form A, to Department Z.

Process Chart

Ease of Reading
Perhaps as you were reading you noticed what happened when it became
confusing. More than likely you had to back up and reread. With the narrative
you might reread over and over again and still find it confusing. With the chart,
as you glanced back the pieces seemed to fall into place. You were getting the
picture. A psychologist might tell you you were building a gestalt. The impor-
tant thing is that understanding comes much more easily with a chart than with a
narrative.
19
How to Prepare Process Charts
We Chart Horizontally
Large horizontal charts are much easier to draw and to display than large vertical
charts. Our charts are large because we often use them to guide discussions of
improvement groups. It is easier and more effective for team members to work
together with a large chart than with individual small charts. Even a very large
horizontal chart (20 or 30 feet long) can be displayed easily at eye level. A
vertical chart becomes awkward when it gets over 2 or 3 feet long. It has to be
cut into pieces. Sometimes we add notes connecting the lines at the bottom of
one page to the top of the next. Then the reader has to memorize these notes
and mentally put the chart back together. It would have been much easier if we
had simply turned the chart horizontal and left it together.

Even in drawing the chart, horizontal is easier. It is easier to move the hand from
side to side than up and down whether handling a template or a mouse. And, it
is easier to turn the head and shift the eyes horizontally. But, these are minor
side benefits. The important thing is that horizontal charts are easy for others to
read.

The Horizontal Lines

The horizontal lines on the charts represent physical items (documents, products,
parts, email, files, database records, reference books, fax pages...). Each item is
assigned a horizontal line that begins with a label (containing the item name) and
ends with a period (signifying we have charted all that we intend to cover, of that
item, on this chart). The key items of a process may be charted in their entirety,
from origination to final disposal.

20
The Symbols
The Eight Symbols Defined
Symbols representing the steps in the processing of an item are placed on the
lines. They appear in the sequence in which the steps occur, reading from left to
right. The symbols provide us with a set of categories for breaking the process
into common elements.

Transportation This symbol shows the movement of an item from one

work area to another.

Storage or Delay This symbol shows that the item is doing nothing,
sitting, for a period of time. This symbol usually accounts for most of
the processing time.

Inspection This symbol shows when an item is being checked to see if

it is correct.

Handling Operation This symbol shows operations that involve handling

the item but do not affect the information on the item.

Do Operation This symbol is used in a product flow rather than an

information flow and shows a physical change to the product.

Origination Operation This symbol is used to show the first time infor-
mation is entered on a item.

Add/Alter Operation This symbol is used each time information is

entered or changed on the item after the Origination.

Destroy Operation This symbol shows the destruction of an item.

21
The Mutually Exclusive Structure of the Symbols
The symbols were developed by process of elimination so that they are mutually
exclusive, comprehensive and universally applicable. These powerful advan-
tages account for the fact that they have been in use for many decades and are
used world-wide today. They provide us with a common language that helps us
discover many common-sense improvement opportunities.

In learning to work with these symbols it is helpful to understand their mutually

exclusive pattern. The following seven statements slice the world of work into
the eight categories represented by the symbols:

1. The arrow stands for movement. Therefore the other seven symbols are
stationary.

2. The triangle stands for nothing happening. Therefore we have six symbols
that are stationary, where something is happening.

3. Of those six stationary things that we do, one involves checking what we do.
The other five we call operations, which, by process of elimination, are doing
something at a work place other than checking work. The square stands for the
checking and the circles and the jagged line are the operations.

4. Of the five operations, three involve adding value to the items (physical
change) and two do not. The solid circle, bullseye and shaded circle involve
added value. The blank circle and the jagged line do not involve added value.

5. Of the three that add value, one, the solid circle adds value to a product by
physically changing it. The other two, the bullseye and the shaded circle add
value to an item (document, record, email...) by changing the information on it.

6. Of the two that involve changing the information on an item, one, the bullseye,
represents the first time we enter information. Therefore the other, the shaded
circle, represents all of the subsequent times that information is added to or
altered on the item throughout its life.

7. Of the two that do not affect the information, one, the jagged line, represents
the destruction of the item. Therefore the other, the blank circle, represents all
operations that do not add value except for destruction.

22
 Moving Stationary
1

Nothing Happening Something Happening

2

Checking Doing
3

Adding Value Not Adding Value

4

Physically Change Product Change Information on Item

5

First Information on Item Change Information after First Time

6

Does Not Add Value or Destroy Destroy

7

The Origination and Destroy Operations are signficant in information processing

in that the Origination Operation identifies the introduction of new items into the
process and the Destroy Operation identifies the termination of existing items.

23
Making Process Charts Talk - The Grammar of
Charting
The purpose of charting is better understanding. The lines and symbols help
us to write short crisp sentences for every step in the process, that tell the
reader:
What is happening and what it is happening to.
Where it is happening.
When it is happening.
Who is doing it, if there is a person involved.
We dont get the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it is done.
We dont get the reader tangled up in opinions as to WHY we should
or should not do it.

Here is how we write those sentences.

The Subjects (Names - Labels)

The lines on our charts represent items. The items are the subjects of sen-
tences. Since every line begins with a label (a rectangle) that contains the
document name, we already have the subjects for all of our sentences as soon
as we have the chart properly labeled.

Labeling is, therefore, very important. Make sure that every line on your chart
begins with a label, regardless of how few symbols there may be on that line.
Once your chart is properly labeled all the reader has to do to find the subject is
trace back along the line to the label. Voila!

Labeling gives us a powerful method of sorting out subjects. Keep your presen-

tation clear and unambiguous with good labeling.

24
The Verbs (Actions - Symbols)
The symbols represent actions and therefore provide us with a short list of action
verbs. Because the symbols were developed by process of elimination they
cover everything that can happen to a document. Therefore, they provide us
with a very powerful list; in effect a full language, a common language for de-
scribing processes.

Because the items involved in our process are the subjects of our sentences our
sentences are passive rather than active. (The actions described by the verbs
are happening to these subjects rather than stating what the subjects are doing.)
This sentence structure is generally avoided as a matter of literary style but we
are not creating literature, we are telling people how items are processed. To
make our sentences active we would use the person who is performing the
action as the subject of each sentence. This, unfortunately, would tend to put the
people under study rather than the process and we will be better off not to do
that.

Each symbol has its own implied meaning. These meanings are rather broad
and we can sharpen them by supporting them with more specific verbs, as
shown on the next page.

25
SYMBOL IMPLIED VERB ALTERNATIVE, MORE SPECIFIC VERBS

Do The implied meaning is too general. Indicate

the type of action with verbs: painted, milled,
drilled, cut, assembled.

Originate Printed, filled in, written, completed. To be

more specific indicate which entries are
made: filled in heading.

Add to It helps to indicate the specific entries:

or Alter signed, initialed, entered quantities, deleted
back orders.

Handle The implied meaning is too general. Indicate

the type of handling with verbs: sorted, filed,
assembled, removed, separated, placed in
jig, removed from lathe.

Destroy The implied meaning is already specific. It

may be made more specific by stating how it
is destroyed: shredded, trashed, burned.

Inspect The verb Checked is often used. More

specific types of inspection include: verified,
edited, proofread, tested.

Store or Verbs such as: sits, waits, held are effective.

Delay

Move or The implied meaning of the arrow is often

Transport sufficient and no verb is used. More specific
verbs indicate how the document is moved:
couriered, hand-carried, mailed.

26
Completing The Sentences
By using the labels and symbols we have constructed rudimentary sentences for
each step in the process. We have unambiguous subjects and clear-action
verbs. To complete these sentences we use a technique passed down among
students of journalism for generations. It is a very powerful technique that as-
sures the journalist of writing a story that satisfies the curiosity of the reader. It is
done by answering the six basic questions that form the framework of analysis,
WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHO, HOW AND WHY.

We have adapted this technique to the unique communicating needs of process

charting as follows:

WHAT (Answer this question at every step)

This is the broadest of the six questions and with process analysis it is the most
important. Fortunately, the labels and the symbols cover this question. If we
have followed the guidelines on the previous page, this question is well an-
swered.

WHERE (Answer at the first step of the chart and at each arrow.)
The question WHERE addresses location, as does the arrow symbol. If we tell
the reader where we are at the beginning of the process as well as each time the
location changes, location will be easy to determine for every step of the chart.
All the reader needs to do to find the location is to trace back to the last move-
ment. Obviously, if we havent moved since then we must still be there.

WHEN (Answer at every triangle and other time-consuming steps) The

question WHEN deals with time. When studying processes the time we are
interested in is really HOW LONG. We can answer this thoroughly by indicating
next to each step how long it takes. The reader can then accumulate these
times along the lines to determine how long it takes to get from any one step to
any other.

Since the vast majority of the processing time occurs at the triangles (storages
and delays), we can cut back on this effort by answering the question WHEN
only with the triangles. We will have accounted for the majority of the processing
time. Then if we use good judgement and enter processing times on the non-
storage steps that are most time-consuming, ignoring those that require trivial
amounts of time, we will have the question WHEN well answered.

27
In addition to noting the approximate amount of time consumed by each triangle
it is sometimes useful to indicate the condition or conditions which cause the
storage to end. (e.g. Sits until receipt of Deed, Waits until Examination is Com-
pleted.)

WHO (Do not emphasize. Introduce the players as they appear)

It is important to focus the studies on the processes rather than on people. The
object is to study the way we do things and put improved procedures into the
hands of people. We are not studying people and we do not want to create the
impression that our study is a criticism of people.

An effective way of handling the question WHO is to name the person

doing the work each time the person performing a step changes. Then leave the
person as understood until a different person takes over. This not only reduces
the emphasis on the people, it also avoids repetition in our descriptions that can
be time-consuming and aggravating for the readers.

Here is an example. Consecutive steps in a process might read, Filled out by

the admissions clerk, carried to the records office by the admissions clerk, file set
attached by the admissions clerk, placed in the pending tray by the admissions
clerk.) This scenario is covered just as well if the phrase by the admissions
clerk appears only with the first step. If we follow this pattern consistently the
reader can always find out who the person is by tracing back along the line to the
last person named.

HOW (Answer infrequently and then, briefly)

To prepare effective process charts we need to avoid getting caught up in end-
less detail. One of the places where this is apt to occur is with the question
HOW. For instance, it could lead us into long discussions of the skills involved in
figuring out what to enter on a form. Years of study and experience may go into
making proper entries on forms, legal studies, medical studies, engineering
studies, actuarial studies, accountancy, etc. All we need to show on our chart is
that the entry was made. When it comes time to improve the procedure we will
need to know more of the details but they should not encumber the chart.

We can prepare our charts much more quickly by ignoring this detail. It will be
supplied during the improvement meetings by people who are experienced at
doing the work. The quality of the detail that they can provide will exceed, many
fold, what we could put on our charts, regardless of how long we might work at
preparing them.

28
For instance, if a process involves 5 or 6 work areas and we invite a person from
each area who has 5 or 6 years of experience with that work we capture a quar-
ter of a century or more of first-hand experience simply by inviting them to work
with us. We could try to match their experience by questioning them and writing
out what we learn. We would assemble reams of material, undoubtedly laced
with errors stemming from the difference between what we were told and what
we thought we heard. We would still have gained only a superficial understand-
ing by comparison with what we get through the simple expedient of asking the
right people to join us in improvement.

We can avoid getting caught up in this futile effort at matching the skills of many
experts by simply staying off the subject of HOW. A general rule which helps us
to do this is to mention HOW only if it can be done in two or three words as
follows:

Filled in by hand
Count entered in ink
Filed by date
Inspected against Std.#2080A

WHY (Do not answer on the Chart)

On the chart, stick to the facts and save the WHY for analysis. Charts are more
objective without reasons. When we analyze them we test the reasons rigor-
ously and often find that the reasons that are normally assumed are not valid.

29
Summary of Chart Grammar
By adding just a few (usually two or three) words to each symbol we have written
surprisingly complete sentences. Our subjects are clear, our verbs simple and
the story is well told. We have given the reader:

WHAT is happening,
WHAT it is happening to,
WHERE it is happening,
and WHO is doing the work if there is a person involved.
We have avoided getting the reader bogged down in the detail of HOW it is done
and opinions as to WHY it should or should not be done.

30
Conventions
Conventions are the conventional ways of drawing the lines that connect the
symbols. If a process requires only one item and it is always processed with the
same steps, it can be charted with a single line. We need only to label the line,
list the steps in sequence and add appropriate words. However, very few pro-
cesses are completed with a single item and even single items are not always
processed the same way. Therefore, we need multiple lines for multiple
items and for alternative processing of a single item.

There are three conventional ways of charting three conditions which occur
repeatedly with multiple items. They are: taking items apart, putting multiple
items together and using one item to supply information in order to do something
to another item. We refer to these conventions as an Opening Bracket (Sepa-
rate), Closing Bracket (Combine) and Effect.

Opening Bracket
When documents are separated we draw a bracket opening from the left, fol-
lowed by labels identifying the separated documents.

Closing Bracket
When items are combined we draw a bracket, closing to the right.

31
Effect
When one item is used to supply information in order to do something to another
item we draw an Effect -- a Vee or an inverted Vee pointing from the source item
to the affected item. At the point of the Vee there will always be a symbol that
shows what is being done to the affected item. Some examples of effects are:

Information is copied from the source item onto the affected item. This
may be the first time information has been entered on the item, in which
case the symbol at the point of the Vee will be an Origination, or we may
be adding information to an existing item, in which case we use the
shaded circle.

Information on the source item is used to check information on the af-

fected item.

Information on the source item is used to select the affected item.

32
Alternative Processing of a Document
There are three conventional ways of charting alternative process flows that
occur repeatedly in the charting process. They are:

Branching into sub-routines for handling normal variations in the process

flow.
Branching into sub-routines for errors.
Returning from a sub-routine to the standard flow.

We refer to these conventions as:

Alternative
Correction/Rejection
Rejoin (and if it involves looping back in a process it will also include
Connector Labels)

Alternatives & Rejoins

There are many conditions that cause flow lines to branch. Purchase orders
involving millions of dollars may require much more complicated processing than
those involving small amounts. Receiving tickets for office supplies are likely to
be processed by different people than receiving tickets for factory supplies and
they process them altogether differently.

But these obvious differences just scratch the surface. The more closely we
become involved in actual processes the more variations we discover. We find
that all receiving tickets for office supplies are not processed in the same way.
Receiving tickets for equipment are reviewed differently from those for supplies.
If the supplies are replacement parts they are processed a little differently. If
they were purchased from a particular supplier with whom we have a contract the
treatment is a little different again. Or they may involve international customs, or
partial shipments, or rentals, COD, demurrage, consignment, etc.

Understanding these variations is often what distinguishes the most effective

employees. They have learned the ropes. If we prepare our charts well they
will include the ropes and help all of our employees to understand them and to
be more effective.

When we are charting alternatives we always have at least two paths, but there
are often more. Since the paths all involve items that are correct they are all
charted with solid lines. Generally, we think of the most common branch as

33
the main line and chart it straight ahead. Then, the less common alternatives
branch up and/or down. (It may be helpful to think of the alternative convention
as a fork in the road and there will be as many tines in the fork as there are
alternative routes for the items.) Sometimes alternative paths rejoin. Some-
times alternative paths do not rejoin. Alternative paths do not loop back-
ward.

Here are some examples.

A police officer routes an arrest report.

An office supervisor sorts sales inquiries.

34
A cashier accepts payment in cash or by check.

A claims adjuster puts a special note on an international claim.

Correction/Rejection, Rejoin and Connector Label

Whenever an inspection symbol appears on the chart there should be some
indication of how the items that fail the inspection are processed. What do we do
about the errors that is different from what we do with the others?

When we are charting error-processing we almost always have two paths (unless
the incorrect items are immediately corrected), one for the correct items and the
other for those with the errors. We chart those that are correct straight ahead
and branch off the line for those with errors. We use a solid line for those that
are correct and a dotted line for those in error. Where errors are corrected the
lines rejoin but where errors are rejected they do not. And, finally, errors may
result in looping backward to repeat portions of a process.

Here are several examples.

A document, found to be in error, is set aside and later corrected. We

chart the steps for the correct documents straight ahead on the line we
have been using. We chart the steps for the incorrect documents along a
dotted line that branches up or down from that line. At the point where

35
 these lines separate we place a decision point -- a small solid circle.
Once the steps needed for correction are completed and the document is
ready for normal processing, the lines rejoin.

Documents with errors are sent to another department to be cor-

rected. Once again the steps taken with those that are incorrect are not
the same as with those that are correct. Once again we need two lines, a
solid, straight line for those without errors and a dotted line branching up
or down for those that contain errors.

A person doing an inspection simply corrects the errors as they are

found. The flow is not altered except that there is a correction step for
those with errors which is not required by those without errors. It is not
necessary to show the correction on a separate dotted line and we may
choose to ignore the correction step altogether. We can indicate what is
happening in the description next to the symbol and this should be clear
to people reading our chart.

However, we may want to call attention to the correction step because

it is particularly time-consuming or for some other reason. We can chart
a correction routine as follows:

36
 A credit clerk rejects an application and returns it to the field represen-
tative. In this case the dotted line does not return to the OK line. It
simply terminates, although we may chart a number of steps before the
line is ended.

An engineer returns a drawing to the drafting department for rework

that involves repeating a sizeable portion of the process that is already
charted. We use a Connector label with grid-coordinates and a Target
Connector name that direct the reader to a Target Connector earlier on
the chart where the process will re-start.

A supervisor asks for a re-write of a report. It is to be returned to the

supervisor for a final check after the correction has been made.

In each of these cases we have shown what happens to documents found to be

in error. The decision points and the dotted lines make it easy to find and follow
the correction routines. Notice that there is text located next to each of the
lines, after the decision point, to identify the lines. The Rejoin leads the
reader back to the main flow after the correction and the Connector label pro-
vides us with a great deal of flexibility where processes loop back.
37
Determining How Much to Include on a Chart
Because we chart in detail it is unrealistic to attempt to cover all of the items that
appear on our charts from their originations to their final dispositions. That would
be somewhat like trying to draw a local street map that follows all roads as far as
they go. Each local street map would become a map of a continent.

We prepare local street maps by deciding on the area we would like to cover on
one particular map and ignoring what lies beyond. We do the same thing
when we draw process charts. We select a process to chart, record what is
central to that particular process and ignore what is less relevant. This is not
always completely obvious. Sometimes relevance seems to be a matter of
degree. But as we work at it we find there is a rationale to it that makes sense,
as follows:

We receive many documents from other organizations. Customers send

us orders. Vendors send us bills. Transportation carriers send us ship-
ping manifests. Rarely will we chart what happened to these documents
before they got to us.

Also, note the Price Tag and the Customer ID in the Sales Process
illustrated on page 43. The prior processing of those documents is not
relevant to this Sales Process.

38
 We are charting a procedure in which our company is required to submit
information to a government office. It would be unlikely that we would
chart what the government office does with those records, although at
times we might be curious. We simply end the line at the point where the
information leaves our offices.

Again note the Sales Slip on page 43. We are not concerned with what
the customer does with it after the sale.

The same thing happens with items that are prepared and processed completely
within our own offices. For instance, our hiring processes affect payroll records,
insurance records, health records, etc. When we chart the hiring process there
is no need to include all of the processes that are touched by the hiring process.

If we had a compulsive urge to follow every record to its end we would be in

trouble. We could start out charting a hiring process and find ourselves charting
payroll processes. We then find that the payroll processes get involved with
production records. The production records flow into inventory records. The
Inventory records are reduced by sales records. That compulsive urge can turn
each project into a study of the entire organization. Rather than getting into all of
those areas, we chart the hiring process by focusing on the key hiring records
only. We chart them thoroughly, avoiding tangents.

39
Connector Labels
Because we cannot follow all items, many appear only briefly on our charts.
Since we have little interest in what happened to them before we received them
or after we sent them on, we build no records of those portions of the processes.
As our charting activities mature we accumulate libraries of processes. Eventu-
ally we find that lines that run off one chart can be found on another. To help
readers follow a document from one chart to another we use chart Connectors.

We place a Connector label after the last symbol on the chart that the document
is leaving. It contains the name of the chart where further processing can be
found and the grid coordinates on that chart where this document will first ap-
pear.

We place a Target Connector label before the label on the chart into which the
item has entered. It contains an identifier name that corresponds to the Goto
Connector on the chart from which the item came.

40
Stop/Start Convention
In most of the places where we show a part of the flow of a document the miss-
ing data are at the begining or the end of the flow line. They are the equivalent to
roads which run off the edge of the map. However, there are times when there is
a portion of a process that we choose not to chart that is in the middle of a flow.
In these cases we use a Stop/Start convention as follows:

We are charting an automobile insurance application and our process

includes sending a request for information to the Motor Vehicle Bureau.
In this case we are interested in the processing prior to and after sending
the request, so we would use a Stop/Start convention and put a few
words in the Stop/Start to indicate what happened in the portion of the
process that we are not charting.

Conclusion
These are charting basics. Work with them. Become comfortable with them
and you will be able to chart anything in the world of information processing.

As you use your charts with teams you will find that the care that you have taken
in preparing your charts will make them easy for others to follow. They are far
easier to read than to prepare. Team members will see how their own work
affects and is affected by the work of others and opportunities for improvement
will become apparent. Sometimes ideas seem to leap off the charts.

You can raise the level of process understanding and the level of cooperation
within your organization. You can help your people to discover and bring about
improvements. You can be a part of raising the level of process mastery in your
organization.

41
42
 Working With Employee Teams
Who Should be Included
Team members should represent all of the areas that are affected by the process
under study.

When choosing team members, firsthand experience should be the top priority.

Dont underestimate the value of experience. It is accumulated imperceptibly and

tends to be taken for granted. Yet, it is a vast resource, not to be squandered.

For instance: Cab drivers routinely learn the streets of enormous cities, the many
locations of traffic snarls, including unique features of each one, timing of factory
and office hours, theaters, sports events, effects of weather, alternative routes,
even the timing of the stop lights, bus and subway schedules, hotel check-in and
check-out patterns, etc. They generally keep current on recent traffic changes,
construction, etc. And, they learn how to work a dispatching system, how to keep
their vehicle operating and in the best place at the right time. They learn about
different customers too, individual customers, groups of customers, danger signs
with customers, crimes specific to their business, police enforcement and very
much more.

This is not some young person who started driving yesterday. This is that same
person several years of cabbing later.

And cab drivers are by no means the epitome of experience in our society. There
is an equivalent to learning the streets of a city in jobs of inventory control, pro-
cessing insurance claims, nursing, time-keeping, coordinating research projects,
shipping and receiving, processing sales orders, air traffic control, accounts
payable, building maintenance, pricing, loan processing, licensing, etc.

There are people with different but equally appropriate and necessary experience
working throughout our organizations. They are the principal reason organiza-
tions get things done.

Find those people and you have found the most important ingredient needed for
developing procedures that make sense.

When there are several people who have first-hand experience with the same

43
tasks chose the one who is the most knowledgeable.
More on this choice: Do not choose a person because he or she can be easily
spared. The goal is to build the best possible experience into the process.

Dont ignore first-hand experience because of a notion that people with experi-
ence get so used to the way things are done that they cant view their work
creatively. It is far easier to get experienced people to view their work creatively,
with fresh eyes than to provide experience (as described above, equivalent to
knowing a city) to people who have fresh eyes from seeing the work for the first
time. Both experience and fresh eyes are needed to create process improve-
ments that will work.

If you want people on the team who do not have first-hand experience, include
them in addition to first-string veterans. Do not accept process revisions until
they make sense to and have the support of these, your best operating people.
The fact that these people may be tough to satisfy makes the revisions all the
better.

Specialized Systems Skills

Where specialized skills involving systems technology (imaging, LANS, program-
ming changes, etc.) are required, team members who have experience in those
areas should be included.

Team members with operating experience and those with systems experience
serve on a team as equals.

All team members must keep the priority of developing a best procedure ahead of
any desire to be involved with impressive technology.

Team members from operations should not become enamored of technology and
abdicate their responsibility. When the new procedure is installed it must work
and their role is to see to it that operating needs are met.

Team members representing technology must act in a support role to operations.

Team members from operations should keep to their areas of experience, which
is their strength. They should only redesign the work of areas represented on the
team. If the project expands, bring in additional people at least while working with
the newly included areas.

Team members representing technology should keep to application, not advanc-

44
ing systems technology, while they are serving a team.

Confucius spoke to these issues 2,500 years ago:

Man can make system great, It isnt system that makes man great. and
The ancients never exaggerated for fear they would not live up to the lofty expec-
tations.

Organizing Experience
The more a person knows about a subject the harder it is to explain, particularly to
others who do not have the same in-depth experience.

Do not assume that a person who knows a great deal about a subject will:
Be able to articulate the subject.
Have ready answers for improving methods.

Assume only that operating experience will provide the understanding of condi-
tions needed to figure out the best answers.

Conversely, the less you know about something the easier it is to explain every-
thing you know.

Do not assume that an articulate and creative person unencumbered by experi-

ence will:
Know the necessary details.
Have answers that will work.

Do assume that if we organize our facts and our talents we have a chance of
coming up with procedures as good as our people, an accomplishment not often
found in bureaucracy.

When people ignore experience it is easier to assimilate the facts because there
are fewer of them. They are ignoring facts. Dont confuse ignoring facts with
organizing them. Facts do not cease to be relevant because we ignore them.

The role of the Graham Process Chart is to organize facts so that people who
have experience can work their way through the processes they share and
develop best solutions.

45
Team Member Roles
Team Leader
A team benefits from having a leader who:
Chairs the meetings.
Makes assignments.
Coordinates with other groups.

The team leader should be a person with first-hand experience from an area of
operations central to the process, who has the respect of the other team mem-
bers.

Team leaders are often chosen by the team members.

Consultant/Chart Preparer (Internal or External)

A Consultant (Internal or External) assigned to a team can do an excellent job of
preparing the Graham Process Charts. This can also be the same person who
serves as Recorder.

The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts must do this work in an
uninterrupted block of time. (For Instance: If a two day (16 hour) chart were
prepared by a person giving it one hour a day it would take considerably longer
than 16 days to prepare because of all the stopping and starting. A two day task
is completed in five or six weeks. Spending weeks to accomplish what could be
done in days destroys project momentum.)

The person who prepares the Graham Process Charts should be skilled at
charting but does not need to know the details of operations. (For Instance: You
do not have to know nuclear physics to record that the scientist initials the pro-
posal. You dont have to be a police officer to record that an officer completes the
arrest report.)

The person who prepares the charts will be the first to spot some obvious im-
provements but should refrain from suggesting them to the team until the team
members have had a chance to become thoroughly familiar with the chart and
make some of these discoveries for themselves (See Recording Techniques -
Discovering Instant Improvements).

If the team members discover the obvious for themselves the mystery of process

46
improvement disappears and you get an involved team. Once they are involved,
they can bring to bear on the process their wealth of intuitively available experi-
ence.

This tends to be an issue over who will get the credit for the ideas. This choice is
usually between getting all of the credit for a superficial and ineffective change, or
a share of the credit for a carefully thought through, well supported, successful
change. This is what teamwork is all about.

The person who prepares the charts can greatly facilitate the improvement effort
by recharting the process between meetings to reflect the ideas of the team. The
goal should be to hold meetings that require little time and generate large num-
bers of quality ideas.

Team Recorder
There should also be a person attending to the records of the team, who:
Records ideas as they come up so they wont be lost.
Records assignments.
Assembles documentation, copies of forms, reports, charts, etc.

Team Size
If, in order to represent the different areas of a procedure more than eight people
are needed, break the project into sub-projects.

When sub-projects are used, the team leaders of the sub-projects should meet
together periodically to coordinate their work.

Meeting Agendas
Improvement meetings involve:
Reviewing the current method.
Questioning the steps in sequence.
Generating ideas.

First eliminate the unnecessary.

Then make sure the necessary is done:

at the right time.
in the right place.
by the right person.
47
Meeting and Project Duration
Keep the meetings short and on the subject - one to two hours.

With a well-prepared chart and a team of the right people, three or four meetings
spaced over a week or two are sufficient to analyze most procedures.

More on the Right People: If you have the wrong people it doesnt matter how long
you have them. They will not have access to the detail that they need and as
soon as they start making assumptions (in order to complete the project) they will
begin to build in flaws.

Experienced people would not have made these mistakes. With the wrong
people you spend much more time and get inferior results.

Delay is an enemy.
Conditions that affect the procedure change. (i.e. market conditions, laws,
technology, etc.)
Team members are lost.
Managements priorities change.
Enthusiasm wanes.

Stay on schedule.

Dont try to design procedures that will be perfect for all time.

Do make things better than they have ever been, not by throwing everything out
and replacing with all new, but by keeping what is good and making specific
changes that are clearly better.

Then consider how it is done, which usually involves technology. Note, you
should not start with automating and risk automating unnecessary work or auto-
mating with bad timing and poor choices of location and staff.

Many improvements have the flavor of, We were planning to do something about
that, one of these days. One of these days finally arrives.

The best improvements are usually simple, surprisingly simple. They have a
feeling of good sense about them. Team members often feel a bit awkward that
they hadnt made the changes sooner.

48
It is easy for a team to get off on tangents. (i.e. Fantasizing sweeping solutions,
fretting over anticipated management reactions, drifting into areas beyond the
project scope, etc.) Use the chart to get the team back on the subject.

49
50
 Appendix A - Work Simplification Philosophy

What is Work Simplification?

Work Simplification is the organized application of common sense to eliminate
waste and find better and easier ways of doing work.

It is a work study process that puts easily understood tools and techniques into
the hands of employees and results in continuous improvement.

Work Simplification involves the entire organization - with corporate vision pro-
vided from the top down and operating solutions provided from the bottom up.

Work Simplification is a reality-based approach to conducting the conversation

of mankind through which each group continually passes on the best that it has
and the next group improves upon it.

Work Simplification rejects those approaches that stifle this conversation (ie.
approaches that encourage throwing out what we have and replacing it with all
new... often creating more problems than they cure).

Work Simplification recognizes that our strongest grip on reality is intuitive and
only available to those who have lived there.

Work Simplification is for rational adults who enjoy being alive, who accept that
all is not perfect and are willing to use their abilities to make life better.

Work Simplification is not for people with adolescent mentalities who think they
have all the answers before they have begun the study.

Work Simplification recognizes the work force as a resource to be treasured and

utilized rather than an expense to be shed at the first opportunity.

Work Simplification rejects making operating decisions at a distance from reality,

the standard practice in bureaucracy and the central thread of insanity.

Work Simplification recognizes that any time a less informed elite imposes its will
on people who are more informed the results will be wasteful and distasteful. It
does not matter if the elite is cognitive, ethnic, hereditary, religious, etc.

Work Simplification is a practical way of living that is consistent with the way
51
most decent people believe life should be lived but like nutrition and exercise, it
requires discipline.

Where is Work Simplification used?

It can be used wherever people would like to get more done, with better quality,
in less time.

It was first used extensively in manufacturing. It has also been used in farming,
mining, petrochemicals, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, transporta-
tion, retail, insurance, banking, food processing, public utilities, hospitals, univer-
sities, consulting, engineering and research, and in government at all levels -
city, county, state, and federal, military and civilian.

When is Work Simplification used?

It is used when people are willing to take the time for it. It is an organized tech-
nique for continuously adjusting and refining the way we do our work - a way of
life.

It was first used in the US and Canada over fifty years ago and has since made
its way around the world.

Who does Work Simplification?

It involves the people who have been doing, are doing and will continue to do the
work. When the tools of improvement are put into the hands of the people who
do the work they are able to find and install improvements quickly.

The person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way
of doing that job and is the one person best fitted to improve it.
Allan H. Mogensen - The founder of Work Simplification.

How is Work Simplification done?

1. Select a particular process to improve.

2. List the steps of the process, with attention to detail. This software helps
us to keep the data at the elemental level needed for realistic improve-
ment.

52
 3. Question the steps of the work and find opportunities to improve - Why,
What, Where, When, Who and How. (See Meeting Agendas, Working
with Project Teams)

Eliminate unnecessary steps

Combine steps
Smooth out the sequence of steps
Change who does them
Improve how they are done

4. Make sure that the people affected agree on the changes.

5. Do what has been figured out and agreed upon.

Why do we simplify work?

Sometimes we are pushed into simplification because of changing conditions:
competition, technology, regulation, etc. We have to improve.

But, we do not have to be pushed. We can improve by choice. We dont like to

waste time. We want to be proud of what we are doing. We improve so that we
and our organizations will be more successful.

Or, we improve simply because there is a better way. Work simplification in-
volves doing our best and for many responsible people there is no more reason
needed.

53
54
 Appendix B - A Brief History

Frank B. Gilbreth
On July 12th, 1885, a handsome
young, third generation New En-
glander rode Bostons Columbus
horsecar to his first job. Frank
Bunker Gilbreth was five days past
his seventeenth birthday, a high
school graduate, wearing a crisp new
pair of white, bricklayer overalls. He
had impressed a partner of the
Thomas J. Whidden Company,
contractors and builders, who offered
him an opportunity to learn the
business from the bottom up and
earn his way into partnership.

Frank had passed examinations for

entrance to MIT, but he decided
against university studies in favor of
this job. His university would be a
scaffold and his first professors
would be Tom Bowler, an Irish-
American, and George Eaton, a Nova Scotian, both, to use Franks words,
natural, rollicking, first-class human beings and top-notch journeyman
bricklayers.

On that scaffold, he gained an insight that transformed him into, perhaps, the
greatest contributor of all time to industrial productivity. First he saw that each
bricklayer used slightly different motions while accomplishing the same result.
Then he noticed that the motions they used when demonstrating were not the
same as those they used throughout the day. Later he saw different methods
being used for difficult parts of the wall, others when the worker was rushed, etc.

Instinctively, he sorted through these methods, looking for the best. In time, he
became an excellent bricklayer and developed a method that incorporated the
best he had seen plus new ideas of his own, including a bricklaying scaffold,
which he patented.

55
By the age of 22, Gilbreth had improved a five-thousand-year-old job and had
enabled bricklayers to lay brick faster with less effort and fatigue. On one par-
ticularly difficult type of wall, where the previous record had been 120 bricks per
hour, his methods allowed them to lay 350 bricks, an increase in productivity of
over 190%. This early success launched his lifelong search for the one best way
for doing any of the tasks of life; a search he shared with his psychology-trained
wife, Lillian, with their twelve children, with employees in his own company, and
eventually with leaders of industry, academia, professional groups, government
and mankind.

Frank Gilbreth was certainly not the first or only person to find a better way of
doing work, but he may have been the first to make that search the center of his
life and apply it to all aspects of living. He began with a single, highly successful
improvement, followed it with many more and eventually uncovered essential
secrets of how to improve.

Gilbreth developed a number of improvement tools that clearly display the facts
of work and make improvement opportunities obvious. These tools include the
flow process chart, therblig analysis, micro-motion study using motion pictures,
the chronocyclegraph using special lighting techniques with cameras, factory
layout modeling, measurement with predetermined times, and more.

56
Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth
Trained in Industrial Psychology, Dr. Lillian
Gilbreth brought an important human balance
to the engineering of process improvement.
She understood the importance of maintaining
excellence through continuous improvement.

We strive for the one best way, as of today.

Of course, that one best way changes with
time....Lillian M. Gilbreth

She also understood the delicate relationship

between employees and their work that
ranges from enthusiastic, responsible perfor-
mance through apathy to alienation. She
supported the views presented in this material
that call for employee involvement, continuous
improvement and proud, enthusiastic perfor-
mance.

When Frank Gilbreth died unexpectedly in 1924 he was scheduled to speak at

the first international management meeting to be held later that year in Prague,
Czechoslovakia. Lillian went to Prague, delivered his address and returned to
the U.S. to continue their work alone. She survived her husband by almost a half
century and during that time wrote several books, lectured at numerous universi-
ties and professional meetings and carried on a running conversation through the
mail with over 2000 people including leaders of nations, industry, academia and
numerous friends and family.

In spite of the fact that engineering at that time was almost exclusively a male
discipline, Lillian not only worked in the field but she earned the admiration and
respect of its leaders.

She continued the raising and educating of her eleven children (one had died
earlier of measles) and helped them all to complete college educations. The two
eldest, Ernestine and Frank Jr. later wrote two marvelous best sellers describing
their family, Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes.
When Allan Mogensen began the Work Simplification Conferences in the thirties,
they were based on Gilbreth material and Lillian was a major member of the
Conference staff. In 1944, Ben Graham, Sr. attended this conference and when

57
he adapted the material to the simplification of information processing, he main-
tained a close association with both Lillian and Mogensen. Lillian participated in
all of the twenty-one public workshops that he conducted. When Ben Sr. died in
1960 and the work was continued by Ben Jr., Lillian participated in all of the
workshops through 1966.

58
Allan H. Mogensen
I first met Allan Mogensen when I was a
teenager while my father was attending
his Work Simplification Conference at
Lake Placid, New York in 1944. I recall
him as a dynamic man, usually in the
center of a discussion or racing about in
his grey Mercedes.

I didnt see him again for years but I heard

of him often. My father was a member of
Mogys staff each summer at Lake Placid
and later, when my father started his
Paperwork Simplification Conferences
Mogy participated in them.

I next saw him in 1962. My father had

died in 1960 and I was continuing his
work. I was conducting a workshop in
Quebec when Mogy called asking to visit.
He flew up in his Navion and after observ-
ing a few sessions invited me to become
a member of his Lake Placid staff as my
father had been. Thus began a relation-
ship which has been extremely fulfilling.

I rode with him in his Mercedes and his

Navion, I listened to him deliver fiery
presentations to rapt audiences and I
joined him in discussions with workers
and with senior executives. And I found
that, even if he was simply walking from
one meeting to another at a convention,
he exuded enthusiasm.

Mogensen was still running the socks off

people half his age when he was in his
eighties. A good deal of the prosperity we
all enjoy today is here because of Mogy
and others inspired by him and in turn by
them.
59
When Mogys career began, dramatic increases were occurring in our American
productivity. Frederick Taylor had introduced careful scientific analysis of work.
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth increased the effectiveness of this analysis enormously
with an astounding assortment of analytical techniques which enabled people to
increase their output with reduced effort.

Mogy experienced the excitement of the awakening of scientific management.

He was in touch with fundamentals and the more he worked with them and
understood them, the more steadfast became his belief in them. He found that
when the techniques of work improvement were applied they often produced
resistance sufficient to kill the process. Since he knew the problem was not in
the techniques, he did not question them. Instead, he got at the resistance in a
much more direct and innovative way. He gave the techniques to the would be
resisters and let them see the benefits for themselves and share in the excite-
ment of creating the improvements. This was his unique contribution and it
distinguished work simplification from most traditional work improvement efforts.

By 1937, he had the process well enough organized to begin his Work Simplifica-
tion Conferences. Each year he carefully introduced a small number of people to
rigorous training and over the years hundreds carried a message back to their
companies. Some accomplished little, many returned the cost of their training
quickly and easily and some revolutionized their companies with previously
unimaginable productivity gains.

As the years passed Mogy and his work have been discovered and rediscovered
many times. An impressive list of authors, Erwin Schell, Douglas McGregor,
Peter Drucker, Ren Lickert, Chris Argyris, Warren Bennis, Tom Peters and Bob
Waterman have come across his handiwork. The last two discovered quite an
alumni group from Mogensens Work Simplification Conferences in the compa-
nies they termed excellent.

60
During this time the merit of Mogys work has also been recognized by several
professional societies. Today, three impressive awards are given periodically to
outstanding leaders in the field of productivity improvement. They are the Taylor
Key of the Society for the Advancement of Management, the Gilbreth Medal of
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Mogensen Bronze of the
Improvement Institute. Only two people have received more than one of these.
Art Spinanger, a Mogensen student, 1944, who built the Proctor and Gamble
program has received the Taylor Key and the Mogensen Bronze. Mogy alone
has received all three.

Ben S. Graham, Jr.

February 1989
1985 recipient of the Mogensen Bronze

____________________
* excerpted from the Preface of Mogy an Autobiography Father of Work Simplifi-
cation by Allan H. Mogensen with Rosario Zip Rausa. Idea Associates,
Chesapeake, VA. 1989. ISBN 0-9623050-0-6

61
Ben S. Graham
The Graham method of process chart-
ing was developed by Ben S. Graham,
Sr. (1900 - 1960)

He began his career in the Insurance

Industry and throughout his working life
he was involved with work that was
primarily information processing. In the
early forties he joined the Standard
Register Company where he directed
his talents towards analyzing the use of
forms in order to develop smooth
procedures and well designed forms
simultaneously. Then, in 1944 he
attended Allan Mogensens six-week
Work Simplification Conference in Lake
Placid, New York. There he learned the
outstanding techniques being used to
improve factory operations.

Immediately after that conference he adapted several of the factory work im-
provement techniques so that they could be used in the analysis of information
processing. He then made two films. One showed a series of clerical operations
as they had been done and as they were improved by applying principles of
motion economy. The other focused on workflow analysis and displayed his
newly developed method of Multi-Column Flow Process Charting the forerunner
of the Graham Process Charting Method.

Throughout the late forties and into the fifties he pressed this development work.
He developed the techniques of Recurring Data Analysis for displaying the
redundancy of entries in a procedure. He developed the Typewriter Analysis
Technique, a work measurement technique used for designing forms so that a
form currently in use could be redesigned and the savings to be gained from the
efficiency of the new form could be calculated. He also developed a similar
technique for speeding up computer output through form design.

62
During this time he wrote numerous articles describing these techniques and how
to use them. As he outlined their use, he continually emphasized the importance
of using the first-hand experience of the work force.

As more people began to hear about his work he received requests to conduct a
public conference covering these developments. In 1953 he conducted the first
of twenty-one public conferences held before his death in 1960. It covered all of
the techniques organized around an improvement excercise. Delegates drew
charts, designed forms, and applied the principles of motion economy in a hands-
on case study.

The following quote appeared in a letter written to his son in 1958. Participation
by the worker in developing the method eliminates many causes of resistance
and assures enthusiastic acceptance. This is more important than all the tech-
niques put together. If he were alive today he would undoubtedly be delighted
to see the development of the Graham Process Charting Software and even
more so, the increasing attention that many organizations are giving to the job
knowledge of their people.

63
Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr.
Ben Graham, Jr., was an intelligence
officer in the U.S. Air Force. He was
discharged at the end of the Korean
War, and with his fathers encourage-
ment, he completed masters studies to
prepare him to join in the family busi-
ness. When his father died in 1960, he
continued the work begun by Ben
Graham, Sr. For the next six years,
Lillian Gilbreth participated in Ben Jr.s
conferences and guided him. She died
in 1972, having continued her
husbands work for over forty years and
left a legacy of dignity, decency and
skill. Many people accomplished far
more in their lives because of her than
they would have otherwise. Ben Gra-
ham, Jr., who is one of them, has
trained scores of thousands of people
from over a thousand different organiza-
tions and continues to do so today.

Today, Dr. Ben S. Graham, Jr. is the president of the Ben Graham Corporation,
which has provided training and consulting services in methods and systems
improvement to over 1,000 client firms. He is also Chairman of the Ben Graham
Group that puts on workshops throughout Canada, and he is President of Work
Simplification Software, the company that produces Graham Process Charting
software. He is a leader in the field of office systems improvement and has
helped thousands of people make sense of their paperwork and adapt to elec-
tronic systems. He holds four university degrees; B.A. (with Phi Beta Kappa),
B.F.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Behavioral Science (awarded with distinction).

64
 Index
A Recording Technique 10
Authority of the Facts 10
Action Verbs 25 Defused Resentment 12
Alternative 33 Discipline 14
Discovering Instant Improvements 12
B Level of Detail 11
Bracket 31 Observation 11
Same Day Capture of Data 15
C Working Quickly 15
Respect 9
Connector 35, 40 Threat 6
Conventions 31. See also Process Charting Why? 6
Alternative 33 Firsthand Experience 43
Bracket 31
Correction 35 G
Effect 32
Rejection 35 Gilbreth, Dr. Lillian M. 57
Rejoins 33 Gilbreth, Frank B. 55
Stop/Start 41 Graham, Ben S., Sr. 3, 62
Correction 35 Graham, Dr. Ben S., Jr. 3, 61, 64
Graham Process Charting Method 17. See
D also Process Charting
Grammar of Charting 24
Data collection 10
Detail level 11 H
E How Much to Include 38
Effect 32 I
Employee Teams 43. See also Teams
Experience 43, 45 Instant Improvements 12

F L
Fact Gathering 5, 6 Labels 24
Announcement 7 Connector 35, 40
Guidelines 5
How to Initiate 7
M
Introduction to the Employee 8 Meetings 47, 49
Keep the Data Organized 14 Mogensen, Allan H. 3, 12, 52, 59
Protocol 8

65
N S
No loss of employment 7 Six Basic Questions 27
Specialized skills 44
O Stop/Start 41
Observation 5, 11 Symbols 21
Mutually Exclusive 22
P
T
Process Charting 17, 62
Advantages 17 Teams 43, 46
Conventions 31 Chart Preparer 46
Alternative 33 Consultant 46
Closing Bracket 31 Experience 43
Correction/Rejection 35 Meeting and Project Duration 48
Effect 32 Organizing Experience 45
Opening Bracket 31 Recorder 47
Rejoin 35 Roles 46
Stop/Start 41 Size 47
Ease of Reading 19 Specialized Systems Skills 44
Graham Process Charting Method 62 Team Leader 46
How Much to Include 38 Team Member Roles 46
Grammar 24 Who Should be Included 43
Horizontal 20 W
Labels 24
Multi-Column Flow 62 Work Simplification 51, 59
Symbols 21 Conference 59
Why Prepare Process Charts 17 Continuous Improvement 51
Project Announcement 7 Defined... 51
How is Work Simplification done? 52
R Philosophy 51
Recording Data 10 Who does Work Simplification? 52
Recording Technique 10 Why do we simplify work? 53
How to Record 10
Rejection 35
Rejoin 35
Rejoins 33
Resentment 12

66
67