Pig -- Part 1

One of the lessons of Lean is that if you standardize work, you not only reduce variation, but you improve the quality of the product or service. This is known to be true in the delivery of medical care, but it is often not practiced in hospitals. Instead, hospitals remain cottage industries, with each craftsperson (doctor) plying his or her craft (clinical care) on the basis of experience, intellect, and creativity rather than on the basis of scientific evidence. This leads, nationwide, to extension variation in practice patterns (and cost). More locally, it leads to greater potential for harm. What we need, instead, is a greater reliance on standardized practices in those portions of medical care than can and should be standardized -- still leaving to doctors their ability, creativity, and craftsmanship for those circumstances that truly demand those attributes.

This pig game demonstrates the value of standard work flows. It's fun and illustrative of the concept. Find some friends on whom you can experiment. We'll start with this posting in round one, and then rounds two and three follow below. First, prepare standard size pieces of paper with the grid shown above -- one per participant. (If you click on the picture of the grid, you will get an enlarged version you can print out on paper.)

Now, read the following instructions to your friends: You'll probably have to repeat the instructions.

1) Draw the side profile of a pig, centered on the page.
2) Make sure the pig's head is facing left.
3) The pig should be drawn large enough so that a piece of it is in every box EXCEPT the top right.
4) You have 2 minutes to draw your pig.

Now, have everyone show their pig drawing to everyone else. OK, go to round two, below.