Comments on: Reducing Medication Waste for VA Patients http://www.leanblog.org/2009/12/reducing-medication-waste-for-va-patients/ Mark Graban's leanblog.org - Lean Healthcare, Lean Thinking, Lean Manufacturing, Toyota Production System Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:01:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ankit Patel http://www.leanblog.org/2009/12/reducing-medication-waste-for-va-patients/#comment-6000 Ankit Patel Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:04:45 +0000 http://www.leanblog.org/?p=4126#comment-6000 Nice commentary Mark. Kevin, I like the crowd sourcing idea for Dell (I too am a former employee) and it worked well for the company. The reality is that crowd sourcing is great when you have people who know something bout what they are voting on. Consumers know what they want form their computers so Dell's IdeaStorm works well. If the online voting was completely open then I'm not sure if that's the best to pick. An alternative would be to get healthcare professionals to vote on the winners. Mark, I'm with you on the "hero" mentality. My hunch is that it stems from the American Psyche. We were a nation of individualists when we were first formed and continue to carry that spirit with us today (ala emphasis on personal responsibility). This is great in simpler cases but in complex operations with several participants it's the team that does the work not the individual. Ankit Nice commentary Mark.

Kevin,
I like the crowd sourcing idea for Dell (I too am a former employee) and it worked well for the company. The reality is that crowd sourcing is great when you have people who know something bout what they are voting on. Consumers know what they want form their computers so Dell’s IdeaStorm works well. If the online voting was completely open then I’m not sure if that’s the best to pick. An alternative would be to get healthcare professionals to vote on the winners.

Mark,
I’m with you on the “hero” mentality. My hunch is that it stems from the American Psyche. We were a nation of individualists when we were first formed and continue to carry that spirit with us today (ala emphasis on personal responsibility). This is great in simpler cases but in complex operations with several participants it’s the team that does the work not the individual.

Ankit

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]]> By: Kevin Rutkowski http://www.leanblog.org/2009/12/reducing-medication-waste-for-va-patients/#comment-5996 Kevin Rutkowski Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:27:41 +0000 http://www.leanblog.org/?p=4126#comment-5996 I guess I made a leap of faith. When I heard about the program, I assumed it was an ideastorm-like process because it accepted ideas from all employees and involved voting. However, I see no evidence of that process on the official site for the program: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/save/SaveAwardHomePage/ Thanks for clearing that up for me. I would like to see the government set up something like Ideastorm both internally and externally. Now, I just need to figure out how to get that idea heard! On a side note, I did find that Change.org ran an ideastorm-like contest earlier in the year, but their site is down now. In addition, there is a site called ideas.obamacto.org that seems to have some good ideas, but it is not sponsored by the government. Apparently, the site was built for only $75. http://pcworld.about.com/od/businesscenter/Web-Site-Collects-Ideas-for-Ob.htm Finally, I found a site with the ridiculous name of ohboyobama.com that is trying to do the same thing. However, ohboyobama.com demonstrates the need for a good moderator and a lot of publicity since every suggestion on that site is actually an ad. I guess I made a leap of faith. When I heard about the program, I assumed it was an ideastorm-like process because it accepted ideas from all employees and involved voting. However, I see no evidence of that process on the official site for the program: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/save/SaveAwardHomePage/

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I would like to see the government set up something like Ideastorm both internally and externally. Now, I just need to figure out how to get that idea heard!

On a side note, I did find that Change.org ran an ideastorm-like contest earlier in the year, but their site is down now. In addition, there is a site called ideas.obamacto.org that seems to have some good ideas, but it is not sponsored by the government. Apparently, the site was built for only $75. http://pcworld.about.com/od/businesscenter/Web-Site-Collects-Ideas-for-Ob.htm

Finally, I found a site with the ridiculous name of ohboyobama.com that is trying to do the same thing. However, ohboyobama.com demonstrates the need for a good moderator and a lot of publicity since every suggestion on that site is actually an ad.

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]]> By: Mark Graban http://www.leanblog.org/2009/12/reducing-medication-waste-for-va-patients/#comment-5995 Mark Graban Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:59:29 +0000 http://www.leanblog.org/?p=4126#comment-5995 Hi Kevin - thanks for the comment... I see what you're saying about the IdeaStorm type model. I think the process here was more about voting for one of a few pre-selected ideas that were generated by who-knows-what process. Maybe I have it wrong. Does the federal government use a system like IdeaStorm to generate and bubble up ideas? Hi Kevin – thanks for the comment…

I see what you’re saying about the IdeaStorm type model. I think the process here was more about voting for one of a few pre-selected ideas that were generated by who-knows-what process.

Maybe I have it wrong. Does the federal government use a system like IdeaStorm to generate and bubble up ideas?

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]]> By: Kevin Rutkowski http://www.leanblog.org/2009/12/reducing-medication-waste-for-va-patients/#comment-5994 Kevin Rutkowski Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:51:46 +0000 http://www.leanblog.org/?p=4126#comment-5994 I agree that crowdsourcing, like what was used for this contest, has it's flaws. However, a lot of people seem to think it's a great way to harness the ideas of a large number of people. Dell is using this through ideastorm both internally and externally. http://www.ideastorm.com/ When I was at Dell, I used it. I found that it was good for getting new ideas shared with upper management that might not have otherwise been heard. The bad part was that there were too many ideas for people to easily go through. The ones with the most votes were shown first, so they tended to get even more votes. Also, as you pointed out, the ideas that affect the biggest departments get the most attention. However, that's not all bad, is it? If the biggest department in an organization has a cost savings idea, it's more likely that the idea will have a bigger impact on the organization as a whole. I certainly don't think that this should be the only way to identify and correct waste, but it's one way to get attention for some ideas from the front line workers that otherwise wouldn't be heard. I agree that crowdsourcing, like what was used for this contest, has it’s flaws. However, a lot of people seem to think it’s a great way to harness the ideas of a large number of people. Dell is using this through ideastorm both internally and externally. http://www.ideastorm.com/

When I was at Dell, I used it. I found that it was good for getting new ideas shared with upper management that might not have otherwise been heard. The bad part was that there were too many ideas for people to easily go through. The ones with the most votes were shown first, so they tended to get even more votes. Also, as you pointed out, the ideas that affect the biggest departments get the most attention.

However, that’s not all bad, is it? If the biggest department in an organization has a cost savings idea, it’s more likely that the idea will have a bigger impact on the organization as a whole.

I certainly don’t think that this should be the only way to identify and correct waste, but it’s one way to get attention for some ideas from the front line workers that otherwise wouldn’t be heard.

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