10 Principles of Kaizen

by Freelance Ivanti Neurons Consultant & Developer with 100+ Service Desk / ITSM / ITAM Implementations since 1996, worldwide, posted in ITAM, ITIL, ITSM, Ivanti Consultant, Ivanti Developer, Ivanti Freelancer, Ivanti Neurons, Ivanti Project

Does your Ivanti Consultant or Developer follow the 10 Principles of Kaizen?

What is Kaizen, you may ask?

Kaizen as you may suspect, is Japanese for “Improvement”. It’s a concept of business activities to continuously improve all functions for all employees of a company. Mostly used in supply-chain,. Kaizen has been applied to healthcare, life coaching, government, manufacturing, and banking.

IMHO Kaizen is the unwritten bible of successful consultants and developers. I have adapted this concept with great success with my 100+ Ivanti HEAT ITSM/ITAM implementations worldwide, over the last 28+ years implementing Ivanti Neurons for ITSM/ITAM (powered by HEAT)

Ivanti Neurons for ITSM Consultant Developer ITAM HEAT
  1. Never Stop Improving. It’s an Ivanti Consultant’s and Developer’s continuous effort to constantly improve your Ivanti Neurons for ITSM/ITAM system, workflows, processes, integrations, and end-user interface. If your Ivanti Admin/Consultant/Developer isn’t improving then it’s time to bring in a fresh resource.
  2. Be Proactive. This tends to be a buzzword but Ivanti Consultants and Developers rarely are proactive, and often are reactive. Implementing, developing, and following the customer’s technical requirements. The better approach? Proactively analyze the functional requirements and focus on the business requirements. Don’t wait for problems to escalate. Pre-empt problems by engaging with a seasoned professional that can share decades of experience.
  3. Eliminate Old Practices. Simply say no to the status quo. It’s human nature to resist change, even in the IT industry. However just because your Ivanti Consultant or Developer says something can’t be done, don’t take their word for it. Seek out a freelancer that thinks outside the box and applies decades of experience and know-how. There’s always room for improvement. You wouldn’t believe how often Ivanti and Ivanti Business Partners have said something can’t be done, and I’ve proven them wrong.
  4. Don’t Stop. Always strive for better solutions, workflows, processes, integrations, and end-user interfaces. Many, if not most Ivanti Consultants and Developers have the same old tricks up their sleeve that everyone else in the industry has. Seek out a freelancer with experience across many industries and countries, with a long proven track record. Sometimes an old dog can teach you new tricks!
  5. Make Corrections. Never stop improving. Rome wasn’t built in one day. Schedule monthly, quarterly, yearly review sessions with a seasoned Freelancer ITSM Consultant and Developer that can give you an unbiased opinion and assess the health of your system!
  6. Empower Employees to Speak Up. Establish an ITSM Community and empower the community to suggest and make positive changes. A structured method is much better than conference calls, town-halls, and meetings that tend to lead to more meetings. Starts with a discovery session with the decision makers, here is mine.
  7. Dont’ Assume New Methods Will Work. In fact, don’t assume anything. Many Ivanti Developers and Consultants assume that their cookie cutter approach works for everyone. That cookie cutter approach might even appear to be working in the beginning, however experience dictates without a doubt that you will need trial and error and adaptation. Adapt or fail!
  8. Practice the “Five Why” Method. Get to the root of the problem by asking”why” fives times to find the genuine purpose. It’s a little bit like playing detective Columbo, for those of you that remember. And not only ask why, but ask many more questions, many times over, ask different employees, managers, decision makers. I’ve implemented at small and large companies, private swiss banks, governments, engineering companies, international conglomerates, and so on, and I can guarantee you that asking many questions, many times over will lead you to different answers and ultimately what you’re after: improvement.
  9. Be Economical. Look for ways to save money, time, and effort, while making minor improvements during the entire process. Waterfall projects in the ITSM world are arguably only relevant for hardware projects. You also want to revisit the vendors and business partners consultant rates and size of team. You ultimately need just one seasoned consultant/developer that can project manage and help you succeed with your roadmap. You need an agile consultative approach, and continuously improve and adapt. For optimum savings go with a freelancer!
  10. Crowdsource. Knowledge of a single person cannot be compared to the combined wisdom of multiple people. Those people are the Service Desk Manager, Team Leads, Subject Matter Experts, and of course the Ivanti Consultant and Advisor. Document that knowledge, create some FAQs, put your sales & marketing hat on and figure out the best way to get the message out. Getting the knowledge is just half the battle. An experienced freelancer like myself can help you here to.

In Summay, drawing from experience, and many scars and bruises, the most important principles in mind are:

  1. Let Go of Assumptions
  2. Be Proactive
  3. Accept No Excuses and Never Stop Improving

You might ask yourself, why does he always market and sell his services and his experience? It’s to showcase the skills and competencies that I bring to the table, that quite frankly outweigh the skills and competencies of 3 to 5 “senior” consultants and developers. Less is more. After all, you don’t need a fleet of drivers, you just need one expert at the wheel!

Not convinced? I guarantee you will be after just 19 minutes of your time. Book a Discovery Session.