Develop a Standard Tollgate Process to Evaluate the Progress of Improvement Projects
Our job is to give the client, on time and on cost, not what he wants, but what he never dreamed he wanted; and when he gets it, he recognizes it as something he wanted all the time.
—Dewys Lasdon
In Chapters 13 and 14, we learned how to categorize small, medium, and large projects and how to prioritize projects based on filters. In this chapter, I will share how to evaluate the progress of these improvement projects using a standard tollgate process.
In their article, “Using tollgate to manage your projects in action,” E.Y. Romania define a tollgate as a checkpoint in a project where progress is reviewed to decide the completion stage of the activities and their objective achievements. This checkpoint serves to determine if the project can proceed to the next tollgate, also referred as a “go/no go” decision point. Only when the person leading the project confirms that the team has successfully completed the previous phase may they pass the tollgate and move to the next phase. The benefits of having a tollgate or a phase gate approach are that it helps in managing risk, facilitates better planning, improves project management, enables informed decision-making at the steering committee level, empowers project governance, and ensures that senior-level stakeholders are engaged in the project plan.
An important aspect is to determine where the tollgates should be positioned in the project plan, and what activities and criteria should be included at each tollgate. In terms of positioning, tollgates can be assigned either by project phases or on the basis of key project milestones. The criteria defined for each tollgate should enable an objective review of the project’s progress and to decide if the project can continue. It is essential that the criteria defined are measurable. Consider using key phases and completion of key milestones as central criteria. Include specific aspects of change management activities at each tollgate spread across the entire life cycle of the project.
Figure 23.1 shows an example of an eight-step standard tollgate approach developed and implemented at Hospital Heal. The project passes through different stages of Tollgates 1 through 7 before entering Tollgate 8, which is the evaluation phase. During this stage the new process is tested for its reliability before it can be moved to the sustainability phase and then to the final development of the standard work for the new process. Organizations need to define their criteria for reliability and the period of sustainability before accepting the new process. The threshold for reliability of the process in the pilot phase was ≥80% at Hospital Heal, during which time it was tested for 90 days to confirm its reliability and subsequently, a standard work observation (audit) process was established to ensure its sustainability (Figure 23.2).
Table 23.1 details the activities associated with each of the eight stages of the tollgate review process shown in Figure 23.1. These activities act as a checklist for all members of a project team and provide uniformity of the approach across different teams in an organization. If an activity is not applicable for a project, the team agrees and marks the activity as a cross in the checkbox.
Sensei Gyaan: Whether you use the DMAIC framework, the Lean A3 framework, or a project management body of knowledge framework, develop one standard tollgate process for all project types—department wide or organization wide. Establish standard key milestones at each stage to review the project at the sponsor and senior executive team levels. Display the project status on Wall 3 in the visual strategy room and seek senior management intervention, where required, by highlighting the request on Wall 4 in the visual strategy room.