Getting smart about our jobs Published Dec. 8, 2008 By Capt. Jody L. Ritchie 302nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- "Why do we do this? It's just a waste of time." "There's a better way to do this." How many times have you heard, or even spoken, those words? Too often, the response is something like "I don't know, but it's the way we've always done it." The normal reaction is to just continue doing things the way we always have because we can feel powerless to do anything about it. After all, most of us are pretty low on the totem pole -- someone with much more authority established that process, so it's easier to just be quiet and waste the resources, right? Not so fast - the people who best understand the business are the people who do the job. Taking a page from the civilian business management playbook, the Air Force has a Continuous Process Improvement program to identify waste and optimize our business. The program is called Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, or AFSO21. "AFSO21 is a means to see and eliminate waste in any mission area," said Lt. Col. Melinda Clearwater, 302nd Airlift Wing program manager. "Examples of waste are defects, overproduction, processing time, waiting, excess time in motion, redundancy, inaccurate or incomplete information, useless information, and barriers to communication." So, what does that really mean? How does it affect those on the front line of the Air Force mission? And, really, isn't this just another program that will fade away over time? "This is a more mature process with training, testing and certification being much more rigorous," said Capt. Dawn Beyer, 302nd AW Intelligence Officer, when comparing AFSO21 to previous similar initiatives. AFSO21 gives Airmen of any rank a voice to make his or her process more efficient, more effective, or safer. "Ownership of the process incorporates the talent we have at all ranks in the organization," said Maj. Alan Flolo, 302nd AW executive officer. Giving control of the process to the Airmen also improves morale as they realize their input is valued. No longer do Airmen have to say "this is wasteful and I have to keep doing it." Now, something can be done about that! "The key to success for AFSO21 is to trust the process, be optimistic it will work, and work as a team to get there," said Major Flolo. The fundamentals of the program are simple: someone identifies a broken process and it gets scored against other broken processes during an Enterprise Value Stream Analysis session. "Then we develop a roadmap of the broken processes and prioritize them for rapid improvement events to be conducted," stated Colonel Clearwater. During the RIE, the process is analyzed, adjusted and measured. If the change was positive, it's a win. If the change identifies more fixes are needed, then the continuous part of CPI is used and the cycle starts over. Several processes have been identified, but there is always room for more. Examples of processes already identified for the 302nd AW's first EVSA are: - Amount of time spent in short physicals - E-mail inbox overload for traditional reservists - Duty Status Code 14 process If an Airman knows of a process that should be considered for AFSO21 review, e-mail Colonel Clearwater at melinda.clearwater@peterson.af.mil. Members are forewarned though; this isn't a program to complain - Airmen are expected to get involved and help fix the problem. AFSO21 utilizes a process most people use every day. A commute to work is probably the most efficient because multiple routes have been attempted and a decision was made that the current route is the best. Or, if the fish aren't taking the fly where the fisherman is, he moves to another section of the river. It's the smart way to handle day to day life and now a program to use that same process is available for Air Force processes. AFSO21 is not a new program; several organizations have used the program to fix processes. Videos are available on the Air Force Portal documenting successes at the Luke Air Force Base hydraulics and wheel and tire shops, in Arizona. Two things are always happening: work that should be done and work that should not be done. Have you eliminated any waste in your work today? For more information, visit http://www.af.mil/library/smartops.asp on the public Web site or search AFSO21 on the Air Force Portal for examples and videos.