LAI Metrics Community of Practice

LAI has been actively involved in identifying best practices associated with the use of metrics in the context of enterprise transformation. LAI held a metrics-focused Knowledge Exchange Event (KEE), Metrics for Enterprise Transformation, at LAI member Lockheed Martin headquarters in Bethesda, MD, in March 2007. LAI presented its latest research results and experts from LAI members Raytheon and Rockwell Collins shared their experiences with implementing metrics within their transformation programs.

The event established an LAI metrics community of practice designed to:

• share knowledge across industries and government agencies
• benchmark best practices and share case studies and lessons learned from LAI member organizations undergoing lean enterprise transformation, and
• identify the most pressing issues facing organizations seeking to define and measure transformation-related metrics.

The community of practice has identified multiple issues that it considers urgent, including the adoption of measurement systems and the integration of multiple process improvement models. Organizations spend billions of dollars on enterprise transformation initiatives and associated methods and tools every year but spend much less on addressing the organizational factors that can facilitate or hinder their adoption. This is due in part to an engineering-based, technology-centric approach to problem solving. What is needed is an organization-centric approach that complements methods and tools being developed and that considers the context in which they will be used.

LAI held another KEE in November 2008 at Raytheon in Andover, MA, focused on multi-model process improvement.  Presentations focused on:

• Lean/CMMI integration
• Six Sigma/CMMI integration
• Visual metrics for manufacturing and engineering
• Extending metrics to external suppliers
• Process improvement culture
• Process Improvement Maturity Model
• Lean IT Dashboard Development

Through these industry-government-academia exchanges, LAI and its metrics community of practice can help advance understanding of critical success factors for enterprise transformation by applying best practices in performance measurement.

For more information on this group, upcoming meetings, and on how to host a meeting, please contact LAI Research Dr. Ricardo Valerdi, rvalerdi “at” mit.edu, 617.253.8553.