Can an airplane ticket be improved? A bit of work with a UX designer and a graphic artist, and the results are stunning
In his latest video, Paul Akers describes how he created a lean airline ticket. During his flight with Delta Airlines, Paul found that the traditional ticket was a source of complete confusion for him. Therefore, he decided to collaborate with his graphic designer, Graham. After 15 minutes, Graham created a new, simplified version of the ticket that made understanding the information easier. The difference between a billion-dollar company and a small firm like FastCap lies in understanding processes and eliminating waste. In the new ticket, all information was organized in a logical sequence. Paul emphasizes that every action in our life is a process, from responding to emails to using airline services, which also applies to the ticket project.
As he continued speaking engagements around the world, Paul refined his ticket based on feedback from his audience. For instance, Toyota leaders suggested adding an arrow to show the direction of the flight, and in Canada, it was suggested to invert the plane symbol. In Germany, he was advised to put the boarding information on the back of the ticket. This flexibility and continuous improvement allowed Paul to implement these changes almost immediately, showcasing the importance of the lean approach.
Paul not only presents his ideas during his lectures, but he also asks for feedback, leading to positive enhancements that add value to his project. He executed adjustments by simply contacting his graphic design team, which introduces practicality into the lean concept. The ability to make such quick corrections that simplify processes is extremely important and appreciated by his audience.
Paul embodies the spirit of continuous improvement; each of his speeches ends with a new list of corrections. In Australia, he was suggested to add a map of every airport on the back of the ticket, and in Indiana, to improve the location of the barcode for easier scanning. Even in Kazakhstan, participants identified the need to include timezone information on the ticket. Paul, open to changes, immediately updated the design to meet passenger expectations and provide greater clarity.
Paul Akers wraps up his video with information about the view count, which at the time of writing this article is 6091, and he has received 179 likes. His vision for lean and endless pursuit of excellence inspires people to innovate on social media and far beyond it.
Toggle timeline summary
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Introduction to the lean airline ticket as an example.
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Narrative begins with a Delta Airlines ticket experience.
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Requesting a redesign of the ticket to make it lean.
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Comparison between Delta and FastCap's design approach.
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Importance of visual controls and sequential order in design.
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Discussion on continuous improvement in all processes.
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Toyota's interest in the lean airline ticket.
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Suggestions by Toyota for further improvements.
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Showcasing the updated ticket to Toyota leaders.
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Speaking engagements leading to further improvements.
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Feedback from Mercedes-Benz on ticket design.
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Audience suggestion for utilizing ticket real estate.
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Audience member suggests a barcode redesign.
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Encountering audience suggestions in Kazakhstan.
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Feedback on date format clarity from an international audience.
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Highlighting the concept of continuous improvement in processes.
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Understanding waste as a key concept in continual improvement.
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Identifying forms of waste in current airline practices.
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Concluding remarks about the simplicity of improving airline tickets.
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Promotion of resources available on the speaker's website.
Transcription
Without a doubt, the best example I've ever done in my life of lean is the lean airline ticket. So this is the story. I was flying on Delta Airlines. I looked at this ticket, I'm ADD, ADHD, D and F student, can't do anything for the life of me. I look at this, this is utter confusion. I put it on my knee, take my iPhone out, take a picture of it, send it to my graphic design team, 24-year-old Graham, and I said, can you make me a lean airline ticket? In 15 minutes, he sends this back to me. What's the difference between the original one, Delta, a billion-dollar company, and FastCap, a company that has tens of millions of dollars with one graphic designer? We understand lean, we understand waste, and we understand visual controls. Everything's laid out in the sequential order that you need it with visualization. All the fonts are standardized. Look at the difference. Which ticket do you want? But it gets better, because what two-second lean is about is about making small incremental improvements indefinitely to every process, because everything's a process, whether you answer emails, whether you're getting on an airline, whether or not you're getting information for someone, whether or not you're making something in your factory. Everything's a process, including an airline ticket. Toyota comes to my factory. You heard me right. Toyota came here with top leaders to FastCap. I showed them the lean airline ticket. They said, you know what, Paul, that's really good, but you could improve it. I didn't get defensive. I said, how could it be improved? They said, add an arrow, so it shows the direction of flight, removing all ambiguity. I said, add the arrival time. I said, genius, way to go. Add the date. Very good. We did it. 15 minutes, we did it. As Toyota was walking around, touring our plan, I showed them the new version. They said, that's amazing. That'd mostly take everybody, you know, a week to do. Not us. We do everything just in time. It gets better. That's a two-second improvement. I go to Canada. I'm speaking in Canada. They say, you know what, Paul, the direction of the plane is incorrect. You have to invert that in your head when you're walking on the plane. Why don't you change the direction of the plane? I immediately made the change. Contacted Graphic Design. They made the change before I got off the stage. It was made. Updated in the presentation. I go to Germany. I'm speaking to Mercedes-Benz in Hungary. Massive, beautiful plan. Speaking to all their executive team. They say, Paul, we entered in the back of the plane in Europe. I said, genius. We should really have it in the back. Digitally, this is easy to do. So I immediately contacted my Graphic Designers while I was speaking in Hungary. I had it updated. Mercedes looked at me and said, that would have taken us six weeks to do that. The changes never end. I go to Australia. I'm speaking in Australia. They say, on the back of the ticket, why don't you use that real estate to show a map of every airport, showing exactly what gate you have to go to so you're not walking into a dark hole, not understanding where you really need to go. I said, genius. Immediately made the changes in Australia. I go to Indiana. I'm speaking in Indiana. They say, watch this. In Indiana, one of the guys in the audience noticed that the scanning barcode was in the top right-hand corner. He said, put that same barcode on the backside. So when you go to scan at the airport, whether it's scanning from the top or the bottom, you intuitively know exactly where to line it up when you put it down on the screen. If it's scanning from the bottom, you know exactly where you need to line it up. So clever. Another two-second improvement. It never ends. So where am I speaking next? In Kazakhstan, in front of 2,000 people. Two guys raise their hand. They say, Paul, we see a change you can make. I wasn't afraid of the fact that 2,000 people were staring me. I stopped immediately, asked them what I should improve. They said, put a time zone in. I said, no problem. Contacted graphic design on the stage with my iPhone, WhatsApp. Graphic design made the change, plus three, indicating the time zone that you're going to. So you never have to extrapolate that wonder. Is it mountain time? Is it standard time? Is it eastern time? Pacific time? What is it? Removing all ambiguity. This is the way lean thinkers work. I'm speaking just recently to a team in Saudi Arabia. A guy in Egypt's listening. He listens. Mohammed says, Paul, the way you have the date is a little ambiguous, not clear. Look at the way I have it in the top with all the numbers. We're not really sure what you mean, because we do the dates different in Europe. Why don't you just make it more clear? I said, brilliant, Mohammed. Immediately made the change, updated the presentation. Now it's improved. This is two-second lean, continual improvement all the time, endlessly, seeing the opportunity to improve everything. Why can we do this? Because we can see waste. Most people in the world have no clue what waste really is. They think it's something that they're eliminating, but they have no idea it exists in everything we do. It's swirling around us like a tornado. It's the eight deadly waste. Once you understand overproduction, transportation, excess inventory, defects, overprocessing, wasted motion, wasted time, and wasted potential, your world will be transformed. Overproduction. Look at all this ticket from Delta. What a joke. I have to stop this information. They transport me through the airport. They stack me up in inventory. I get a defect because I missed my plane. I have a heart attack. They've got to revive me. More overprocessing, excess motion, more overprocessing, big reader boards that cost $10,000, information booth. All these things are done because people don't understand waste, and the processes are not good. They keep adding more and more stuff, more motion, standing in line, waiting, missing my plane, another defect, waiting, wasted employee genius. This is not rocket science. It's a freaking airline ticket. Brought to you by paulakers.net. Go to paulakers.net. All the resources are free. You can get all my books. You can download them in almost 19 languages, and my new app, LeanPlay, has all my books in audio format in nine languages, absolutely unbelievable, and zero cost. Listen, learn, and become a lean thinker.