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Today, I was at the San Mateo County Traffic Courthouse in San Mateo, CA.
I came away impressed at how the judge had organized a very lean mean operation! I think this was the Court of Judge Susan Greenberg, now may be Jugde Susan Collins, if I remember right.
There were about 60 or 70 people showing up to plead Guilty, No Contest or Not Guilty to the traffic citation that was issued. She took care of all 60 to 70 people in about an hour’s time! All with a lot of very good lean thinking, I realized.
There were two bailiffs that called people by name one by one and had them take a seat in the courthouse in such a way that when their name is called, they don’t need to step over any other’s legs to get to the podium. This cut down on time for any person to get a quick hearing.
All of the people assembling there had their papers arranged in a pile in the order they were called ahead of time. She had two Bailiffs sit in front of her, one for scheduling court dates on the computer if they plead Not Guilty and another to write out the fines on a fine slip if they pled Guilty or No Contest.
She had a wooden slide like-plank that sloped down from her desk to the bailiffs desk below so that she can pass the papers along quickly by placing it on this slide and it slides down to the bailiffs. Eliminate unnecessary turning back and forth, handling papers!
Everybody who showed up got the same discount of $100 on their fine without any argument (I am not sure how legal or fair this is but at least it improved the business process!). As soon as the people were done one by one, their papers were collected by office clerks every five minutes or so . When you went outside they called your name out one by one and you paid your fine if a fine was acceptable to you and you were out of there!
Traffic court is a hassle. People take one or two hours from work to attend this. It is gratifying to see such excellent Lean Thinking, and that too, from the Government.
Your tax dollars are always not wasted! Sometimes the Government can teach you how to do certain things in a very lean way!
I believe that judges have some leeway in organizing their operations in their mold. If that’s the case, this judge has done a great job!
A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless. – Charles de Gaulle
Lean Six Sigma and Continuous Process Improvement 