Rapid, massive changes can frustrate your employees or make them worry they won't be able to adapt. Abrupt change can also significantly reduce productivity due to the “learning curve” effect. Draw a priority diagram. The first step is to identify the tasks involved in the production process and the order in which the tasks are undertaken. Once identified, define their relationships to each other and therefore determine whether they are a serial relationship, i.e. tasks that only begin once other tasks are completed. However, the execution of other tasks may be completely independent and thus have a parallel relationship. The priority diagram helps show dependencies between tasks. Determine the cycle time of the line. For a particular line process, the company would like to achieve a desired production rate in order to meet projected demand. It is usually expressed in work items per time period, for example 20 parts per hour, that is, every three minutes a part must leave the system. Cycle time represents the longest time a part is allowed to spend at each stage.