Quality Minute: RCA

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a technique that helps you understand how and why problems occur.  Once you develop understanding, you can take action to address the sources of problems instead of just treating symptoms.

What is a Root Cause?

• A specific underlying cause of a problem
• Can be reasonably identified
• The organization has control to fix
• Effective recommendations can be made to fix

The RCA Process

1. Collect the data
2. Chart the causal factors
3. Analysis
4. Identify the root causes
5. Make recommendations
6. Implement recommendations

Primer
I recommend this primer to help you get started with RCA:
Root Cause Analysis for Beginners by James J. Rooney and Lee N. Vanden Heuvel

Resources
I put these resources together to help my teams perform RCA:
RCA policy
RCA procedure
RCA interview template 
RCA map

Simple ideas and adversity: where can they take you?

Here are two excellent videos on discovery and innovation:

​Adversity can lead to innovation

Simple ideas lead to discoveries

Quality Minute: Kano Model

Kano Model Analysis is a quality technique to drive decisions on which products, features, or services to provide customers.  The technique was developed by Dr. Noriaki Kano in the 1980's.  A Kano model is two dimensional and measures three customer needs.

Dimensions:
  1. Achievement
  2. Satisfaction

Customer needs:
  1. Expected, Basic Needs and expectations
  2. Normal, Satisfying Needs and expectations
  3. Excitement Needs, Customer Delight

Diagram example:

A key to Kano Model analysis is the assumption that customer needs are not static.  A product or feature that is exciting today will become a normal need tomorrow.  Customer satisfaction must be continually monitored.  Kano Model analysis can help organizations keep changing customer needs prominent in the mind of the organization.  Customer need is a driver in the product prioritization decision and planning process helping the organization deliver competitive and compelling products to customers.

Resourcefulness, ingenuity, and innovation

Excellent examples of highly resourceful, ingenious solutions are everywhere.

I re-found this TED talk over the weekend.  Skip to 5:00 for one good​​ example:

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from​​

Also, don't ignore the "slow hunch".  Create the conditions where slow hunches get cultivated.  Skip to 9:00 to understand where good ideas can come from.  Spoiler alert - it's not a "Eureka" moment.

To Drive Quality, Get Aligned Behind Vision

Good Vision, Strategy, Goals, and Objectives help organizations get aligned, drive quality, and improve business performance.  A first step to getting that alignment begins with a clear understanding of what Vision, Strategy, Goals, and Objectives are and how they are related:

Vision: an aspirational description of what you want to achieve

Strategy: a plan of action to fulfill the vision

Goals: the things you will accomplish as you execute the strategy

Objectives: the things you will do to get to a goal​​​

Here are two simple guidelines to help people in  the practical application of Vision, Strategy, Goals, and Objectives.

1. Vision, Strategy, Goals, Objectives guideline - provides simple definitions
2. Goals and Objective guideline - focuses at the team and individual level

In some organizations, goals and objectives management is viewed as difficult but it doesn't have to be.  Apply these guidelines in your organization to simplify and get full value out of the objectives management process.  If you find these helpful, please let me know and share your experience.

Quality Minute: Fitness for Use

"Fitness for Use" is a definition of quality that describes a lot in just three words.  The definition is attributed to Joseph Juran.

Fitness for Use means:

• Suitable for intended purpose
• Performance is satisfactory

Fitness for Use implies:

• The product is reliable
• The product is maintainable
• The processes to design, produce, test, deliver, and support the product are sustainable

Fitness for Use does not mean:

• Defect free
• Suitable for any condition or scenario

Fitness for Use is not the same as Specification or Conformance quality.  Specification quality (meets specifications) can be met and the product still not Fit for Use.  Similarly, Conformance quality (passes all tests and inspections, meets regulatory requirements) can be met and the product still not Fit for Use.

Chart the Course to Quality with MAPS

My whiteboard is a big summary of discussions I have with colleagues.  Most of those discussions center on matters of quality and how we build on our progress.  One of the keys to our progress is in the center of the whiteboard.  It's been there a long time and it's the key to team member engagement.  It looks like this:

M - mastery
A - autonomy
P - purpose
S - support

The people and teams in an organization are the key to quality.  Developing mastery of skills in a profession, autonomy to make decisions and create, and having a purpose super-charge individuals.  This in turn leads to high quality and performance that benefit the business and its customers.

The "S" in MAPS was added recently.  In a conversation with Rajiv Amar, he identified one more part that was playing a role in our success; Support.  You can have mastery, autonomy, and purpose, but if you don't have the support of your organization - peers, colleagues, executives, board, cross-functional partners - your quality will still be at risk.  That support has to be there not just when the results are good; the support has to be there when things get tough.

MAPS is fuel for discovery, collaboration, execution, and a culture of quality.  Practice MAPS in your organization and watch your teams take the business to new levels of quality and performance.