Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
supervisor in their right mind refuse to commit resources to achieve a solution?
Solving any problems but these gives only marginal improvement.
Resource planning for Black Belts, Green Belts, and other personnel is visible and
simplified when they are assigned to top projects on the list. Opportunities to assign
other personnel such as project team members are clear in this context. The local
deployment champion and/or Master Black Belt needs to manage the list. Always
remember, a project focused on the top problems is worth a lot to the business. All
possible effort must be exerted to scope problems and opportunities into projects that
Black Belts can drive to a Six Sigma solution.
The following process steps help us turn a problem into a scoped project (Fig-
ure 9.6).
A critical step in the process is to define the customer. This is not a question that
can be taken lightly! How do we satisfy customers, either internal or external to the
business, if the Black Belt is not sure who they are? The Black Belt and his team must
know customers to understand their needs, delights, and satisfiers. Never guess or
assume what your customers need, ask them. Several customer interaction methods
will be referenced in the next chapters. For example, the customer of a software project
on improving the company image is the buyer of the software, the consumer. However,
if the potential project is to reduce tool breakage in a manufacturing process, then
the buyer is too far removed to be the primary customer. Here the customer is more
likely the design owner or other business unit manager. Certainly, if we reduce tool
breakage, then we gain efficiency that may translate to cost or availability satisfaction,
but this is of little help in planning a good project to reduce tool breakage.
No customer, no project! Know your customer. It is unacceptable, however, to not
know your customer in the top project pipeline. These projects are too important to
allow this kind of lapse.
9.3.2.5 ProactiveDFSSProjectSources:MultiGenerationPlanning.
A
multigeneration plan is concerned with developing a timely design evolution of
software products and of finding optimal resource allocation. An acceptable plan must
be capable of dealing with the uncertainty about future markets and the availability of
software products when demanded by the customer. The incorporation of uncertainty
into a resource-planning model of a software multigeneration plan is essential. For
example, on the personal financial side, it was not all that long ago that a family was
only three generations deep—grandparent, parent, and child. But as life expectancies
increase, four generations are common and five generations are no longer unheard
of. The financial impact of this demographic change has been dramatic. Instead of a
family focused only on its own finances, it may have to deal with financial issues that
cross generations. Where once people lived only a few years into retirement, now they
live 30 years or more. If the parents cannot take care of themselves, or they cannot
afford to pay for high-cost, long-term care either at home or in a facility, their children
may need to step forward. A host of financial issues are involved such as passing on
the estate, business succession, college versus retirement, life insurance, and loaning
money. These are only a smattering of the many multigenerational financial issues
that may originate.
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