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"Leading the Future in Product Development" 
January 2009- Vol 2, Issue 1
In This Issue
FutureSigma: The Steps of "O-I-P-A"
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Greetings!
Happy New Year to you! In the past few issues, we have been exploring FutureSigma in several articles written by Skip Creveling, President of PDSS. This is the basis of PDSS' newest workshop offerings for problem prevention. This month's article explains FutureSigma's "OIPA" process for proactive problem prevention. Read on, and stay tuned for more information about these new workshops.
-Carol
P.S. Stay warm!
FutureSigma: The Steps of "O-I-P-A"
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has done great things to eliminate challenging problems. The one thing you don't hear very loud or very clear though is a residual effect of greatly reduced rates of creating new problems. We should spend the next 10 or 20 years transforming Lean and Six Sigma's applications to problem prevention. In addition to the existing problem-solving steps, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, a new set of problem-prevention steps can serve us as we seek to grow. The steps are Observe, Innovate, Plan and Act, abbreviated to "OIPA" in this article.
 
We must observe to be sure we understand the right opportunity and requirements. We innovate to be sure we have a rich set of creative concepts. We plan so the right things are done right the first time, and we act to be sure we properly finish the right things as quickly as possible - but no quicker! Following this discipline will help you "speed up" when it is the right thing to do. It will provide the courage to slow down or at least stop rushing when that is appropriate. It will help you be realistic and reasonable and avoid believing something to be true when it is not. It will also challenge you to do a difficult thing... measure leading indicators that switch you from reactive behaviors to preventive actions. In order to prevent problems, innovate and grow we have to master this key transition.  It is going to change what you measure and how much effort you put into understanding your Xs!

As it should, the steps of "OIPA" look similar to the scientific method. When you want to break through and explore the potential of an idea or opportunity - you form a reasonable hypothesis, you generate a concept and you empirically test it. If the data bears out your hypothesis you move forward to the next one.  If it doesn't, you go back to the drawing board and try again. The statistical tools from Six Sigma are easily leveraged as we progress through a series of hypotheses to prove we are using data to manage risk.

Observation of customer and stakeholder behavioral dynamics sets the stage for innovation. One must observe to seed the maxim "necessity is the mother of invention". If you don't know what people need, you will not do the right kind of innovation that can help drive sustainable growth or meet new objectives in an enterprise.
Companies that do not commit the proper level of resources to advanced market / stakeholder research and customer / consumer behavior analysis risk large warranty costs and growth problems due to launching poorly executed new products. They think they don't have the time or money to do inbound marketing activity properly. However, they seem to have the money (never mind the time) to fix the problems they could have avoided in the first place! An enterprise that is observing, learning and truly improving stops creating new problems and uses their time, money and human energy to pursue new opportunities.

Innovation springs to life by needs driving the creation of diverse ideas that are then integrated into sets of actual concepts. These rich concepts are transformed into a singular hybrid concept that is high in conceptual feasibility and low in competitive vulnerability. All this transformation occurs under the guiding light of customer/consumer needs that clearly state new, unique and difficult requirements. It matters little if the opportunity is a product, service or a new process. Human creativity, under the driving impulse of human need, forms the purest model for an innovation engine. Yes, there are aids to this model, but creativity and need are the heart of the process, everything else is secondary. Needs and opportunity drive requirements and then creativity drives fulfilling ideas and concepts.
 
An executive at a golf equipment company experienced a new technology out of their R&D labs. He hit the club and proclaimed "...everybody needs one!".  He was wrong.  While the club was technically superb, it was a failure in the market. This example illustrates a clear call for data-driven requirements before committing to a "winning" concept. The problem generation process begins with belief in something that simply has no data to support it. An early point of problem creation is failure to invest in customer/consumer need data.
 
Planning that is both detailed and realistic is the third step. There is often a huge gulf between executive and management views on how long it takes to develop new technologies and products. This is caused by a poor understanding of what actually has to occur to get things done right the first time. Management often suffers from hubris while the product development teams suffer from too few resources and are forced to cut corners to meet deadlines. Task-tool relationships are not thought through.
The executives, managers and project teams must look over the major tasks required to actually deliver the data and results to assure the project meets requirements. It would be a great addition to modern MBA programs to teach skills in task assessment and tool application negotiation. There is danger in being overly focused on when, and not how, which is another point for problem creation. Time is the wrong metric for an emphasis on prevention.

Action is the root of all accomplishment. We take action via specific tasks, and to help assure the tasks are done right, we enhance them with tools, methods and best practices (TMBP). If accomplishing the tasks is left to whim and personal preference, then results are not predictable - we lead with luck. Hope then becomes the fundamental basis behind our plan.

To ask a person to do a fairly complex series of tasks and then ignore how they are actually going to successfully complete them is one more ingredient in the recipe for creating problems. TMPB's are the only way to increase the likelihood that a task will produce what you were trying get out of it in the first place.

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) changed the level of thinking for solving problems we already heaped upon ourselves. I have noticed with some forms of training and uses of LSS that the class or the project are not finished with a strong, systematic way of changing people's behaviors to stop creating new problems. A project is closed out and the team immediately goes after a new project/problem - find and fix. They do a great job of putting a control plan in place to keep the current problem from coming back - that is not the issue here. Rather, the root cause of the perpetual creation of new problems is not being addressed.

There is a vast body of knowledge on LSS to solve existing problems. We should leverage that knowledge to get out in front of the problem generation process. We can transition to observing, innovating, planning and acting to proactively prevent as many problems as possible on a day-to-day basis - and hold the gains. Welcome to FutureSigma!
Is there a topic you'd like us to write about? Have a question? We appreciate your feedback and suggestions! Simply "reply-to" this email. Thank you!
 
Sincerely,
Carol Biesemeyer
Business Manager and Newsletter Editor
Product Development Systems & Solutions Inc.
About PDSS Inc.
Product Development Systems & Solutions (PDSS) Inc.  is a professional services firm dedicated to assisting companies that design and manufacture complex products.  We help our clients accelerate their organic growth and achieve sustainable competitive advantage through functional excellence in product development and product line management.
 
Copyright 2009, PDSS Inc.