Kim Team

Six Sigma for the New Millennium
Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFMA)

1.
Simplify the design and reduce part count, since the reliability for a serial product is
multiplicativemeaning the more parts, the more chances to fail.
2.
Standardize and design with common parts and materials to minimize inventory. Material
handling becomes simpler.
3.
Design for facile fabrication. The author has seen many electronic designs that require selective
soldering of components, which is basically using a robot to hand-solder the parts. Selective
solder is much slower than either wave soldering or reflow (surface mount) soldering.
4.
Design within process capabilities rather than wait to determine the process capability, which
often requires new infusions of capital.
5.
Poka-yoke (mistake-proof) the product assembly in order to disambiguate the assembly process.
6.
Design the product and the process for appropriate component orientation and handling to
reduce manual work in orienting parts. Orientation is critical in wave solder operations.
7.
Minimize flexible parts and interconnections. The author has been part of a wire harness
operation and material handling of flexible parts can be a problem, since the parts have a
tendency to misbehave.
8.
Design for facile assembly by using simple movements and reducing axes of assembly. In some
plants, fitting assembly to a housing can be improved by chamfering the shaft on the housing.
9.
Design for adroit joining/fastening.
10. Design modules to simplify assembly with common components and subassemblies. Think
Southwest Airlines steadfast commonization on the Boeing 737 aircraft.
11. Design for automated production. Surface mount parts lower the placement and manufacture
cost in the electronics industry.
12. Design printed circuit boards for assembly. Printed circuit boards usually need keep-away
zones identified for easier depanelization, quick conformal coating (resists moisture), and for
the location of screws and other fasteners.
13. Eliminate threaded connectors when feasible. It is difficult to maintain torque values on the
automated screw drivers and misthreading may generate scrap after substantial value has
already been added to the product. Snaps may be a simple alternative.
Clearly, different types of enterprises will have different liststhis one is merely a sample.
59
Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures
Benchmarking
Benefits of benchmarking
Benchmarking is about setting a standard of performance for your organization by comparing it to
known best practices or other levels of performance. A benchmark becomes a point of reference for
excellence and improvement.
Benchmarking probably began as a side effect of surveying. Benchmarks typically represented a
known altitude or locationhence the idea of the point of reference.
Downside of benchmarking
It is possible that your competition or even a different industry is using suboptimal methods. Thus, the
choice of organization against whom you benchmark is critical. Additionally, it can be very difficult to
do performance benchmarking because your competition is normally eager to keep their trade secrets
away from you.
Types of benchmarking
Benchmarking can be performed against any point of reference:

Process: Compare your processes against those companies that perform analogous or similar
functions; these companies need not be competitors.
Competitive: Compare your processes directly against those of a competitor. This form
of benchmarking is sometimes called performance benchmarking, although the word
performance may appear in any variant of benchmarking.
Project: Compare processes that are common among many different types of organizations, not
necessarily the same as your own company.
Strategic: Multi-industry technique; for example, your manufacturing company might compare
its customer service to that of Disney, Nordstrom, and ASQ (they always answer on the first
ring!).
Performance: Check yourself against your competition.
Intra-organization: Measure yourself against similar standards in other departments.
Self: Measure yourself against yourself.
Collaborative: A group of companies in an industry benchmarks their practices against nonindustry practice.
Following is a high-level plan for implementing benchmarked information.
60
A Model for Benchmarking
Figure 2.2 Andersen and Pettersens model for benchmarking.1

Plan

Select process
Form team
Document process
Establish measures
Search

List of criteria
Identify potential partners
Select partner
Establish contact and gain acceptance
Observe

Information needs
Methods and tools
Execution
Analyze

Sort
Quality control
Normalize
Find gap
Find causes for gap
Adapt

Improvement opportunities
Targets
Implementation
Final report
61
Endnotes
1.
62
Bjrn Andersen and Per-Gaute Pettersen, Benchmarking Handbook (London: Chapman and
Hall, 1995), 1-188.
Organizational Process Measures

Business Performance Measures.....................................................................................64
Calculating the Business Quality Performance Measures.........................................65
Financial Measures............................................................................................................66
Return on Investment........................................................................................................67
Quality Loss Function.......................................................................................................68
63
Business Performance Measures

Calculating DPU
DPU is defects per unit. Defects are nonconforming items; that is, they do not conform to an accepted
standard, either industry-wide (for example, IPC for soldering) or customer. Unit can also be
defined as unit area. The key idea is that we are normalizing the data. The u control chart used in
statistical process control uses the same concept of defects per unit. Remain aware that defects per
unit is an attribute value; that is, we do not measure on a continuum.
Calculating RTY
The RTY is the rolling throughput yield. Why RTY instead of prime pass yield (PPY) or first pass
yield (FPY) or first time through (FTT)? PPY and FPY tend to conceal hidden rework factories because
only the effect at end of line is measured. The RTY is an attempt to quantify the effect of these hidden
factories on actual yield by capturing the rework and scrap that occur during manufacture.
Calculating DPMO
DPMO is defects per million opportunities. Each product has possible defect locations which are
called opportunities. The value is normalized for a million opportunities so that we can compare
apples to apples. Approach the concept of opportunities with caution. We can make the Six Sigma
calculation very small by simply increasing the number of opportunities. Since each enterprise may
interpret opportunities differently, it is probably best to use DPMO as an intra-enterprise measure.
The Black Belt needs to be wary of simple attribute samplingthat is, straight defect counting with little
consideration for the probability of finding defective material. In surface mount soldering, sampling
is typically not an issue because all the printed circuit boards are screened with an in-circuit testing
device that reports any and all failures. From this report, the ppm calculation is straightforward. DPU
and DPMO become more complicated if the sample size is insufficient to accurately reflect the defect
rate in the material. For example, if we have 30 defects per 1000 units, then we have a probability of
observing a defect of exactly 0.03. As we will see later, this situation can be calculated using a Poisson
process, where the mean and variance are equal to the sample size times the probability. If we take a
sample of 10 units, our mean value is equal to 0.3. Our calculation of the probability of finding exactly
zero failures is 0.74 and the probability of finding exactly one failure is approximately 0.222. That
means roughly 74 percent of the time, we will see no failures at all! Clearly, the size of the sample is
critical if sampling is going to be used.
Metric propagate upward/allocate downward
Yield values along the production line propagate through the RTY calculation, causing small values.
RTY is a product, not a sum. If we multiply out a mere three subprocesses, each of which has a 90
percent yield, the rolling throughput yield is roughly 73 percent!
Capability, complexity, control
Capability can be translated into Six Sigma metricsthe two are not incompatible. Capability
indices are a tool for relating the specification values for a part or a process to the Six Sigma values
of the normal distribution. The DPMO number ostensibly allows for apples-to-apples comparisons.
Unfortunately, each enterprise defines DPMO in their own waywhich means apples-to-apples only
works within the enterprise itself. When capability is expressed as parts per million (ppm), we are
using a non-parametric index, which is independent of the underlying distribution. The measure
is robust, although it provides us with less information than we get from values like Cpk, where
centering of the distribution is a consideration.
Manage use of performance measures to drive decisions
Because all of these metrics can be translated into other values that may be more familiar to customer
and supplier alike (Cpk, ppm, and so on), it is possible to discern a poorly functioning processes and
institute corrective action. The follow page shows the formulae for calculating the Six Sigma values.
64
Calculating the Business Quality Performance Measures
Figure 2.3 The standard Six Sigma formulas.

These formulas provide the standard calculations for Six Sigma specific measures. Please note that the
rolling throughput calculation is a product and not a summation.
65
Financial Measures
Project financial measures
The Black Belt can use:
Payback period (simple to calculate)
Net present value (more involved)
Internal rate of return (still more involved)
Return on investment (very difficult)
Cost of quality concepts

Quality costs decompose into the following:
Appraisalmeasuring, assessing, auditing products/ services for conformance to standards

Inspections of any kind
Audits of any kind
Preventiontraining, manuals, work instructions, plans, FMEAs, fault trees, poka-yoke, reviews

Poka-yokes (mistake-proofing) are a wonderful example
Preventive maintenance on critical devices
Calibration can also be appraisal cost
Failure

Internal: scrap, nonconforming product

Failure within the plant
External: failure after shipping, frequently at the customer site
In general, a strong prevention program should show an increase in prevention cost while promoting
a decrease in appraisal and failure costs. The most critical cost to reduce or eliminate, of course, is the
external failure cost, not only because it is usually extremely expensive but also because it directly
generate customer dissatisfaction with the product or service.
66
Return on Investment
Figure 2.4 Return on investment.

The figure represents perhaps the best know representation for return on investment. Mill cost of sales
can be interpreted as manufacturing cost of sales.
67
Quality Loss Function

The Taguchi quality loss function is a quadratic equationa parabolashowing increasing cost as
a quality characteristic deviates from the target value. Contrast it with the old-fashioned tolerance
concept, where any value within tolerance is okay. In short, we are looking at inside tolerance being
okay versus not on target being exponentially and increasingly worse. One version of the quality loss
function, below, exacts a high penalty for deviations from target:
The Quality Loss Function is more significant than its simplicity suggests. The function indicates
that we lose quality with any deviation from the target value. In a sense, this idea makes a rude
counterpoint to Shewhart control charts, where the mean value of a rational subgroup roams between
two control limits.
Additionally, the function is a counterpoint to the mentality associated with specification limitsthe
so-called goalpost mentality. With specification limits, the product is considered acceptable if it lies
just within the specification limit and the product is unacceptable if it lies just outside the specification
limit. In some cases, the difference between good and bad can be measured in fractions of a
millimeter. Specification limits are not necessarily based on control limits derived from the concept of
random variation in process and measurement; in fact, control limits are not dependent at all on the
value of the specification limitshence the concept of quality indices such as Cpk, which incorporates
the dispersion of the measurement with that of centering (which is not necessarily the target value).
In some cases, specification limits may be the result of a company policy. In other cases, specification
limits may be derived from expected values for random variation. In addition to all this, the concept
of worst-case tolerance stackup may enter the discussion if the part is a mechanical piece. In a stackup
analysis, the relation of multiple parts can be considered simultaneously to determine if the parts will
fit together under worst-case conditions. A variety of methods exist to accomplish the objective of
verifying fit, with root square stackup being perhaps the most sophisticated approach to the problem.
However, the Quality Loss Function effectively says we pay a penalty for any deviation from the
target (or nominal) value. It is easy to see this in a plot of the loss function as the deviation increases
from the target value. Figure 2.4 shows the appearance of the Quality Loss Function when potential
deviations are taken into account.
It may be arguable whether Taguchis Taylor series simplifications into parabolas are truly
representative of the quality loss; however, the concept of target value and loss related to deviations
from target is manifest. We might say that dispersion is deadly to the quality of the product and
occasionally deadly to the user in the literal sense when a transportation product fails catastrophically.
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Quality Loss Function
Figure 2.5 Example quality loss function.

Using OpenOffice Calc 2.4 and the equation on the previous page, the quality function can be plotted
as seen in the figure below.
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Section 3.
Team Management
Team Formation
Team Types and Constraints............................................................................................74
Constraining Factors..........................................................................................................75
Team Roles..........................................................................................................................76
Team Member Selection...................................................................................................78
Launching Teams...............................................................................................................80
Team Ground Rules...........................................................................................................81
73
Section 3. Team Management
Team Types and Constraints

Formal teams
A formal team is often a team appointed by managers. This kind of team may even have a written
team charter that spells out the goals of the team. In general, we would not expect a team to become
a real team simply because they have been so designated. Kouzes and Posner said teams must be
forged, not forced.
Informal teams
Informal teams can arise when a group of people realizes they have a common goal. Note that the
common thread in all teams is that they have a purpose. Some informal teams may arise from social
networks.
Another term often used is ad hoc teams, which are teams formed on the spur of the moment to
satisfy an immediate need. Unless the participants know each other well, they may never cohere into
a functional team.
Virtual teams
Virtual teams exist when all or some of the members are not co-located. In these cases, the use of
technologies like email, video-conferencing, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Groove, and other
conferencing technologies become important. These technologies can reduce, but may note eliminate,
the need for face-to-face meetings. Like any other form of team, a virtual team will be as strong as the
relations among the members and their understanding of the common goal.
Cross-functional teams
Cross-functional teams have members from various enterprise functions; for example, a crossfunctional engineering team could have mechanical, electrical, metallurgical, and software engineers
working towards a common goal.
The usual weakness of cross-functional teams lies in the fact that the members are more familiar with
their functional peers than they are with team members from other functions. The tension between
team leaders and functional managers may negatively influence the ability of the team to ever become
a cohesive unit.
Self-directed teams
The idea of self-directed work teams (SDWT) really came to the fore in the 1990s when Kimball
Fisher published Leading Self-Directed Work Teams1. Most of Fishers text is given over to showing how
management can implement what he also calls high performance teams. The following is a list of
the steps he recommends for implementing self-directed work teams:

Understand SDWT by investigating it
Accept SDWT by preparing for it
Make SDWT work by directing the implementation
Sustain SDWT by managing the transition
Continuously improve SDWT through a well-considered maturation process
Note the idea of continuous improvement fits in well with the Six Sigma approach to quality.
Furthermore, Six Sigma Black Belt teams are often self-directed work teams with highly dedicated
members, formally elucidated for management but informally formed in reality. Moreover, crossfunctional and virtual approaches are possible also.
74
Constraining Factors
Geography
Any distributed team requires technological support. Here are some of the ways teams can be
distributed:

Within-state teams
Within-nation teams
Between-nation teams
Technology
Technological constraints can consist of the following:

The need for the sense of touch (for example, physical models)
Bandwidth (not every place has high-speed communications)
Having the technology at all (so-called third world)
Schedules (time zones)

International date line
Different cultural and religious holidays (for example, the predominantly Islamic nations have
entirely different holidays than those that are ostensibly Christian nations)
Phone and other communication billing rates can become complex
Ones self or the person or persons at the other end may lack focus due to distractions from
family needs, sleeplessness, and other off-hour issues
Language issues

India is the largest English-speaking nation on the planet
China has unusual language requirements (compared to European languages) and a completely
different use of symbols for writing
Languages like Russian do not use the definite or indefinite articles explicitly, sometimes making
translations difficult
Large countries may have serious regional differences in dialect, slang, pidgin, and other
communications issues (local celebrations not recognized by the nation as official)
Cultural angst

The author has worked in Mexico for thirteen years and still sees discontinuities brought on by
the cultural differences. At the risk of generalizing, what follows are personal observations:

Mexicans expect to be greeted when first seen in the day
Mexicans tend to accomplish goals through personal relations rather than the more fascist
organizational chart approach
Mexicans are often less legalistic than people in the United States (for example, the red
light is less sacred than in the U.S.)
These comments are not intended as a slight, but rather to indicate that any change in cultural venue
has its peculiar set of gotchas for the outsider.
75
Team Roles
Leaders and followers
In social networks, the vertices of influence often become obvious through the number of connections
these individuals have. Informally, they are probably leaders. Even in self-directed work teams, some
level of leadership attains and some SDWTs may use a round robin leadership, where each participant
on the team occupies the decision-making spot for some pre-arranged period of time.
In some cases, individuals are content to be followers. They prefer to remain in their comfort zonethis
situation is not always negative, for a person may realize that the leadership role is outside their level
of competence or maturity.
The leader and follower organization does not have to be dictatorial. The leader serves the followers by
directing and making decisions while the followers serve the leader (and themselves) by executing the
directions of the leader.
Six Sigma roles
The classical Six Sigma model uses the following approach: executive leadership provides resources,
Champions argue the business case and remove obstacles, Master Black Belts direct Black Belts and
work on large-scale problems, Black Belts may direct Green Belts and certainly work on significant
problems, and Green Belts work on more tractable problems. These roles are not absolutely required in
the manner stated, but they provide a convenient way to keep track of the deployment of the Six Sigma
initiative.
Six Sigma deployment officers should use the belt system with some caution. Green Belts, for example,
can often turn in projects that affect return on investment now and not later to the greater benefit of the
enterprise. The Green Belt role is extremely important, especially when a company is starting to deploy
Six Sigma. Green Belt projects allow for early and significant achievements, which reinforces the entire
deployment and project process.
Typical roles
Other roles may exist within the team framework, for example:
76
Time-keepers help to maintain the tempo of the meetings and can provide a service by timeboxing the meeting (time-boxes are strictly-delimited times; when the end of the box is reached,
the meeting is over, period).
Facilitators help to keep the meeting participants focused on the purpose of the meeting and they
can assist the time-keeper with tempo issues.
Data-gatherers go out to the location of the data, virtual or real, and accumulate the data into
tables, trees, or whatever format makes sense.
Data-manipulators take the data from the data-gatherers and proceed to analyze the data using
spreadsheets, statistical software, and other tools.
Functional managers are the owners of a given function and the team may need the functional
managers support, especially if we are speaking about a cross-functional team.
Project/program managers often work in a matrix environment, where the base staff reports
to both a functional manager and a program managerthey drive programs to a pre-defined
conclusion.
Six Sigma Roles
Figure 3.1 One model for Six Sigma roles.

The hierarchical organization chart that follows shows a military approach to implementing
Six Sigma roles in the enterprise. Additionally, levels of proficiency occur among the
Belts indicated by the hierarchical arrangement by titles. This arrangement is not a requirement and
may lead to esteem issues among the so-called lower levels of the system.
77
Team Member Selection

Skill sets
The required skill sets can be derived from the definition of the need for the team. In some cases,
special skill sets may require an outside adviser (this is sometimes the function of a Master Black Belt).
Skills and traits are some of the considerations during resource analysis. An example of the need for
a special skill is if the team knows they will need to analyze data using non-parametric (distributionindependent) statistics as opposed to the much more common parametric (distribution-dependent)
statistics.
Additional considerations may arise if a team member has a very special skill set that would be
missed from their regular job. The team and team leader need to consider the impact of the teaming
activity on the normal day-to-day performance of the enterprise. Not all companies have the depth
to assign full-time Master Black Belts and Black Belts to projects. Although Six Sigma philosophy and
implementation provides significant benefits, some risk is entailed by the need for staffing projects
with superior performers.
Team size
Typical team sizes are in the vicinity of five to seven members. At five members, we are already
looking at more than 120 possibilities of arranging members. As the number increases, the complexity
of relationships increases as a gamma function (factorially = n!).
This fact also explains why managers typically work best with a span of control of no more than seven
direct reports (5040 possibilities!).
Team representations
Team members may represent different constituencies within the enterprise, but this is less important
than assuring the correct body of skills, the correct attitude, the commitment, and the empowerment
necessary to complete the project. A set of failed projects is not likely to endear the Six Sigma
implementation to upper management. The company must invest in training time, training cost,
tool set acquisition, test sample preparation, testing facilities, and any other resource that the team
believes they will need.
Figure 3.2 shows a team resource matrix, a tool often used to explain the roles of team members in
project management scenarios.
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Team Resource Matrix
Figure 3.2. Team resource matrix.

The team resource matrix is a simple tool that clearly specifies the activities for each participant in
the project or any other activity. An alternative representation would be to simply create a table in
a word processor and representative the significance with numbers, quantities of check marks, or
other signals of significance. The purpose of the table/chart is not to present a cool document with
neat graphics but, rather, to make the responsibilities of the various members of the team extremely
clear. When it works as expected, the payoff lies in reduced friction among members due to increased
understanding of the roles desired.
79
Launching Teams
Elements of launching a team
Launching a team is a process that can follow the Six Sigma problem-solving algorithm.
Define: Why does the team exist? Who is on the team?
Measure: How does the team know if they have met their goals?
Analyze: Is the team on track? Where are we in the team life cycle?
Improve: Reduce conflict, facilitate, regain focus.
Control: Solicit feedback during the life of the team.
Team purpose
Create a team mission statement. A mission statement identifies the purpose of the team as well as
defining the constituencies to which the team applies, both members and stakeholders. A mission
statement defines purpose; a vision statement defines the future.
Team goals
Establish top-level goals. Goals may be derived from a combination of the mission statement and the
vision statement and they can be broken down further into concrete objectives and targets.
Team commitment
How long will the team last? What are the required skills and traits? Are team members stakeholders
in the team (shared goals)? Remember that teams are usually fleeting collections of individuals tied
for a time by a common bond (the mission).
Team roles
Establish a leader, a scribe, and member roles. In some cases, roles can be assumed by different people
at different times.
Team responsibilities
Each role has deliverables. Deliverable items are attached to an individual, defined explicitly, and
given a due date. Members cannot deliver abstractions, only items that are defined concretely.
Team schedules
Deliverables should arrive on schedule. The team should have a mutually agreed upon schedule that
drives responsibility and accountability.
Management support
Create a team charter. The team charter is a short document that defines the team, the mission, the
vision and any relevant factormajor deliverables, significant milestones, special resources, and the
identity of the team/process Champion.
Team empowerment
Give the team the authority to do the job for which it was formed. Without empowerment, the team
will not achieve its mission. Empowerment is an often-overlooked resource. For Black Belt teams, the
project Champion becomes a significant resource for accomplishing the mission.
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Team Ground Rules

The following list describes some significant ground rules for improving team performance.
Potential team ground rules2
1.
Test assumptions and inferences (include testing constraints for validity). The testing can be
done as a group. This concept alone will help prevent groupthink, where members become
afraid to speak out and silence is assumed to be acquiescence.
2.
Share all relevant information (should agree on criteria for relevance). A team without shared
information is probably not much of a team at all. Withholding information is tantamount to
playing power games and defeats the purpose of the team.
3.
Use specific examples and agree on what important words mean (specificity reduces
pontificating). The team can formalize the definitions of important words by building a team
glossary or dictionary that explicitly defines the terms as well as their relationship to each other.
4.
Explain your reasoning and intent (your reasoning may not be obvious and your intent certainly
is not!). Explaining the rationale is one technique for achieving subsequent buy-in from the team
members. Assuming the other team members are rational individuals, an understanding of the
logic behind a decision or avowal can become a potent tool for persuasion.
5.
Focus on interests, not positions (this is not a run for political office). Defending a position can
become counterproductive, just as ad hominem attacks are counterproductive because they
miss the point.
6.
Combine advocacy and inquiry (stand for something but also be able to question your own
position). This technique enables the practitioner to walk in anothers shoes for a while. The
idea is to achieve a less egocentric perspective and open the mind to a more global view of the
situation.
7.
Jointly design next steps and ways to test disagreements (where do we go from here, and how
do we make a decision when there is disagreement?). The team is really functioning when
disagreement management become a joint process.
8.
Discuss indiscussible issues (the assumption buster!). This tool also helps prevent groupthink,
eliminating the tacit agreement of the collective.
9.
Use a decision-making rule that generates the level of commitment needed (could be voting,
could be a logic treewhatever works). Verify that the tool works by testing it. If not, choose
another tool, then stick with it.
81
Endnotes
82
1.
Kimball Fisher, Leading Self-Directed Work Teams (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2000), 175.
2.
Roger M. Schwarz, The Skilled Facilitator: A Comprehensive Resource for Consultants, Facilitators,
Managers, Trainers, and Coaches, 2nd Edition (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002), 96-135.
Team Facilitation
Team Motivation................................................................................................................84
Requisites for Team Success............................................................................................85
Team Stages.........................................................................................................................86
Team Communication.......................................................................................................88
Communications Pitfalls..................................................................................................89
Endnotes..............................................................................................................................90
83
Team Motivation
What is motivation?
At a minimum, motivation is an epiphenomenal by-product of reinforcement. Under operant
conditioning, an individual is likely to repeat a behavior when the results of a given behavior are
reinforcing. The definition has the weakness of being tautologous; claims that motivation is something
inside are not measurable, whereas the frequency of behaviors based on results is measurable.
Team motivation is an even more complex concept because we are now referring to the unmeasurable
mental of a collective. Even so, we can still expect some general group heuristics to apply:

Early successes reinforce later successes
Recognition of achievement improves the likelihood of more achievement
Complete understanding of the common goal is necessary
Trust, in the sense that team members know they can rely on one another, will promote competent
results
Negative reinforcement in the form of we are doing this together to keep our jobs is sometimes
enough to motivate heroic efforts from a team
On the other side, we can turn these around and see that:

Early failures are unlikely to lead to later successes
Lack of recognition is discouraging
Unclear goals allow the team to wander in search of purpose
Distrust, especially finger-pointing and backstabbing, leads to bickering and lack of

accomplishment
Hopelessness leads to despair which leads to collapse of the endeavor
The author has been a member of successful teamsmembership on a good team is very exciting and
a lot of fun even when the work is long and hard. The mutual support and the dependability make
for a great experience. In these situations, the principal negative is the knowledge that all teams will
come to an end.
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Requisites for Team Success

Element
Ideals
Clarity of team goals
Accord on mission and vision
Clearly defined roles
Team members understand what to do and when
Clear communication
Make clear and direct statements or questions

Be succinct (concise)
Listen actively
Explore rather than debate others ideas
Beneficial team behavior
Seek information and opinions

Suggest procedures for reaching a goal
Clarify or elaborate on ideas
Summarize
Test for consensus
Keep the discussion from digressing
Compromise and be creative in resolving differences
Work to tease tension and resolve difficulties
Express provisional group sense and check for consensus
before proceeding
Work for standards for decision making
Well-defined decision procedures Discuss and agree on how decisions will be made
Explore important issues by polling
Decide important issues by consensus
Openly (overtly) test for consensus
Balanced participation
All members contribute equally, in their natural style
Established ground rules
Ground rules for the team are discussed early and agreed on
85
Team Stages
A team does not occur simply because a manager has appointed people to a team. Teams require some
level of evolution before they really function as a team.
Forming
Questions asked during this phase include:

What is my purpose here?
Who are these other people?
Storming
Sometimes team evolution can be painful, particularly if the team has been staffed with some mediocre
performers. Additionally, some members may have strong biases that conflict with those of other
members, leading to the need for conflict prevention, conflict resolution, or some level of facilitation
in order to keep making progress. Questions asked during this phase include:

What are my expectations? What are their expectations?
Why arent my expectation being met?
Whats my role in this?
Norming
The team has evolved into a negotiated peace, but members are not performing at their potential as
yet. Questions asked during this phase include:

How do I resolve these conflicts? How are we going to move forward?
How do we get this done as a group thing?
Performing
At this point, the team is cross-supporting, with each member providing assistance and motivation
for every other member. A question asked during this phase include:

What are the criteria for success? (Gosh, were good!)
Adjourning
All things come to an end and teams are no exception. The adjournment phase can be a period of
letdown for members. Questions asked during this phase includes:

Alas, it is over . . . what a great team and what a great experience . . . !
Why do I have regrets?
Recognition
Questions asked during this phase include:

Will they notice our work?
Will they recognize us as a group? Or individually?
See Figure 3.3 for a pictorial representation of this model of teaming.2 (This is a slightly expanded
version of the explanation in Managers as Facilitators).
86
The Orming Model of Teams, with Team Retirement
Figure 3.3 The Orming model.
87
Team Communication
As we have noted earlier in this book, team communication is generally less complicated when the
participants are collocated. They can engage in face-to-face communications, quick phone calls, and
ad hoc meetings.
Distributed teams have issues with geography, time zones, languages, cultures, and other distractions.
In some cases, even highly technological solutions like video-conferencing may not be readily available
at the remote sites.
If the team has a written charter, they can use the charter to define the channels for communication
among team members. Special protocols can be specified, particularly if cultural issues are a potential
problem.
It is important for team members to realize that communication is what the receiver receives, not
what the transmitter transmits. In short, it may become necessary for the communicator to ask the
communicated to paraphrase statements in order to achieve some level of assurance that the signal is
arriving without transmission errors. In a sense, this kind of technique is very similar to handshaking
as practiced in computer communications.
The communicator can also increase the number of channels used to communicate; for example, the
transmitter person may use email, voice mail, and face-to-face communications to improve the signal
to noise ratio. They can also make use of pictorial representations of the signal.
88
Communications Pitfalls
Eckes1 list of pitfalls:

Lack of Champion involvement at each step
Failure to write things down
Action plans
Agendas
Minutes
Time lines
Accomplishments
Lack of formalization of rewards and recognition for the teams

Members have contributed substantial time to project
Team may have triumphed with a huge cost reduction
Even smaller successes deserve recognition to keep the projects progressing
Ignoring potential of converted resistors
Failure to assign the best and brightest
Assigning losers because they are available is counter-productive
The Belts are the elite
Lack of ground rules in meetings

Agendas/minutes
Parking lot boards (storage for irrelevant or long-winded topics)
Equal participation regardless of title
Lack of facilitation

Keeps meetings on track
Prevents clashes
Jumping to divorce too early

Team may still be coagulating
May need to convert a resistor
Expecting Six Sigma team to solve an organizational issue

Probably outside charter
Champion should be involved
Intervening too much

Team may develop dependency on champion or other high-level intervention
Sometimes topics must be worked through
89
Endnotes
90
1.
George Eckes, Six Sigma Team Dynamics: The Elusive Key to Project Success (New York, NY: John
Wiley and Sons, 2002), .
2.
Richard G. Weaver and John D. Farrell, Managers as Facilitators: a Practical Guide to Getting Work
Done in a Changing Workplace (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 1997), 67.
Team Dynamics
Team-Building Techniques..............................................................................................92
Team Success Hints............................................................................................................93
Team Challenges................................................................................................................94
Dealing with Groupthink1...............................................................................................95
More Team Challenges.....................................................................................................96
Some Common Team Problems......................................................................................97
Endnotes..............................................................................................................................98
91
Team-Building Techniques
How to set goals
The participant should ask:

What is this meeting about? (Ultimate goal question)
What are we supposed to accomplish? (Ultimate results questions)
Why did they ask me? What is my contribution to be?
How will the group work? What are the ground rules?
How to designate roles

Individuals may volunteer for roles, which can then be approved by the group. Roles can rotate from
meeting to meeting if the team agrees to this method of assuring equity. A role does not grant any
special authority to a participant; rather, it offers specific obligations and responsibilities. Obligations
of a role are available for any participant to exercise, but responsibilities may be exercised only by the
team member in that role.
How to apply responsibilities
The leader or facilitator can make clear what the responsibilities of each role are to be. The responsibility
is wedded to the role. Alternatively, the team can arrive at the responsibility matrix through consensus.
Agendas, hidden and stated
Agendas guide meetings and help keep them on track; hidden agendas interfere with meetings. A
good written agenda can help counteract hidden agendas. The well-crafted agenda should include
(1) the agenda topics, if appropriate, (2) a brief explanation of each item and its importance, (3) the
individual responsible for each item, (4) the duration of each discussion, and (5) the action needed for
each item that requires action.
Coaching
When coaching, a team member is in an instructional mode. The team member can gently use some
expert knowledge to instruct (with dignity) another team member in how to perform a specific
function more optimally.
Mentoring
A mentor is not necessarily a team member and their role is more advisory than instructive. Frequently,
a mentor is a more senior individual who has been around the block a few times.
Facilitation
The facilitator stands outside the team and helps them decide how to decide (consensus, majority
rules, multivoting, leadership). They also see to it that all issues raised have been addressed, using a
parking lot board as a temporary holding area. A facilitator can help the team decide on the next
step. Moreover, they can summarize results, agreements, and next steps.
92
Team Success Hints

Although these hints sound personal, they apply equally well to team members, who will be having
the same issues as an individual practitioner:

Statistics are too difficult

Many projects require virtually no statistics (it is just a tool)
Project that require statistics may only need simple tests like the t-test
Master Black Belts can help
Projects last too long

Green Belt projects are often 2-3 months, sometimes shorter
Black Belt projects are typically 4-6 months, sometimes a little longer
Master Black Belt projects can be very long
If I am part-time, how do I finish my project?

Set aside formal time every day to work on the project, even if it is only 15 minutes
Ask your Champion for helpthey are there to help you overcome obstacles
Toolbox is gigantic

Usually a subset of tools is used for any project; here are some common tools (very simple)

Ishikawa cause and effect diagram
Pareto chart
Flow chart
Input-process-output (IPO) diagram (very powerful, yet simple)
My regular job will suffer

The Champion should help with this issue
The Six Sigma program must have executive support
Six Sigma is manufacturing only

Design for Six Sigma is not directly manufacturing
Transactional Six Sigma provides huge possibilities for improvement on the front end of
the business

Value stream mapping is a key tool with transactional Six Sigma
93
Team Challenges
Dealing with overbearing or dominant participants
An overbearing or dominant team member (1) wields a disproportionate amount of influence, (2)
consumes a disproportionate amount of air time, (3) sees silence as an invitation to talk, (4) inhibits
the group from building a functioning team, and (5) discourages participation by other members,
who then find excuses for missing meetings.
Ways to deal with dominating participants include having the leader engage others, refocusing the
discussion, and using a timekeeper, who can keep dominators in check by asking, Who has the floor?
Dealing with reluctant participants
In the case where one or two members rarely speak, problems may develop if the quiet ones are not
encouraged to participate. This behavior invites dominators to dominate.
Solutions to reluctance can include deliberately checking around the group, creating activities that
rely on participation (trainer-games), recording ideas, and testing whether the team is satisfied with
the procedures.
Opinions versus facts
Some team members may express personal beliefs and assumptions with such confidence that other
team members assume they are hearing facts (or groupthink rears its ugly head). Solutions to opinions
include testing comprehension, bringing in the experience of others (asking for suggestions), and
deliberately asking for more information.
Groupthink
Groupthink is the nasty tendency of group members to go along with the crowd. In many cases,
members will not speak against the majority even when they harbor serious misgivings about
decisions. Silence can become a deadly form of acquiescence. However, silence does not obviate
responsibility. For example, witnessing the creation of a concentration camp while feigning ignorance
of its purpose does not eliminate ones responsibility for its existencean extreme example, but
illustrative of the depths of perniciousness involved with groupthink.
See Table 3.1 for a list of some of the negatives associated with groupthink.
94
Dealing with Groupthink1

Conditions
Groupthink occurs when a group is highly cohesive and under a great

deal of pressure to make a quality decision. The team members know dissension will delay the process
Negative outcomes
Examining too few alternatives

Failure to critique each others ideas
Disposing of early alternatives
Failure to seek expert opinion when it would be helpful
Selectivity in gathering information (only what supports my theory!)
No contingency plans
Symptoms
Illusions of invulnerability (a form of paranoia)

Explaining away inept decisions
Belief in the groups morality (like national socialism)
Sharing stereotypes without questioning them
Exercising direct pressure
Failure to express ones feeling
Maintaining the illusion of unanimity (sometimes even harmony)
Solutions
Use a steering committee that reports to the larger group

Support impartial leadership
Use different policy groups for different tasks
Divide into groups and then discuss differences (breakdown of false
unanimity)
Discuss with subgroups and then report back
Use outside experts
Use a devils advocate to question all the groups ideas
Hold an oops! meeting to give a final opportunity to opt for an alter
native decision
Table 3.1 Groupthink.
95
More Team Challenges

Feuding
Feuding people see a meeting as a field of combatfrequently, the issue is not the subject they are
arguing about but rather the contest itself, like a sporting match in which other team members, fearing
involvement, can become spectators rather than participants.
Some ideas for counteracting feuding are keeping adversaries on different teams, attempting
reconciliation (in or out of the meeting), quiet removal of passive-aggressive people (they have hidden
agendas), and offering compromise.
Floundering
Floundering occurs when there is:

An unclear or overwhelming task
A pattern of false starts and directionless discussions
No consensus
Solutions to floundering include:

Clarifying the teams task or goals and time frames
Pulling together related ideas
Asking if the group is nearing a decision
Offering a conclusion for the group to accept or reject
Rush to accomplishment
When a rush to accomplishment occurs, it is usually because the team has a do- something member
who is impatient or sensitive to pressure, who urges the team toward hasty decisions, and who
discourages efforts to analyze or discuss the decision.
Solutions include reminding the team that quality takes patience; reviewing tasks, time lines, and
accomplishments; and making sure that decisions are data-driven (always a good Black Belt practice).
Attribution
Attribution is name dropping, which can be challenged directly. It is also known as a logical fallacy
called the appeal to authority.
Discounts and plops2
A Peter Scholtes term, discounts and plops occur when important values or perspectives are
ignored or ridiculed, making members feel discounted, or when a team member makes a statement
that plops (the proverbial lead balloon).
Solutions to discounts and plops include helping discounted members identify and openly state what
is important, pointing out implicit or explicit norms, and admitting errors.
Digressions/tangents
Digressions are a trap for members. Relevant anecdotes (war stories) can lead to digressions, and at
meetings end people wonder how the time slipped away.
To deal with digressions, deliberately focus discussion, agree to change the content of the meeting, use
a timekeeper, or use a parking lot, a convenient board at the back of the room for storing digressions
for later reference.
96
Some Common Team Problems

1.
Unilateralism/Authoritarianism. One person makes the decision and imposes it on the team.
Frequently, team members have little input and buy-in is low.
2.
Handclasp. Two team members decide and inflict their decision on the team. This pattern gives
the illusion of being participatory, but still provokes little participation from the other members,
who have little buy-in.
3.
Minority. Several members make a decision and impose it upon the majority, who have been
marginalized. This technique can look like participatory decision making, but it is only a
handclasp among an oligarchy. Decision quality suffers because of the lack of input from the
majority, and acceptance is reduced among the majority.
4.
Majority. The democratic method. When a team is unable to resolve a conflict, there is almost
always a suggestion to take a votemajority wins. Majority rule has the illusion of equity, but
it terminates discussion and reduces decision quality and discussion diversity. It also elicits no
acceptance from the minority.
5.
Unanimity. Solves the problem of commitment. This method may reflect groupthink more than
anything else, because it represents tacit agreement.
6.
Consensus. Difficult to achieve, consensus results in the best decision quality and the highest
level of allegiance (buy-in) to the team decision. Alternatives are discussed and honed until a
consensus occurs. Beware of groupthink! All methods have some problems, but this one seems
to have the fewest downsides.
Note that the agreement end of the spectrum still has the threat of groupthink.
97
Endnotes
98
1.
Irving Janis, Victims of Groupthink (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972), 174-198.
2.
Peter Scholtes, Brian Joiner, and Barbara Streibel, The Team Handbook, 2nd Edition (Madison, WI:
Oriel Incorporated, 1996), 6-15.
Time Management for Teams

Agenda Management......................................................................................................100
Agenda Example...............................................................................................................101
Meeting Preparation........................................................................................................102
Meeting Preparation Checklist......................................................................................103
Meetings: People and Resources...................................................................................104
Checklist for Resources..................................................................................................105
Are Meetings Necessary?................................................................................................106
Alternatives to Meetings................................................................................................107
Distributed Teams............................................................................................................108
Tools to Manage Distributed Teams.............................................................................109
99
Agenda Management
The agenda provides a formal tool for stating the following:

Schedule
Location
People and roles
Equipment needed
Sequence of events
As such, the agenda provides a framework for directing the course of the meeting.
The agenda provides more than just a map for the meeting. The agenda allows the meeting leader
to control the course of meeting, keeping it on track instead of deviating into irrelevant topics and
personal information. The most tightly run meeting the author has seen was run at White Sand Missile
Range for the benefit of NATOeach speaker was allowed exactly three minutes to make his or her
point and move on the next issue. This approach may seem a little extreme, but the meeting ended
on time and every topic was covered; in fact, the shortened times forced the participants to consider
which issues were truly important and to focus on getting their message across in the short time, also
known as cutting to the chase.
The agenda identifies participants and special actors. The special actors will perform functions such
as:

Time-keeping
Facilitating
Recording (secretary)
Directing
Six Sigma meetings do not have to follow Roberts Rules of Order but some level of formality will
keep the meeting from deteriorating into a complaint session or provide a stage for a raconteur. In
general, one might wish to organize meetings as follows:
100
Open
Read or accept minutes from last meeting
Old business
New business
Bring up new business
Adjourn the meeting
Agenda Example
Meeting:
Date:
Start Time:
End Time:
Location:
Process Monitor:
Participants:
Timekeeper:
Meeting Purpose:
Recorder:
Preparation
Required:
Scribe:
Time
Topic
Facilitation
Desired Outcome
11:20am
12:00
1:00pm
2:30pm
101
Meeting Preparation
The meeting planners should provide the rest of the attendees with appropriate information and
other resources in advance of the meeting. The planners must allow enough time for the attendees to
review the distributed information. One of the most important pieces of information is the meeting
agenda, which we have already discussed. The agenda is a tool for maintaining the tempo of the
meeting and eliminating wasted time.
The meeting planners/holders should also identify the purpose of the meeting. If the purpose of the
meeting is to make a decision, then the meeting facilitator should help drive that meeting towards
a decision. The same applies if the meeting is held to disseminate information to a large group of
people.
The meeting planners/holders should arrive sufficiently early that they can set up their equipment
and verify functionality. Other materials should be placed on tables, the tables themselves should
be arranged in a format that is non-contentious (when more than one table is used), and an easel or
whiteboard should be available for a parking lot to store sidebar information so the attendees do
not waste time on potentially irrelevant or out of scope issues.
Attendees should plan to arrive at the meeting early enough that the meeting can commence right on
time. Anything less is a sign of disrespect to other meeting attendees, demonstrates sloppy behavior,
and may ultimately demonstrate untrustworthiness.
102
Meeting Preparation Checklist

Skills required
Financial needs, if any (e.g., renting a room)
Information disseminated

Agenda
Supporting documentation
Slide handouts if available
People who must attend the meeting
Optional people who may attend the meeting
Roles of some of the people attending the meeting
Equipment
Projector
Computer
Pointer
Handouts, if any
Transparencies if using an overhead projector
Appropriate software if using a computer
Location

Chairs
Tables
Easels, whiteboards, or other note-taking material
Table for food if such is to be provided
Coffee, cups, napkins, spoons, creamer
103
Meetings: People and Resources

Some roles in a meeting are relatively formal; for example, the facilitator, if present, occupies a special
positionattending but not directly participating in the meeting. Probably one of the most difficult
tasks is maintaining the tempo of the meeting. In the authors experience, meeting holders will
frequently set aside too much time for routine meetings; for example, an hour when fifteen minutes
is sufficient to complete the job. At the beginning, the facilitator or timekeeper may find it useful to
provide an obvious timekeeping device, either a stopwatch or a table clock that all can see. The idea
in all of this is to reduce the cost center effect that meetings have on the enterprise.
The timekeeper must be willing to interrupt and call time for allotted durations. The goal is to eliminate
meandering, a by-product of the natural human urge to converse rather than dialogue.
In some cases, the metronomic, quasi-military approach may be counter-productive. This situation
occurs in cases where the most important single act is listening. These meetings are times where
permitting self-organization is more important than a driven agenda. Allowing for meandering by the
participants may reveal states of mind that might otherwise remain concealed. As with many actions
in the enterprise, establishing the purpose of the meeting is important because it will define the scope
of the meeting and the general direction of the dialogue.
Figure 3.4 shows the difference between cutting to the chase and meandering around the goal. Keep
in mind that in some cases, the meandering may have value if the team is on a voyage of discovery.
The benefit/cost of the meeting will depend on the purpose of the meeting.
Figure 3.4 Cutting to the chase versus the meandering meeting.
104
Checklist for Resources

Information

Requirements specifications
Drawings
Visual aids
People

Skills set needed
Personality requirements
Educational background
Experiential background
Locations/areas

On-site

Meeting room availability
Off-site

Distance
Cost
Hotel availability
Equipment

Audio amplification
Audio translation
Video display
Multiple video displays
Video translation
Financial

Rental fees if off-site
Training material
Meals
Snacks
Beverages
Transportation

Air
Sea
Ground
105
Are Meetings Necessary?

In many cases, meetings can become a waste of time. A typical example is the round-robin gee, boss,
look what I did kind of conversation that achieves very little. In other cases, participants may lose
composure and the meeting will devolve into a shouting match rather than a tool for achievement. In
the Team Challenges section, we discussed groupthink, a pernicious situation where people will often
go along to get along instead of standing up for what they believe in. Regardless of the goal or result
of a meeting, it will always be a cost center for most of the participants. Meetings, whether they be
video-conferencing or face-to-face, are always synchronous in the sense that they require the presence
of the attendees for the duration of the event.
On the next page, we list other options to holding meetings. Some may object that these approaches are
weak alternatives to the face-to-face interaction of a meeting. There is some justice to that qualm, for
most of these approaches dont necessarily lead to multiperson interaction. However, the experience
of the author suggests that the bulk of meetings dont lead to real interaction either but, instead, to
censure if anybody displays the slightest nuance of passion for their position.
The officers of the enterprise can set a goal that meetings are to be held for the following situations:

Where somebody must witness that all participants were there and where a sign-in sheet is
necessary (ISO 9001:2008 requires a management review which is usually handled this way)
Passing on of personnel information like insurance, training, and other updates
Group training
Where the technology to asynchronously pass on information is unavailable
Where everybody speaks the same language
Where regulations require a meeting (for example, Board of Directors meetings are usually
spelled out in corporate and government regulations)
Some types of interaction where the approaches on the next page are clearly reasonable are:

Informational; that is, where the purpose is to disseminate information
Sequential decision-making, where a metaphoric ball is passed from one participant to the next
and their decision logged and tallied
Global interaction, where widely-differing time zones cause difficulties with simultaneity
Where many members speak other languages, the power of a uni-language meeting is greatly
diminishedeven with translators, there is a lag in responses
The point here is that, with a little imagination, many of the defects of meetings can be overcome
while still communicating and progressing through projects.
106
Alternatives to Meetings
Some people may not agree with the entire list, but here are some alternatives to meetings:

Voice mail

Asynchronous (that is, other party doesnt have to be there)
Records can be kept
Recipient can listen to message more than once
Email

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
Recipient can read message more than once
Message can be dropped into a task in Microsoft Outlook
Distributed action item lists

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
All members understand allocation of tasks
Specify actor, action, due date, resources (if any ancillary resources are available)
One-on-one visits

Face to face verbal communication is synchronous
Usually no record kept other than appointment
Recipient hears once
Broadcast messages

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
107
Distributed Teams
As seen in the previous parts of this chapter, meetings and other communications can become
complicated when dealing with distributed teams. However, it is possible to overcome the various
difficulties.
When the team lies within the same general area, the language and time zone issues can fade. Travel
is still a problem, particularly as petroleum prices continue to climb in the twenty-first century. Email,
telephone, and video-conferencing are alternatives to travel. Microsoft, among others, provides
numerous tools for collaboration among teams using the internet as a substrate.
When the team lies in the western hemisphere, time zones may not be a disaster, but language
could become an issue. The dominant languages in the western hemisphere are English, Spanish,
Portuguese, and Canadian French. Native languages exist and thrive also. In general, a lot of business
in the western hemisphere is conducted in English, even in areas where the spoken language is not
English. Much support documentation is also in English and many of the large industrial customers
are English-spoken enterprises. The overwhelming bulk of the western hemisphere is ostensibly
Christian, so the cultural differences exist but are not insurmountable.
When the team lies in the eastern hemisphere, time zone may not be a major issue, but significantly
more variety in spoken and written languages is available; Europe alone has a multitude of significant
languages. When we consider the addition of Africa and Asia and trans-Pacific Ocean languages,
the language issue can become important. The eastern hemisphere also has more religious/cultural
variety, particularly in, for example, a large population country such as India, which has multitude
of languages in addition to the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Jainism, and
Zoroastrianism.
When the team is distributed over both hemispheres east and west, north and south, time zone and
language/cultural issues are immediately important and, in some cases, may be insurmountable.
Although English is spoken worldwide, it is by no means the most-spoken language on the planet
that is Chinese. The use of language, the cultural differences, and the religious differences must be
approached with sensitivity. A modicum of study of the backgrounds of team members can lead to
the avoidance of:
108
Laughable language gaffes
Unforgiveable social faux pass
Insult and injury
Personal issues dealing with time zones (for example, an early morning call from Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico is an evening call in Singapore)
Tools to Manage Distributed Teams

Successful distributed teams can use technological techniques to help keep the flow of communication
alive:

Voice mail

Asynchronous (other party doesnt have to be there)
Records can be kept
Recipient can listen to message more than once
Worldwide
May require bi- or multi-lingual capability
Email

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
Calendars

Shared calendars making meetings easier to schedule
Team might consider using a globally accessible calendar
Distributed action item lists

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
Specify actor, action, due date, resources (if any ancillary resources are available)
Can use translation service ahead of time if more than one language
One-on-one visits

Face to face verbal communication is synchronous
Usually no record kept other than appointment
Recipient hears once
May require bi- or multi-lingual capability
Broadcast messages

Asynchronous
Records can be kept
Can use translation service ahead of time if more than one language
109
Team Decision-Making Tools

Nominal Group Technique, Multivoting.................................................................... 112
Steps for Nominal Group Technique and Multivoting............................................ 113
Force Field Analysis........................................................................................................ 114
111
Nominal Group Technique, Multivoting

The term brainstorming has come to mean many things. The way we use it here is a situation where
a group will meet and work to generate ideas in the following way:

Gather in a nonconfrontational setting (dont set the tables so people must face each other)
Lay down ground rules
X amount of time available
Attempt to generate Y amount of ideas
If public and oral, no criticism of ideas during generation phase
Ideas to be capture anonymously if using self-stick notes or other written devices
Group to be facilitated by an experienced individual who can keep the activity on track
The single-person version of this approachmindstormingis sometimes called the twenty-idea

approach and proceeds thusly:

Select a recording tool

Can be audio
Can be paper
Can be software

Mindjet Mindmanager has an explicit mode for this
Outline modes in spreadsheets and word processors
Freemind
Java Outline Editor (JOE)
Dont worry about a time limitwe are going for count, not time
Begin to record ideas
Aim to complete at least 20 ideas

Use inversions of ideas
Use crazy ideas
Consider a TRIZ-style of approach (techniques for inventive innovation)
The author used the mindstorming approach to generate 32 ideas to deal with a laboratory staffing
and throughput issue. Some of these were later implemented.
Ideas generated using these approaches can be submitted for either the nominal group or the
multivoting technique on the next page. The idea with these approaches is to convert the clearly
subjective choice approach into something resembling objective decision-making.
112
Steps for Nominal Group Technique and Multivoting

Nominal group technique
This technique helps build consensus and buy-in. Here are the steps:
1. Select items of concern from a brainstorming exercise (or other source).
2. Write all items on a flip chart, white board, adhesive notes, or 3x5 cards.
3. Eliminate duplicates.
4. Publish final list of items.
5. Have each member rank the items on a piece of paper or a 3x5 card.
6. Combine the ranks and score.
7. You have a democratically chosen a list of priorities!
Multivoting
Multivoting is a participative technique that, although democratic, puts people on the spot by moving
them gently toward a decision. One form goes as follows:
1. Select items of concern from a brainstorming exercise or other source.
2. Identify voting criteria to eliminate crossed purposes and misunderstandings.
3. Give each member a stock of points to distribute as they see fit.
4. Do not allow more than 50 percent of any stock to be placed on any one item.
5. Allow voting with points to occur.
6. Tally the results.
7. You have a democratically chosen a list of priorities!
113
Force Field Analysis

Force field analysis is a simple approach based on a fairly sophisticated psychological theory, that
of Kurt Lewin1. The force field analysis can use ideas generated during brainstorming that have
subsequently been grouped using an affinity diagram. When actions are added to the stew in a semiformal approach (lists next to forces), the force field analysis tool can become a much more powerful
approach to dealing with conflicting issues.
Perhaps the greatest benefit from this diagram is not so much the opposing fields but, instead, the
identification of positive and negative forces affecting a decision. If we quantify some of the fields,
we can give a more accurate indication of field strength.
A user might also want to attach actions performed for or against the various components of the
diagram, converting the tool into a representation of the plan for achieving the goal. If we take the
force field idea even farther, we can consider it to be a representation of positive and negative Ishikawa
(cause and effect; fishbone) diagrams positioned in opposition. This idea suggests that the force field
diagram can be a more powerful tool than the Ishikawa diagram.
As with all primarily qualitative tools, the results are completely dependent on the quality of the
effort put into creating the lists. In the authors experience, this tool sees little use in the real world,
possibly because in the generic form we see in Figure 3.5, the tool does not provide us with much
power. However, given the comments made above, it would seem that the power of the tool is largely
limited only by the imagination of the user or team.
114
Force Field Analysis Example
Figure 3.5 Force field analysis for buying a new house.

Why list items in the force field diagram? For one thing, it brings collisions to the surface, so they
can become a topic for dialogue. Additionally and more formally, the team can deliberately take steps
to reduce or eliminate the restraining forces and enhance or strengthen the driving forces.
The diagram can easily be made more elaborate by adding fields for actual measures and
countermeasures taken to manage the appropriate fields. We could also attempt some level of
subjective quantification of the field strength.
115
Endnotes
1.
116
Kurt Lewin, (1943). Defining the Field at a Given Time. Psychological Review. 50: 292-310.
Republished in Resolving Social Conflicts & Field Theory in Social Science, Washington, D.C.:
American Psychological Association, 1997.
Management and Planning Tools

Affinity Diagrams............................................................................................................ 118
Tree Diagrams...................................................................................................................120
Process Decision Program Charts (PDPC)..................................................................122
Matrix Diagrams...............................................................................................................124
Interrelationship Digraphs............................................................................................126
Prioritization Matrices....................................................................................................128
Activity Network Diagrams...........................................................................................130
117
Affinity Diagrams
Affinity diagrams are used to cluster thoughts or ideas that are the output of brain-storming,
mindstorming, or other idea-generating activities. Because traditional affinity diagram work is a team
effort, it can encourage participation and buy-in from team members.
A typical procedure to develop an affinity diagram might go as follows:
1.
Define the topic of interest.
2.
Brainstorm ideas. Remember, there should be no criticizing during this phase. The idea is to
generate as many adhesive notes or 3x5 cards as possible. These can be affixed to a white board
or bulletin board in any kind of order.
3.
Sort all the ideas into related clusters. Do not give the clusters titles yet.
4.
If the team activity has settled down, open a discussion of heading cards or adhesive notes for
the various clusters.
5.
The team might choose to migrate the affinity diagram to a tree diagram if this makes sense.
6.
Record the results.
An older variant of this kind of activity is the Japanese KJ method, named after Jiro Kawakita (Japanese
use the surname first). In the KJ method, the card technique is used to partition hard data into groups,
rather than using ideas. Given the emphasis on hard data in the KJ approach, it is wise not to confuse
it with the much more qualitative approach we show here.
The primary purpose of affinity diagramming is to take the results of brainstorming or mindstorming
and organize the ideas and thoughts into categories. Generally, the categories will arise naturally as
the collection of ideas receives study. In some cases, it may make sense to take a note from Ishikawa
and use the cause-and-effect diagram categories to get the process started. These categories can then
be disposed of as the process move along.
Do not dismiss this approach as simplistic and useless. The author has seen the method used in
several workshops to advantage.
Figure 3.6 on the next page shows an example of an actual affinity diagram used for laboratory
improvement using SmartDraw.
118
Affinity Diagram Example
Figure 3.6 An affinity diagram for a laboratory.
119
Tree Diagrams
Tree diagrams are a convenient way to represent data that falls into hierarchical classifications or
categories. They are the major alternative to using a table to represent information. Many other
diagrams are derived from the basic tree:

Fault trees
Why-why
How-how
Organization charts
Management Oversight and Risk Tree Analysis (Department of Energy)
Taxonomy of living beings (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) divided out
by sexual viability
Ontologies
Bills of materials
Work breakdown structures
Any kind of outline
Indices (for example, a book index can be represented as a tree)
Similarly to the affinity diagram, a team can put 3x5 cards or adhesive notes on a wall, a board, or a
table and begin to establish the hierarchy of information. Lower levels should represent more detailed
information than higher levels.
Tree diagrams are part of the two main data structures: tables and trees. Tables are useful for vast
amounts of repetitively categorical information whereas trees serve the purpose of organizing
information into a natural hierarchy of relationships.
Figure 3.7 on the next page shows a simple breakdown or taxonomy of laboratory tests.
120
Tree Diagram Example
Figure 3.7 Tree example for a laboratory.

Trees, networks, and tables are data structures. It is difficult to conceive of any other structure that does
not derive from these three fundamental methods for organizing information. The tree format is the
most useful way to represent hierarchies. Networks represent interconnections without necessarily
signifying hierarchies and tables organize data under or across from headings.
121
Process Decision Program Charts (PDPC)

A process decision program chart (PDPC) is a variant of the tree diagram. It can be used as a simple
alternative to FMEA or FTA. In the automotive supplier environment, it is probably not an acceptable
tool for anticipating failures.
A typical way to build a PDPC is:
1.
Define the goal.
2.
Gather a team.
3.
List steps (if looking at a process) or components/ subsystems (if looking at a product) and
begin to decompose problems in a tree structure from the initial set of steps or subsystems.
4.
Show responses to the problems using a graphical cloud.
5.
Record the results.
Figure 3.8 presents a simple example of a PDPC. The O means selected; the X means difficult
or impossible. The PDPC presents a superficial resemblance to a fault tree. Fault trees, however,
can be converted directly into networks of Boolean logic. Fault trees are effectively a grammar for
representing the causes and effects related to problems.
The Department of Energy has taken the fault tree concept to a high levelit is called Management
Oversight and Risk Tree, or MORT, analysis. Normally, a MORT analysis happens after an accident
occurs. A small task team will run through approximately 1500 questions to sort out all the issues
involved in the accident. The MORT tree is already spelled out; the team works through the tree and
decides which items are not relevant to the investigation.
The FMEA is primarily an automotive industry technique for listing potential problems and dealing
with them before they happen. Users will assign occurrence (frequency), severity, and detection
values to each item on a scale of 1 to 10. They then multiply the occurrence times the severity times
the detection to get a risk priority number (RPN). A comparison of all RPNs for a given product or
system should elicit those that are the most problematic.
122
PDPC Example
Figure 3.8 An example of a PDPC used for roof leaks.
123
Matrix Diagrams
The following sections show examples of matrix diagrams. The numbers in the unshaded cells indicate
the power of the relationship at the cross-section of the headings. Matrix diagrams provide a way to
represent a large quantity of information compactly. On the downside, if the matrix diagram becomes
too complex, comprehension will most likely suffer.
At least five formats exist for matrix diagrams:
L-shaped matrix
The L-shaped matrix is the most common of these tools. It compares two variables, using target
symbols, triangles, and circles (or numbers) to qualitatively identify the relationship between the
variables. If you are already familiar with quality function deployment, you will recognize the
structure.
T-shaped matrix
The T-shaped matrix compares three variables, two along the bar and one along the stem, using target
symbols, triangles, and circles (or numbers) to qualitatively identify the relationship between the
variables.
Y-shaped matrix
The Y-shaped matrix compares three variables, but two at a time, so you end up with a threedimensional representation of three L-shaped matrices.
X-shaped matrix
The X-shaped matrix is similar to the T-shaped matrix, relating four values. It compares four variables,
using target symbols, triangles, and circles to qualitatively identify the relationship between the
variables. The row and column headers form an X when tipped 45.
C-shaped matrix
The C-shaped matrix is similar to the Y-shaped matrix, but it can compare all three variables at once
by positioning the item of interest in three-dimensional space. Because of its complexity, it is not used
very often. It is also difficult to interpret visually.
124
Matrix Diagram Examples

R1
R2
R3
R4
L1
L2
L3
L4
Table 3.2 The L diagram.

The row and column headers form an L.

M4
M3
M2
M1
R1
R2
R3
R4
L1
L2
L3
L4
Table 3.3 The T diagram.

The row and column headers form a T.
1
M4
M3
M2
M1
S1
S2
S3
S4
R1
R2
R3
R4
L1
L2
L3
L4
Table 3.4 The X diagram.

The row and column headers form an X when tipped 45 degrees.
125
Interrelationship Digraphs
The interrelationship digraph (direct graph means arrows, not lines, connect the nodes) is another
potential successor to the affinity diagram. As the name suggests, the purpose of the diagram is to
illuminate relationships among issues. It may be a very appropriate choice when the issues do not
nicely fit into a hierarchical arrangement like a tree diagram.
A typical procedure for creating an interrelationship digraph might be:
1.
Define the purpose of the diagram (of course . . . you are a Black Belt, right?).
2.
Gather people who have expertise in the area(s) of interest. These diagrams require more indepth knowledge than some other approaches.
3.
Take the results of the brainstorming session or the affinity diagram session and spread them out
on a board or a large table.
4.
Draw arrows between cards that have some kind of relationship. You can even use yarn or string
if that helps, although that makes it difficult to show directionality.
5.
Iterate until the team accepts the diagram.
6.
Each card is a node. Nodes with more ingoing and outgoing arrows than other nodes have a
rank. A higher rank may indicate a function or issue that is driving the others.
7.
Record the results of the whole exercise.
Figure 3.9 shows an example of a laboratory situation expressed as a digraph using SmartDraw.
Clearly the node with the most connections has the most influence. Social network analysis uses tools
that are similar to this diagram to example the network of personal interrelationship for influence,
clusters, cliques, and lack of influence. In some cases, a social network will not resemble the official
organization chart at all once the true zones of influence are revealed.
126
Interrelationship Digraph Example
Figure 3.9 Interrelationship digraph of a test equipment problem.
127
Prioritization Matrices
The purpose of a prioritization matrix is to narrow down choices. These matrices can be used to
compare components, design features, strategies, costs, and so on. In some cases, a more involved
version of these matrices can become a pairwise comparison method.
A typical process might look like:
1.
Define the purpose of the analysis
2.
Gather a team
3.
List criteria significant to evaluation
4.
Weigh criterion against criterion with an L-matrix
5.
Weigh option versus criterion with another L-matrix
6.
Compare each option on all criteria with a summary L-matrix
The Figure 3.10 shows the layout for a prioritization matrix, as generated by SmartDraw. The goal
is to be able to make a decision by performing several iterations of comparisons. More sophisticated
methods exist, but they generally require software support to put meat on theory.
128
Prioritization Matrix Example
Figure 3.10 Prioritization matrix example.
129
Activity Network Diagrams

An activity network diagram is one of the most significant tools used by the project manager. It shows
the dependencies of every task in a directed graph and, with special software, it can also show the
critical path in a contrasting color. Different kinds of software support different levels of information
in each task box of the network diagram. Most current project management software can convert
these diagrams to a hybrid Gantt chart/network diagram that shows time bars and dependencies. If
the dependencies are incompleteif we have hangers that appear out of nowherethen we cannot
mathematically compute a true critical path. Thus, it is essential that every task be tied to another task.
Only the kickoff task and the terminal tasks are not connected on both sides.
A typical procedure is:
1.
Define the goals, objectives, mission, vision, and so on
2.
Gather a team
3.
Create a WBS from the items in #1
4.
Tie the dependencies together with arrows showing the correct flow
5.
Check for hangers.
6.
Record the results. Figure 3.11 shows a snip from a larger plan for testing a product in a laboratory.
Pert Chart Pro from CriticalTools has the extra benefit of being able to reveal/conceal different parts
of the network as well as show the general time period in which the activity occurs. It is not as simple
to understand as the Gantt chart, but the approach has substantially more power for the enlightened
user.
130
Activity Network Diagram Example
Figure 3.11 An activity network diagram for a laboratory test.

Activity networks are sometimes mistakenly called PERT diagrams. The network data structure
shows the relations of the tasksmore information is contained inside the boxes (which in networkspeak are called nodes). The authors experience suggests that the network format is significantly
more difficult for team members to understand, certainly more so than the Gantt chart. The Gantt
chart was designed to represent simply an array of tasks to be done and who the responsible team
members were. The network diagram provides information about the more sophisticated concept of
dependencies.
131

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Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Design for Manufacturability and Assembly (DFMA)

Design for adroit joining/fastening.

Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures

Performance: Check yourself against your competition.

Intra-organization: Measure yourself against similar standards in other departments.

Self: Measure yourself against yourself.

Following is a high-level plan for implementing benchmarked information.

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

A Model for Benchmarking

Figure 2.2 Andersen and Pettersens model for benchmarking.1

Identify potential partners

Establish contact and gain acceptance

Methods and tools

Find causes for gap

Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Organizational Process Measures

Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures

Business Performance Measures

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Calculating the Business Quality Performance Measures

Figure 2.3 The standard Six Sigma formulas.

Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures

Cost of quality concepts

Inspections of any kind

Audits of any kind

Poka-yokes (mistake-proofing) are a wonderful example

Preventive maintenance on critical devices

Calibration can also be appraisal cost

Internal: scrap, nonconforming product

Failure within the plant

External: failure after shipping, frequently at the customer site

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Figure 2.4 Return on investment.

Section 2. Organizational Process Management and Measures

Quality Loss Function

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Quality Loss Function

Figure 2.5 Example quality loss function.

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Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Section 3. Team Management

Team Types and Constraints

Understand SDWT by investigating it

Accept SDWT by preparing for it

Make SDWT work by directing the implementation

Sustain SDWT by managing the transition

Continuously improve SDWT through a well-considered maturation process

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Bandwidth (not every place has high-speed communications)

Having the technology at all (so-called third world)

Schedules (time zones)

International date line

Phone and other communication billing rates can become complex

India is the largest English-speaking nation on the planet

Mexicans expect to be greeted when first seen in the day

Section 3. Team Management

Six Sigma for the New Millennium

Six Sigma Roles

Figure 3.1 One model for Six Sigma roles.

Section 3. Team Management