Business Continuity Management Planning around the World
In these turbulent times when the business environment is characterized by uncertainty and fraught with risks of all kinds, companies have to plan for contingencies and emergencies. The disaster preparedness that companies exhibit goes a long way in making them adjust to the changing circumstances when disaster strikes. For instance, companies may have to deal […]
Can the Government be Run Like a Business?
During the election campaign in 2016, Donald Trump repeatedly stated that he planned to run the government like a business. He would use this as a unique selling point. All the previous presidents, as well as all of his competitors, were professionals like lawyers, doctors and so on. Donald Trump argues that since he was […]
What Is China’s Deleveraging Strategy?
China has been the fastest growing economy in the world for the past few decades. The Chinese economy continued to grow even during the recession period. Many economists believe that a growing Chinese economy was a gift to other countries during the slowdown. Since the Chinese economy was growing, international trade was flourishing, and other […]
What is Six Sigma Plus ?
Most of us would have heard of the revolutionary quality management methodology and framework, Six Sigma. For quality professionals and people in manufacturing and operations, Six Sigma is a buzzword for effective quality management and rigorous application of defect prevention and reducing wastage in the organizational processes. However, in recent years, there has been movement […]
Different Types of Data Sampling Techniques
The method which is adopted to collect the sample obviously has large implications on the conclusions drawn from that sample. Mentioned below are the techniques which can be used for sampling populations as well as processes. A brief detail has been given so that you can understand the pros, cons and correct usages of each […]
Although the Six Sigma process has tried to make the process of developing problem and goal statements into a science, however in reality it still remains an art. This combined with the fact that goal and problem statements go a long way into the execution of the project make it important to understand what are the components that make some statements better than the other. Here are a few tips in this regard:
Problem and goal statements that are effective are written from the customers point of view. It is important to understand that the customer here is not the customer like marketing would refer to. There are internal customers within the organization. Anyone who receives the output of the process is a customer. Project Champions that spend time in understanding the customers real needs and planning goal and problem statements accordingly do better than others.
The Customers point of view is important. However it is also important to understand that the customer assigns varying degree of priorities to the various needs. Hence the needs need to be prioritised and segregated. The needs that are critical to quality (CTQ) must be paid more attention to while preparing the problem and goal statements.
Numbers tell you a story. This statement is true when it comes to six sigma. Words can be subjective. Using numbers to express the problem ensures that everyone has a similar understanding of the problem and it is not prone to numerous interpretations. Also numbers hold the key link of transitioning from the problem to the goal. The Problem is a level of the number, when it reaches another desired level it becomes a goal.
Problem and goal statements must be written in as few words as possible. It is common practise to write long statements full of business jargons. However, the Project champion must ensure that both these statements have the least possible jargons and are written in the fewest number of words possible.
A good problem statement does not imply causes, does not point fingers and does not suggest solutions. It is a problem statement, its job is to define a problem as accurately as possible. Similar is the case with goal statements. Goal statements are not meant to suggest solutions or causes. They must suggest what the state of affairs would be in ideal conditions.
Inculcating these measures will make both your problem as well as your goal statement robust and help you effectively define the purpose of your project.
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