MANAGING THE PROCESS

1. Timing

   • Process spans a major portion of the product development process.

   • Identify intermediate measures of progress.

   • Major projects will require 50 “60 hours of meetings.

   • Meetings are used to coordinate activities and update charts .

   • Most of the work happens outside the meetings.

2. Supporting the team

   • Provide the time.

   • Demonstrate your commitment.

   • Push for progress, but not too hard.

   • Be realistic.

   • Review charts ” make sure you understand.

   • Set priorities if needed.

   • Help team through the rough spots.

   • Keep asking the right questions.

3. What to look for

   • Blank rows ” unfulfilled customer wants

   • Blank columns

   • Unnecessary requirements

   • Incomplete customer wants

   • Rows of columns with only weak relationships ” banking a lot on "maybes"

   • Unmeasurable " hows "

   • Too many relationships (Less than 50% "white space" makes it hard to prioritize.)

   • Opportunities to excel

   • Negative correlations (Try to eliminate, trade off if needed.)

   • Conflicting competitive assessments

4. Common pitfalls

   • QFD on everything

   • Inadequate priorities

   • Lack of teamwork

     • Wrong participants

     • Turf issues

     • Lack of team skills

   • Lack of support

   • Too much "chart focus"

   • Handling trade-offs

   • Internal focus

   • "Stuck on tradition"

   • "Hurry up and get done"

   • Failure to integrate QFD

5. Some right questions

   • How was the voice of the customer determined?

   • How were the design requirements (etc.) determined? (Challenge the usual in-house standards.)

   • How do we compare to our competition?

   • What opportunities can we identify to gain a competitive edge?

   • What further information do we need? How can we get it?

   • How can we proceed with what we have?

   • What trade-off decisions are needed?

   • What can I do to help?

6. Points to remember

   • The process may look easy but requires effort.

   • Many of the entries look obvious ” after they are written down.

   • If there are not "tough spots," it probably is not being done right.

   • Focus on the end- user customer.

   • Charts are not the objective.

   • Charts are the means of achieving the objective.

   • Find reasons to succeed, not excuses for failure.