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Stephen B.
Stephen B.
Senior Product Manager | MBA, Six Sigma, Product, UX/UI, AI, SaaS, HealthTech
Published Mar 9, 2019
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Today, the competitive landscape is more fierce than ever. Sometimes when things get tough or the business is struggling, it can be difficult to know what to focus on, especially for new businesses. The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the case and there are things that can simplify all of the confusion.
The Six Sigma world has actually already developed something to help figure out what is most important to improving quality within the business. The “3 P’s” of TQM (Total Quality Management) are People, Process and Product. When looking at any business, we can apply this methodology to help identify areas for improvement and change.
People
When we talk about people in this context, we are referring to our employees. This is a key pillar to the framework because without good people, it doesn’t really matter how efficient the process is or how good the product is if you can’t get the team to execute.
Process
Having well defined and functional processes is critical for any organization. As time goes on, these processes can become outdated, inefficient and often times unnecessary. These can become a major drain on the organization and can impede progress.
Product
The final pillar in this framework is the product. Without a great product and product market fit, the business will never be successful. Creating a high quality product and ensuring that customers become raving fans of the product is key.
Leveraging this framework can really help to blow through some of the existing walls that are holding back the business. Here are some ways that we can use this framework:
People
When reviewing the staff of the organization, there are a few things that we can look for in order to identify areas for improvement.
- Are there any areas of the business that are operating in a silo in relation to the rest of the business? This can happen when a personal quarrel arises or there is competition between departments for resources.
- Are the employees happy? Happy employees make the best products and give the best level of support. If your employees are not happy, you will want to dive in deeper and find out what the issue is.
- Is your staff properly trained? This may sound like a simple question, but often times there are knowledge gaps that go overlooked. Having more knowledgeable employees helps with the cross pollination of ideas and can help to drive improvements organically. A tool like the Skills Matrix seen below are very useful in identifying these areas.
Process
Improvements to the processes that are used in the company can have massive cost savings in the long run and can improve quality, speed and even employee happiness. Here are some questions you can ask.
- What is one of the most frequent complaint from the staff? Something as simple as listening to the staff can have massive benefits in terms of identifying areas for improvement. This is usually the first place you should look when identifying new improvement opportunities. Obviously not all ideas are warranted, but you will find some gold nuggets going through this process.
- Is there a product that is not being completed on time or at the quality you want? Chances are that this is a process and/or scheduling issue. Again, this causes stress on the staff, causing sub optimal working conditions.
Product
Again, the third and final pillar to the framework is product. The business must have a product that customer’s like that has some form of product market fit. Here are some questions you can ask to identify areas for improvement.
- What makes you special? Is there anything that your product or service does that is unique to you? If there isn’t, you should evaluate the product for sustainability.
- How happy are your customers when they purchase your product? If your customers are not raving fans of your product, there is some work to be done.
- What problem does your product solve? If you do not have a defined use case around your product, then you need to create one. This doesn’t have to be complex as the situation may not be complex, but it is still a good exercise to go through.
-Stephen Butts
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