TogyJose

Here is my feedback on the 5 key elements Simple method – This was handled well by Ocado but we should not sacrifice traceability for simplicity. For registering a complaint the mandatory fields can be minimal to ensure simplicity, but there should be ample non-mandatory fields for Date of Purchase / Receipt # etc. That way – time/resources required for tagging Complaint # to Order # can be minimized or eliminated. A suggestion – if the customer takes a picture of the product with the barcode, Image Recognition and AI tools can identify the product and the order number. Acknowledgment – An auto acknowledgment is critical to keep the customer engaged and given that its a system trigger, the scope for improvement is limited. Quick response – As mentioned in the article, 24 hours should be the standard given that the org only needs to retrieve the information and update the customer on remedial action. The actual remedial action can take more than 24 hours and we can call that out in the response. As a customer, I would be absolutely fine with this approach. Well-written response – Ocado seems to have got this right. A suggestion – a well-written response doesn’t necessarily need to be a manual one. There are multiple organizations using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to use a customer’s publicly available digital profile to create a system-generated response that is personalized and quick at the same time. Of course, there still needs to be the last mile check by an agent before the mail is dispatched – from a legal / compliance perspective. No quibbles - It’s critical that customers do not experience negativity in the response, however, there should be some sort of FAQ document in the response that guides customers on preventing issues eg Check if there are any storage-related instructions, expiry date checks etc.. It’s very true that it takes an effort to raise a complaint – given these customers have shown an inclination to provide feedback, they should be included in the organizations' Design Thinking workshops. This will improve the qual(nt)ity of feedback and improve the connect the customer feels with the brand.

There are multiple legitimate “non-normal” distributions like Weibull / Exponential etc. But in few instances, data may not “meet” normality reqts like (symmetric/unimodal / p-value checks etc..) because of errors like - 1) Distribution related errors – a. Two perfectly normal distributions may be viewed as one, leading to bimodality b. Presence of multiple extreme outliers can significantly skew the symmetricity 2) Visualization Issues – If axes are not chosen appropriately - eg starting from zero for distributions with no low values at all (eg weights of people) – it can give incorrect visual cues. 3) Inadequate data – If the collected data is not random/representative enough, the distribution can look completely different from a Normal One

Quick feedback - you may want to rename the "Quote" button as "Reply". So far I was replying to posts separately, discovered this by accident.

Excellence Ambassador Perspective Togy's Response Rajesh Chakrabarty YES!! As the experience and the transferable knowledge gained from the project counts. The more the projects completed, the better. While end-to-end project experience is certainly an advantage, if the Individual has enough "Project Management" experience (maybe with a PMP background) wouldn't that coupled with a BB / MBB certification ensure the individual has the maturity to lead large / complex projects while still have indepth LSS knowledge? Santosh Chitale Yes. A Six Sigma experience in at least two or more should be the minimum criteria for onboarding into a Black Belt. Six Sigma gives a wide range of experience in the tools, analysis, and project management of a diverse team. Only with this range can one really go for the challenges that are part of Black Belt. 1) Given that in some industries (eg: Consulting) where LSS is not encouraged but there are enough high quality profiles, would we want to be limited by this requirement? 2) Even if someone were to claim having done a project end to end, there is no way to review the data and verify the findings on account of confidentiality. So we’ll limit ourselves to just checking only conceptual clarity anyway. 3) Not every LSS intervention needs to be a project, even a well-timed and well-documented FMEA can help with prioritised corrective action or a well documented QFD can help with a well structured design process. So a certified BB who has a done a lot standalone interventions deserves a chance. Krishnamurthy Rao Yes, for the role of an Improvement manager, a full-fledged project experience would be absolutely necessary. An improvement manager would be responsible for the successfully executing multiple projects which needs to show significant improvement in savings. An improvement manager will also have to guide the members of the team which would need practical on hands experience for a manager. Also on-hands experience would be necessary to carefully understand and work on the minor integrities which might not be acquired only with theoretical experience for a manager to successfully run & complete projects. Handson experience can be achieved by working on projects with clear deliverables even if they are not LSS projects. The key is to ensure that we're using LSS tools / templates to ensure the project is benefiting from the LSS methodology.

Valid point Santosh, but Given that in some industries (eg: Consulting) where LSS is not encouraged but there are enough high quality profiles, would we want to be limited by this requirement? Even if someone were to claim having done a project end to end, there is no way to review the data and verify the findings on account of confidentiality. So we’ll limit ourselves to just checking only conceptual clarity anyway. Not every LSS intervention needs to be a project, even a well-timed and well-documented FMEA can help with prioritised corrective action or a well documented QFD can help with a well structured design process. So a certified BB who has a done a lot standalone interventions deserves a chance.

No. I would have preferred to say Yes, but there isn’t a lot of adoption by Organization around Lean Six Sigma methodologies - which means even if an individual has put in a lot of effort in getting certified, he/she may not get to work on a project because the org is not interested. So, for selecting a BB - an MBB or a highly experienced BB should have an in depth conversation with the candidate to just check for conceptual clarity / aptitude / functional experience / maturity level etc..

Given that these projects cannot be documented, would suggest the following execution strategy - 1) Pitch this as a Process Optimization project and not necessarily a Lean Six Sigma intervention 2) The Big Y should be linked to one of the published Function Level or Organizational Level focus areas. 3) The output from the individual tools used for this project like Fishbones / Mindmap / FMEA etc should be circulated to the larger group as reusable collateral for future engagements – this will create positive recall.

B