Issue Resolution and Prevention Specialists
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Don't Panic .... Try This Instead!
With attention focused on panicking, little progress was occurring; my friend didn’t want to think about the possible bad outcome and thus took no action, exacerbating the potential problem.
Around the time I was learning the fundamentals of project management at my job, my friend was working to complete a PhD at a nearby university (in a field unrelated to my own) and was seriously stressed out about it. There were many activities required for thesis completion, but they had not written them down in one place, and certainly not in the form of any sort of plan or timeline. My friend worried about not finishing on time for the thesis defense (a fixed date).
I pointed out that it was only a potential problem; if everything was fine there was no need for worry. On the other hand, if the time crunch were real, it might still be possible to do something about it. First, we needed to determine if the worry was justified. Applying my recently acquired project management skills, I suggested we write down all the different actions and tasks necessary to finish, and take our best guess about how long each one might take.
While most tasks could be estimated easily enough, one was trickier. My friend knew that it would take a long time to manually process their raw experimental data into a useable form but struggled to quantify how long it might actually take. I suggested guesstimating the fastest (best-case) and slowest (worst-case) possible times required to process each data point. We multiplied by the number of data points and quickly realized the potential problem was in fact a real problem – even in the best-case scenario there weren’t enough hours in a day to finish the project on time.
Initially, this only reinforced the worrying, but then I pointed out that there was an entire department full of bright students who could be quickly trained to perform the data processing. Hiring some helpers for this time-consuming (but straightforward) part of the project got the schedule back on track. My friend graduated on time and became “doctor”.
Everybody worries; worrying consumes energy but doesn’t provide any tangible benefit. Invest some time to determine if the thing you’re worrying about is actually a problem. If not, no need to waste energy worrying about it!
If the problem is real, many people react by ignoring it, hoping it will go away. A much better strategy is to assess the nature and scope of the problem, lay out a plan, and take action! In my experience, in business people tend to be judged not on problems occurring, but on how effectively they deal with them when they do pop up.
Another common behavior is for people to try to deal with every aspect of a problem themselves, working harder and harder, stressing more and more. People don’t realize that it’s okay to ask for help (in this example that took the form of student data processors, but in other circumstances it might be suppliers or colleagues with needed expertise, etc.).
One final note. It was very interesting for me how the project management principles learned at my corporate engineering job applied perfectly to a problem in an entirely different venue and discipline. Keep an eye out for analogous patterns. This wouldn’t be the last time in my career that a concept from one area helped me solve a problem in a seemingly unrelated area.
Danger is lurking around every corner in a new product development / new product introduction project. Avoidable risks wind up blindsiding teams, always at the worst possible moment. Risks blow up into problems because teams misjudge their nature and origin, and lack the right tools and processes to effectively identify, assess, and mitigate them. Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction
There are dozens of tools for reducing risk in new product development and introduction. We know because we've used them to successfully launch dozens of new products in highly demanding industries like automotive and aerospace. Let CAEDENCE show you a few of our favorite tools that you can use immediately to dramatically reduce the chances of disaster on your next NPD/NPI project.
Risk is inherent in new product development and introduction. Regardless of your personal risk tolerance, it's critical to understand that unmanaged risk could ruin your business. We're not saying "don't take risks". We're saying "take risks with your eyes open". Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction.
Many risks in NPD & NPI are visible. New process steps that must be implemented with caution and back-up plans. Unique product features that are challenging to accomplish. But there are other risks lurking. Things that can derail your project before you even realize. A bit nervous now? You should be! But, don't worry. Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction.
Successful new product development and introduction projects require carefully balancing dozens of critical parameters, any one of which could sink the ship. At the end of the day, each of those dozens of NPD/NPI success measures relates to an aspect of just 4 main stakeholder care-abouts: Launch timing, Project budget, Product margin performance, Quality / delivery (customer experience). Learn the systematic method to reduce risks in your new product developments.
CAEDENCE has decoded decades of business experience to reveal the intuition and practices of top performing teams and individuals to radically accelerate people and teams toward excellence. We know the theory, but we've also lived everything we teach and honed best practices for decades. This arms us with tons of real-world examples to engage students and clarify techniques. We often help clients out of crisis situations, but our passion is preventing crises from occurring in the first place. This means (a) establishing robust systems, (b) empowering leaders, and (c) upskilling teams.
We challenge our problem solving classes to play “20 questions” – can we guess a randomly selected word using just 20 yes/no questions? Engineers often say it’s impossible. But, 99 out of 100 times, we find the word! How? There’s no magic: what’s on display is the power of binary decision making, what we call “splitting the dictionary”. And you can apply it to all sorts of real-world problem-solving scenarios. “Splitting the dictionary” is a problem scoping technique of asking the right questions to eliminate as many incorrect possibilities as you can, thus focusing your root cause search in the right area. Effective scoping is key to efficient problem-solving. Once the problem is clearly defined, think of the root cause as a needle in a haystack. Before you start examining hay, first ask “Am I on the right farm?”, then, “Which haystack should I search?”, then “Which portion of the chosen haystack is most likely to contain the needle?” Scoping out the possibilities with a simple tool or test can radically acc
Many teams and companies struggle to get the most out of structured problem solving methodologies because they make one or more of the common mistakes shown, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it! (We’ve shown the 8D process here, but whether your company uses 8D, Six Sigma DMAIC, PDCA, A3, or another paradigm doesn’t matter.) The issue is HOW any of those methodologies are used by real teams in real time in the real world.
“The people we nominate to help in this situation are either going to be the chicken or the pig.” The room went silent. The “chicken or pig” comment came specifically in response to resistance someone had to sending some people to the remote site. After a pause, the executive went on to explain “when you are making breakfast, the chicken contributes, but the pig is committed”. We weren’t going to resolve this problem with remote and part-time help. To get the job done, we would have to send people truly committed to working hands-on and to staying abroad for weeks until the job was done. “chicken or pig” became team shorthand for level of commitment. Next time your team is faced with a big challenge, I strongly encourage you to reflect - are you and your team sufficiently committed for the team to succeed? Are you going to be chickens or pigs?
When trying to improve or optimize a business or manufacturing process, there is one main rule: your actual process is never what you think it is. You need to "walk the process" (literally follow and watch every step of the process) to understand every step and detail. This will reveal steps and activities that are non-value added or causing significant pain. In addition, when working with teams, if people see that you’re really listening to them, they will be open to listening to you.
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