Someone asked me the other day about my leadership style what kind of a leader I am. I replied without hesitation “I’m a coach.” After the conversation I realized that maybe my definition of coaching wasn’t the same as my questioners. Did she think that I was the Zen master Phil Jackson managing the…

In 1936, Germany, France and Britain met to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia. Not invited to the meeting – Czechoslovakia. The Munich Accords were the result of the conference and gave a portion of Czechoslovakia to Germany. One of the tenets of both business analysis and business ethics is to identify and get input from…

SCAMPER is an acronym used in creativity and Lateral Thinking to stimulate creative thought.  You can use the mnemonic SCAMPER not only for idea generation, but to trigger different methods of improving processes. 1. Substitute – is there a customer who can also use the output of the process? Can we substitute one type of…

This is week 6 of the course I am taking on design. Week 6 focused on aesthetics in design. So why do aesthetics matter, especially when concerned with process design? Aesthetics matter for the following reasons: We, as humans, value beauty First impressions matter Aesthetics are a signal to the user of other unobservable characteristics….

This is week 5 of the course I am taking on design. Week 5 focused on concept testing. The purpose of concept testing is to determine if we are meeting user needs. There are two primary methods of concept testing – purchase intent surveys and forced choice surveys. Purchase intent surveys give the respondent one choice,…

This is week 4 of the course I am taking on design. Week 4 focused on narrowing down the list of potential concepts and creating prototypes. A key method of performing this winnowing is the “Concept Selection Matrix.” In this matrix, the concepts are listed as columns, with the key criteria as rows. Criteria would…

This is week 3 of the course I am taking on design. Week 3 focused on turning user needs into design concepts. Design concepts are a visual representation of a solution. There are four elements to a good concept: 1. The concept addresses user needs 2. The concept is responsive to cost 3. The concept…

This is week 2 of the course I am taking on design. Week 2 focused on problem definition and user needs. My first takeaway was the Kano framework. This was proposed by Noriaki Kano and shows the four different types of needs – must haves, linear needs, latent need and don’t care. Latent needs were…

I am taking a course through the University of Pennsylvania titled “Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society.” According to its description: This is a course aimed at making you a better designer. The course marries theory and practice, as both are valuable in improving design performance. Lectures and readings will lay out the fundamental concepts…

Last week’s post introduced the Process Innovation Canvas and the various elements it contains.  This week’s post will offer a little more detail on each of the building blocks.  Next week we will begin to explore how to use the Canvas.   The Building Blocks: Customer Every process serves one or more Customers. Customers are…

As I speak with others in the community, I hear over and over questions about methodology.  “Should I use Six Sigma?”  “Should I use Lean?”  “Which methodology is best for business process improvement?” What I have come to realize is that the methodology is not the most important piece of process improvement – rather, it…