Re: What charts does a CEO need?: Warning, Danger Ahead!

[FVoehl@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/9/0 2:53:15 AM, strategyworkshop@earthlink.net wrote:

<<Interesting possibilities so far.  I suggest that the Quality Function
Deployment Model could be a good place to start.  Although not usually
considered this way, information in a QFD can be scaled up or down to
provide feedback to managers who work at different levels of abstraction in
the organization's decision processes>>

I would like to raise a serious flag concerning the above suggestion by David 
Snook-Luther.  In my own consulting experiences, QFD is usually a Stage Two 
tool, with the Balanced Scorecard being the Stage One foundation for charts 
for most CEOs and Senior Executives.  Our website www.strategyassociates.cc 
lays this out in some detail and offers some useful materials for downloading 
for the CEOs you are trying to influence.  IMO, to start with QFD in the 
early stages is usually a mistake, and I have the scars to show for it.  It 
is a noble experiment that usually blows them away due to its complexity.  

I saw this first-hand with the new FPL Chairman, Jim Broadhead, in 1989, the 
year that we won the Deming Prize.  Incidentally, the quality system at FPL 
never really recovered from Mr. Broadhead's bad experience in this web of 
complexity that QFD became.  Ironically, we never saw it as complex at the 
time--only a powerful learning tool for capturing the voice of the customer.  
The lesson we learned is a time honored one:  In the beginning (especially in 
the beginning), KEEP IT SIMPLE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD (KISS)!  

QFD is neither simple or straight forward, although we loved it to death just 
the same.  And we learned it from one of the masters at JUSE--Joji Akao.  But 
when the Chairman dumped it, it was still damaged goods.

Frank Voehl (FVoehl@aol.com)
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