Re: Ford embraces Six Sigma

[Myron Tribus <mtribus@home.com>]

Dear Bob:
Very true!  When you draw a deployment flow chart, you have only 
begun to understand the system and its processes. If all  you do is 
draw, you will have learned something but you will not, thereby, make 
a difference.

In my video tapes on flow charting* I take up the action issues.

In the first place, because the system involves many people, it must 
be managed.  That means, someone must inquire as to how it is going. 
This inquiry should start with questioning the people to find out if 
they are serving one another.  For example, I suggest to the manager 
that if he or she sees a horizontal line on a flow chart, this means 
that there is a "customer-supplier" relationship.  The manager should 
then inquire if the supplier is truly trying to serve the customer. 
Such an inquiry will bring out the topics you mention, i.e., request, 
declarations, offers, promises, assertions and assessments.

There are other considerations.  For example, if a decision diamond 
appears on the chart, the manager should ask whether the people 
feeding information to the decision maker understand the criteria 
being used in the decision.  If they do not, there is a high 
likelihood that the information they send will not be appropriate.

My point,finally, is that a flow chart is just that, a chart, to help 
the mind of the manager understand better how to do his or her job.

Myron Tribus,  350 Britto Terrace,  Fremont, CA 94539
Ph:510 651 3641  Fax: 510 656 9875   e-mail: mtribus@home.com
Experience is a great teacher but there is a shortage of pupils.


* [Moderator's Note: Myron's 2-video set on Deployment Flowcharting are
not currently available - but some folks are trying to make them so. ]