Re: the customer

["Anton O. Tolman, Ph.D." <ANTON@wsh.state.wy.us>]

Jerry Mairani wrote:

> The process is you form teams and have each team brainstorm what they think
> a hotel sewing kit should have in it.  Then you provide each team with a
> sewing kit (a different kit for each team and you will find them to be very
> different) and have them adjust their list (they always come up with more
> ideas).  They then report out to everyone on what they believe is the best
> kit (from a customer perspective).  As it always turns out, every team finds
> that other teams have great ideas they didn't have.  As you probably have
> already seen, a number of conclusions can be gleaned from this exercise.
> Rather than go through the ones I use, what do you folks think the best
> messages are in an exercise like this?  Do you think it is a good exercise
> or do you think it has pit falls from a Deming point of view?  I am ready to
> learn!!!

Hmmmmmm.  At first thought, I was concerned that the main element of this
game was introducing bias into their decision-making process via the samples
which then in essence form an "availability heuristic" by having a concrete
model in front of them.  As I thought about it some more, I thought that this
could be a good point to make from this exercise -- especially if you know
from having done this exercise before, that the final versions of the lists
tend to be influenced (either as a reaction to or shaped by) the unique
"seed" sample they received.  So, among other things, these are the points
that come to my mind from this exercise:

1)  The impact of available information and heuristics on decision making
2)  The importance of aim (what is the aim of a sewing kit in a hotel and how
does that shape what they included)
3)  It would be interesting to ask the group at the end how many of them have
ever *asked* for a sewing kit from a hotel -- the reason being that this
touches on the issue Deming raised about "no customer every requested an
eletric light bulb" and subsequent discussions about anticipating customer
needs
4)  Variation -- among the existing kits, among the solutions proposed; this
relates back to aim, but it might also highlight that variation is ubiquitous
and needs to be evaluated in improvement efforts
5)  The fact that each team comes up with great and additional ideas about
what to include makes a good discussion point about the value of teams and
having diverse views and inputs on a team.

To try and answer your final question, Jerry:  I think an exercise like this
could be used from many vantage points to make many different points.  It
would seem a more useful exercise after participants already had a beginning
understanding of quality and SoPK.  I think that if you approach the exercise
from a Deming perspective, it could have many useful discussion points such
as some of the ones I noted above.  My contribution for today!

Anton Tolman, PhD, CPHQ, Psychological Services Manager &
Quality Management Coordinator, Wyoming State Hospital
P.O. Box 177, Evanston, WY  82931-0177
Anton@wsh.state.wy.us    (307) 789-3464
"All great things are done for their own sake."   -- Robert Frost
=======================================================================