Part 4
All Together Now, Threading the Needle

We’ve reached the part of this book where we will thread all the parts together and form a comprehensive fabric of success. Thanks for staying with me during this time. So far, I explained how to connect the Voice of the Customer to the three business functions so they can work as one cohesive and unified team. These functions are commercial (sales and marketing), research and development (product properties and services), and operations or manufacturing (product quality). We have systematically threaded that customer’s voice through the Houses of Quality (HOQs) in a detailed and methodical approach. The techniques discussed in the past few chapters should work for most of you. It could be that your process or product will not fit exactly those steps as described. How can we adapt this new thinking to your situation? You also may ask: are three houses required every time? Can those HOQs be modified? What if I have a simple product or a more complex product? Does the HOQ apply to those as well? Together we will answer those questions and go through the appropriate actions needed. Maybe, by exploring the methods and concepts used in the next few chapters, you may formulate the answers to those questions.