11

Freedom within a Framework

Framework. It sounds so rigid. It portrays an image of sturdiness, inflexibility, and immovability. Let’s reimagine a framework to be like an outer edge such as a fence around a property. The fence provides you boundaries and limits your space, providing safety and security. It can be a property limit, or a safety concern from the nearby cliff, or a myriad of other issues. In addition, within that framework, we have freedom: freedom within a framework. That freedom allows us to build a home within the fence, or keep the farm animals reigned in, or build a community park for the neighborhood. The ideas are limitless. When we apply the concept of freedom within a framework with the Houses of Quality (HOQs), we will discover a different approach of connecting the HOQ information in a more streamlined manner called the House of Quality flow down.

11.1 Predictable Results and Framework

We described earlier of a framework to be an edge or perimeter. Another way to think of a framework is that it can be used as a backbone, something that helps maintain things together and provides a desired outcome. A single-family home built from a wooden frame supports floors, interior walls, exterior features, and a roof. A framework can also be made from steel, and those metal beams create a tall skyscraper. Those backbones or supporting structures are exactly what we have made with the HOQs. We already experienced in previous chapters the framework of three houses: HOQ1, the Customer house; HOQ2, the Translation house; and HOQ3, the Manufacturing house. Each one has its attributes or metrics, and those values will change depending on the product you will build.

Let’s understand the relationship between framework and results. The two concepts of framework and results may sound unrelated. However, connecting the two will reveal a much-needed outcome to make the Voice of the Customer (VOC) heard throughout the organization all the way to the factory floor.

The first concept, framework, is about the use of a structured method like the HOQs or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). SOPs detail how to perform a task. These tasks can be a simple procedure such as affixing a sticker to a side panel, or as complex as the entire process of making a product. We can expand to what degree these outcomes can be Yes: With framework or No: Without framework.

The second concept is about results which can be either expectations or outcomes delivered to our customers. In our case of making products, these results manifest themselves as specifications such as on time delivery. Instead of simply saying results, let’s expand the definition of results to include predictability. These also will have two outcomes Yes: Predictable Results or No: Unpredictable Results. Combining the two different values of framework with the two distinct types of results leads to four outcomes. Two are not quantifiable, and therefore, these are not practical. The other two are quantifiable, and only one is the desired combination we want. Let’s see how these combinations fair out.

We will now show graphically how all these combinations align on a 2 × 2 matrix as shown in Figure 11.1. The dotted line boxes are to ones that are not practical. These are Predictable Results without framework and Unpredictable Results with a framework. One will not follow a pattern or structure, and the other, the customer, will not receive a product with consistent results. The product outcomes and the workplace may feel chaotic. Therefore, we will not even elaborate these two options. The next two combinations make better sense, and we will describe in detail the relationships of framework with predictable results.

FIGURE 11.1
Predictable results and framework.

11.1.1 The First Quantifiable Combination: Unpredictable Results without Framework

The combination of unpredictable results and without using a framework leads to a Messy process. This outcome is like commanding a ship without a rudder and, on top of that, without a map to know precisely where your destination is. How does that look like in the workplace? If you don’t have a framework, each person will make their own. Some people are well organized and will create a structure for themselves. Others may just wing it and try different approaches every time either consciously or unconsciously. Some will try different methods based on their mood. Perhaps, today is “good feeling day” and things go well, and the next day it’s a “bad feeling day” becoming a difficult workday. It varies from day to day and from product to product making unpredictable results. The workplace, as the name of this combination implies, looks haphazard and disorganized; it is the most stressful.

Who are the ones in the Messy combination? They are the ones to go without a framework because they want fast results and lack patience to go slow to go fast. They are the ones that jump right into a “project” and want immediate results, showing visible progress. Those immediate results are just an illusion, and perhaps they reinvent the proverbial wheel by redoing their process in a needless manner, all because there isn’t a framework in place. This type of worker just knows how to consistently figure it out to deliver the desired results, working and reworking parts of the project until it is done just right. This process is not cheap since it is not a straightforward approach. Using Lean terminology, this method has a lot of waste and rework since the process isn’t streamlined. The factory may seem artificially busy. I once heard a very good statement which will apply well under these conditions: “Hey George, why don’t you sharpen your axe. It is completely blunt.” George replies, “I don’t have time for that. I’m too busy chopping down the tree.” This story exemplifies the Messy workplace by not taking the time to understand the fundamentals and prepare for the situation. When it comes down to executing the process, we need to pause and take time to think. Pausing and evaluating the tool made us think about sharpening the axe. A sharpened tool chops down a tree much faster; by taking the time to think, we use more brain power and less muscle power to stay busy longer with a blunt axe.

Here’s another perspective about people wanting immediate results. How many of us have bought a new appliance, or a toy, assembled it, and it didn’t work? After several frustrating attempts, we give up and contact customer service. The friendly voice on the phone asks: did you follow the steps outlined in the manual? When this happened to me, I chuckled knowing that I did not read the manual first. Instead, the excitement of the moment led me to just wing it and put the item together as I believed it should fit. I didn’t follow the framework of reading the manual.

We’ve all met people that feel uneasy having boundaries or limits. Some of them absolutely cannot function with a framework. I met researchers who felt that they cannot be creative under the self-imposed mental constraints of a framework. They told me repeatedly that it will limit their creativity. My rebuttal was freedom within a framework is not framework to stifle freedom. Let me illustrate this point. Instead of defining framework to be a boundary, consider it to be a blank canvas. Clean, fresh, ready to receive the paint of a creative mind of an artist. The canvas is a framework: it has an edge. Without it, many masterpieces would have not been created!

11.1.2 The Second Quantifiable Combination: Predictable Results with Framework

What will be the opposite of Messy? Fullest Potential. Using consistently a framework or structured approach will help you deliver predictable results, providing an easily followed line of sight which clearly defines the process not only for yourself but for others as well. This combination is like a GPS map helping you to stay on course, so you can reach the desired destination. For example, an SOP will outline the steps on how to do a specific job or task. An SOP provides consistency on how to do the described task, so all employees follow it the same way. The workplace feels organized and stable. Employees are content, conveying a sense of security, bringing them to their Fullest Potential.

A summary of the different frameworks is shown in Figure 11.1 along with their predictable results. The desired path of success is to migrate from the Messy quadrant to the Fullest Potential quadrant. After reviewing the last few examples, where do you see yourself? Are you surprised?

11.1.3 An Example: Let’s Have a Party

I am having a party this weekend at my home. I invited friends and family. Before the weekend arrives, I need to plan for the event. I go to the supermarket to pick up some meats, vegetables, drinks, and desserts. The supermarket has a framework organized nicely for me to get my items. Everything is neatly displayed and put into shelves. The isles are labeled with related items placed near each other. Considering what meats to buy, I can choose beef, lamb, pork, chicken, etc.; it can be a steak, a roast, ribs, or ground meat. In addition, I can get grass-fed or lean, bulk or pre-sliced, premade, or precooked, and I can even have it catered and delivered to my home. These options allow me to get all those degrees of freedoms within the framework of food-related items. Because of that successful framework, it allows me to go to other supermarkets and pretty much find those items in the same manner because that structure is common among different supermarkets across town, across the country, and even across the world. We are accustomed of that arrangement, so that framework provides convenience.

Now the scalability of the supermarket framework also brings some inconveniences. I cannot buy whatever item I want, nor can I pay whatever price I want. I will not be able to go into a supermarket and ask for a brand new car or buy a CNC machine. I can’t do that; that is the limitation of that framework of grocery items.

As you may have figured out, these freedoms within a framework are all around us. Cities exhibit this structure with city limits and a grid of streets, parcels of land with homes, and libraries with organized information by subject. The pattern of freedom within a framework repeats itself in institutions, jobs, positions within a company, even this book you are now reading. Regarding your situation, how can you rethink in this manner the area of influence you have? This is the way how a change agent thinks: influencing with new concepts, providing examples, and adapting it to your work area, your reality.

11.2 Complete the Houses of Quality

We developed the HOQs in earlier chapters by connecting loosely the HOQs, cascading the values from one house to the next. In doing so, it created a connectivity from the VOC to the Manufacturing floor. Linking each house leads us to the full view depicted in Figure 11.2a, clarifying that the flow is fluid and seamless through the different house metrics, ensuring product quality and customer satisfaction.

FIGURE 11.2
(a) Three HOQs connected. (b) Three HOQs connected with scorecard flow up.

Constructed earlier from Chapters 5 to 9, we moved the metrics from HOQ1 to HOQ2 and finally to HOQ3. The down arrows in Figure 11.2a show the direction of the cascading effects of the metrics from one house to the next. Just as important, the scorecards on the bottom of each HOQ summarize the results of each house. These scorecards are also connected between the houses as exemplified in Figure 11.2b with the up arrows.

Starting from the third HOQ, we see the upward connectivity of the manufacturing scorecard metrics all the way to the customer scorecard. Now, that fluid connectivity goes both ways from the customer to the factory floor and the factory floor back to the customer.

11.3 Hearing the Customer at the Factory Floor

The metrics that flow from house to house can also create a streamlined version of all the houses as shown in Figure 11.3. Only the variables that appear on the scorecard are placed in the HOQ flow down. This arrangement has one exception with the first HOQ. The VOC metric in HOQ1 does not have a scorecard, and it is placed together with the Critical to Quality (CTQ) in the flow down. The top row of the flow down helps identify from which house the attribute comes from, making the linkage easier to interpret. In addition, key questions help summarize the intent of each HOQ. The first house targets customer needs with the VOC metrics. The question asked for HOQ1 is: What does the customer say they want? The second question on that same HOQ1 is related to CTQ: How does the customer determine satisfaction? Moving along to the next column for HOQ2, the questions will be asked from two different perspectives. The first inquiry is from the customer’s needs perspective. How will we make sure we meet the customers’ requirements (CTQs)? The second question is looking at it from the product perspective. What must the product do to meet the CTQs? Finally, in the Manufacturing House, HOQ3, the last question is related to manufacturing conditions to ensure a quality product for the customer. How will we control the manufacturing process to ensure we meet the Quality Control (QC) metrics?

FIGURE 11.3
HOQ flow down.

By completing the metrics in this manner, it provides a simple clean look of all variables from left to right.

Another use of the HOQ flow down can be as a starting point to build the original HOQs as we did in earlier chapters. Some people use it as a list to identify the variables of interest for making the HOQs. Later, they will rearrange the metrics by placing those in the standard form as we have done in previous chapters. Figure 11.4 shows how to build HOQ2 using information from the HOQ flow down.

FIGURE 11.4
Using HOQ flow down to build a HOQ.

11.3.1 Who Connects Each HOQ?

The HOQ flow down shows the connectivity flowing from left to right and right to left as shown in Figure 11.3. We also have shown in Figure 11.2b the expanded connectivity cascades from house to house and upward through the scorecards. As the title of this section asks: who connects each HOQ? The people working behind the scenes make it happen, and they are representing different business functions as we traverse through the different HOQs. Figure 11.5 illustrates the representation of each distinct function being involved across each HOQ.

FIGURE 11.5
Primary business functions involved building and defining each HOQ.

It is important to note that the overlapping of functions becomes a handoff of knowledge and information between those two business groups. For example, HOQ1 is driven primarily by the commercial business function comprised of sales and marketing. HOQ2 will need input from HOQ1. HOQ2 will combine research and development (R&D) information with data from HOQ1 gathered by sales and marketing. This overlap creates the conversation between the two business functions: commercial and R&D. A similar overlap occurs in HOQ3 with R&D and manufacturing.

This connectivity doesn’t end in HOQ3, the Manufacturing house. The last house has methods to connect the customer to the factory floor. Let’s share a few examples on how we can connect the factory to the customer. I was recently trying on jeans at a store and noticed a piece of paper in my pocket. I pulled out of the small paper, and it said, “QC PASS 62.” Being the quality conscious person that I am, I was impressed. I looked at the paper and nodding in agreement with inspector 62. That connected me with the company and decided to purchase the pair of jeans. These types of surprises occur more often than you think.

Here are more examples. We spend one-third of our life on mattresses, and the people that make them know that. They want to proudly display their workmanship on it, and the one I bought has a cloth label draped prominently on the front edge. It reads: Handcrafted in Indiana Master Craftsman Felicie Gregory. A paper bag looks simple and disposable. That may not be the case when the bottom of the bag not only shows proudly the brand of the bag but also the person that made it. Another place I encountered unexpectedly the voice of the factory floor was on a box of tea. This box of tea bags not only contains exceptional quality tea but also the company wants to connect with you, the consumer. They did it in the following manner: tea packed by: Juliana W, Best enjoyed by: February 2019. Figure 11.6a–c shows the pictures of the proud employee showcasing their products.

FIGURE 11.6
(a) QC PASS 62. (b) Handcrafted in Indiana. (c) Tea packed by: Juliana W.

I, as a customer of all four examples, became connected to the factory floor with those statements. The deliberately chosen words made a connection between me as the customer and them as the people on the factory floor. Let’s dig deeper by studying the words used on those statements. The mattress label has the term, handcrafted in Indiana; it brings a sense of a person using their time and effort to make the mattress for me. Emphasizing that the workmanship is in Indiana not only informs us that was built in the United States of America but also tells us specifically a location in the Midwest. Master Craftsman Felicie Gregory puts in perspective that a master craftsman did my mattress. If that wasn’t enough, Felicie Gregory’s signature is at the bottom of the label, giving a sense of pride of the workmanship directed at me, the end user. Analyzing the tea box descriptions shares a similar structure. We have the person that handled the box described as tea packed by Juliana W, putting a name to the contents of what is in the box. To make it even more personal, Juliana wants you to enjoy the tea by a February 2019. Instead of using best buy a specific date to show its level of freshness, they used the key word enjoy, making the use of the tea a personable and enjoyable moment.

It’s a firm reminder that people make products and they shared with me that human touch. What can you do to connect your product or your employees to your customers?

11.3.2 Training

Training brings your employees and customers to a common level of understanding. We are dealing with many metrics placed in several HOQs. Establishing a common definition is important; training is the mechanism used to create those descriptions. If we do not have a formal and periodic training, we may drift slowly away from the original intent of the metric. To prevent this elusive drift of what the metric means, we must first define what the metrics are. An operational definition must exist for each one and its method of measurement. The SOP documents the process on how to measure.

Figure 11.5 shows how the different business functions are involved with different HOQs. These business functions can own the documentation for the metrics and methods used in that HOQ. Since the functions own the metrics and documentation on how to do it correctly, they can also own and deliver the training, aligning the business functions with the metrics and its related SOPs. For example, if the focus is about HOQ3, the Manufacturing house, each Process Variable (PV) metric is described and analyzed. The training is delivered by the manufacturing personnel.

Although we speak about the metrics aligned on a specific HOQ, we must not lose sight of the broader picture. These metrics are dependent from other metrics that came from a previous HOQ. In other words, as the manufacturing experts train about the PVs in HOQ3; these also show in the main room of HOQ3 the association of the PV metrics with the QC metrics, as shown in Figure 11.7. Recall that the QC metrics came from HOQ2. The HOQ has interdependencies from the other house reiterating their shared interactions among all those HOQs.

FIGURE 11.7
HOQ3 relates PV metrics with QC metrics.

Remember this training may have an internal focus to enhance the knowledge of your employees in that department or function. Those functions that have direct or indirect contact with the customer can benefit by training their customers on that HOQ and selected metrics, especially those variables that are significant to your customer.

A last note, to complement the training, emphasize the different variations of HOQs. We’ve seen earlier in this book the three standard HOQs. This chapter presented the HOQ flow down. Later in Chapter 12, we will describe variations of several types of HOQs. Remember training keeps us proactively on track to deliver results expected from our customer. We learned many angles of what freedom within a framework means. We also have created a clear line of sight from the customer to the factory floor and the factory floor back to the customer. To sustain these gains, we must invest time to train our employees and customers. The next chapter provides variations of the HOQs.