Challenge & selection

As a technical consultant working on SIM & relevant services, we remarked recently an  increase of issues after SIM Cards creation in customer warehouse. This situation is  generating many reworks and in worst cases SIM cards are not usable anymore. The  consequence was the increase the cost of quality most of time so impacting the margin of  the company and its reputation.

In order to understand the issue, our manager has decided to have a task force in order to  try to identify the root cause of this solution.

After a little introduction to design thinking concept, we decided to use mind mapping tool  which is using most of time to find patterns and same themes in ideas. We selected this tool  because we wanted to find patterns between all the ideas we will collect during the idea  generation process (what is) in order the find the root cause and the best solution.

Application

We decided to do the exercise during a seminar as most of team members were available.  We made four teams of 3 persons. The objective was to provide lot of answers for the  following question “Why are we facing with reworks after SIM card creation? “. All the  participants wrote on a piece of paper, one or more potential reasons he was able to find  during 15 minutes.

We got many answers as expected (around 20 answers). We stacked all the pieces of papers  on a white board and then try identify patterns. To do so, we group answers by affinities in  different columns. We then give a description to each bloc and after this exercise, we  managed to classify these answers into three main groups: “Wrong requirements definition  from Customers”, “Acceptance tests not well executed by customers” & “Technical  acceptance tests complex, long & boring”.

After finding the main potential root causes, we decided to do some propositions of  solutions (what if). We got as examples of solutions:

-  Customer training about SIM cards technologies & services delivered by our team

-  the implementation of templates of requirements to be checked by customers

-  the development of an automatic checking tool

The final purpose was to select between these solutions in order to find one or at maximum  two. Thus, we got as main potential solutions: the implementation of templates of  requirements to be checked by customers and the development of an automatic checking  tool.

With management team, we decided to develop firstly the automatic checking tool as it will  allow technical team as well as Customers to do check quickly and have a report of potential  errors on applications and SIM specifications based on their requirements.

This tool will be used by a little population of technical team and customers. We will then  observe if any improvement has been done on the challenge we were facing before.

Insight & approach

By applying the mind mapping tool, our team manage from a specific issue to find a great  solution which was far away from our expectation. It allow the development team to use an  agile approach by starting implementing the main tests proposed by day to day users. And  only after one month we remarked that we started to save time spent during testing process  and that tests were well executed because they were done automatically and efficiently by  the tool.

This tool will be used broadly in our team because as technical consultant, we are always  facing with issues and it is challenge to always find the good solution. The mind mapping  appears as the good one to use in that situation and I understand from our workshop that it  can be coupled with learning launch for a more satisfying result.


Challenge & selection As a technical consultant working on SIM & relevant services , we remarked recently an increase of issues after SIM Cards creation in customer warehouse . This situation is generating many reworks and in worst cases SIM cards are not usable anymore . The consequence was the increase the cost of quality most of time so impacting the margin of the company and its reputation . In order to understand the issue , our manager has decided to have a task force in order to try to identify the root cause of this solution . After a little introduction to design thinking concept , we decided to use mind mapping tool which is using most of time to find patterns and same themes in ideas . We selected this tool because we wanted to find patterns between all the ideas we will collect during the idea generation process ( what is ) in order the find the root cause and the best solution . Application We decided to do the exercise during a seminar as most of team members were available . We made four teams of 3 persons . The objective was to provide lot of answers for the following question “ Why are we facing with reworks after SIM card creation ? “ . All the participants wrote on a piece of paper , one or more potential reasons he was able to find during 15 minutes . We got many answers as expected ( around 20 answers ) . We stacked all the pieces of papers on a white board and then try identify patterns . To do so , we group answers by affinities in different columns . We then give a description to each bloc and after this exercise , we managed to classify these answers into three main groups : “ Wrong requirements definition from Customers ” , “ Acceptance tests not well executed by customers ” & “ Technical acceptance tests complex , long & boring ” . After finding the main potential root causes , we decided to do some propositions of solutions ( what if ) . We got as examples of solutions : - Customer training about SIM cards technologies & services delivered by our team - the implementation of templates of requirements to be checked by customers - the development of an automatic checking tool The final purpose was to select between these solutions in order to find one or at maximum two . Thus , we got as main potential solutions : the implementation of templates of requirements to be checked by customers and the development of an automatic checking tool . With management team , we decided to develop firstly the automatic checking tool as it will allow technical team as well as Customers to do check quickly and have a report of potential errors on applications and SIM specifications based on their requirements . This tool will be used by a little population of technical team and customers . We will then observe if any improvement has been done on the challenge we were facing before . Insight & approach By applying the mind mapping tool , our team manage from a specific issue to find a great solution which was far away from our expectation . It allow the development team to use an agile approach by starting implementing the main tests proposed by day to day users . And only after one month we remarked that we started to save time spent during testing process and that tests were well executed because they were done automatically and efficiently by the tool . This tool will be used broadly in our team because as technical consultant , we are always facing with issues and it is challenge to always find the good solution . The mind mapping appears as the good one to use in that situation and I understand from our workshop that it can be coupled with learning launch for a more satisfying result .