The Q-to-Q

A new twist on an established

quality concept
Kaizen Event
Quickly turn great ideas into an executable action plan  by Ramon Perdigao

Our time is limited and our resources are sometimes scarce.

Yet, as continuous improvement professionals, we often
are compelled to deliver quick wins, usually through rapid
improvement events, also known as quick kaizen events. The
question is: Can it be done effectively, and can it bring real
value to the organization or area involved? The short answer is
yes, if the event is well planned and well managed.
As a starting point, it is imperative for employees who work
in the process to be active participants. Second, and of equal
importance, the session must be facilitated with a great focus
on moving at a good pace from qualitative to quantitative
(Q to Q). The benefits are that it quickly creates a sense of
urgency along with accountability for the parties involved.
Here’s how it is done.
Four well-known concepts and tools will be used: the Ishi-
kawa diagram (also called the fishbone or cause-and-effect
diagram), the dotmocracy method (or dot voting), the Pareto
principle, and action planning (see Online Table 1, which can
be found on this column’s webpage at qualityprogress.com). 4. Action planning. Create an action plan that will
With these four pieces, the event will move the team from address at least 20% of the potential causes
Q to Q seamlessly yet effectively. that are responsible for 80% of the problem (the
1. The Ishikawa diagram. Walk the team through a regular Pareto principle). Your action plan should include,
Ishikawa brainstorming exercise and have the team leader at a minimum, the what, who, and when for each
actually build the diagram. The process owner’s active par- action. To make it more specific, add why, where,
ticipation also is important. Meanwhile, the facilitator’s job how, and how much.
is to keep the team focused on building the diagram. Within two hours of Q to Q, you will have gath-
2. The dotmocracy method. Give each participant three ered the team’s collective wisdom, quantified the
colored sticky dots—one red, one green and one blue. Ask potential root causes, ranked the potential root
each team member to place his or her three colored dots causes, and created an action plan. An effective
on the potential root causes. The red dot is for high impact way indeed of quickly working through problem
(valued at nine points), green is for medium impact (three resolution with your team without compromising
points) and blue is for low impact (one point). Of course, the method or quality of the problem resolution
this is only a suggestion—you may change the ranking sys- approach. Great ideas quickly turned into an exe-
tem, but there must be a ranking system. Make sure all dots cutable action plan—that’s Q to Q.
have been placed on the Ishikawa diagram.
3. The Pareto principle. Based on your dotmocracy exercise,
build your Pareto chart according to the rank at which each
potential root cause has been valued. You can use a simple Ramon Perdigao is a Lean Six Sigma
Black Belt at Safran Landing Systems
iStock.com/TarikVision

Excel spreadsheet to assign each color value to each of the Canada Inc., based in Ajax, Ontario.
potential causes. By simply multiplying the individual scores, He received an MBA in strategic
you will determine the final score for each potential root management from Athabasca University
in Canada. A senior member of ASQ,
cause. For example, a given root cause with four red dots Perdigao is an ASQ-certified Six Sigma
and two green dots would be valued at 42 = (4 x 9) + (2 x 3). Black Belt.

80 QP December 2020 ❘ qualityprogress.com