What are the best ways to prioritize improvement actions?

Start by clearly defining the problem or issue you want to address, for this could be anything from defects in a manufacturing process to customer complaints or operational inefficiencies. Gather data related to the problem you've identified, if this could include information on defects, errors, delays, costs, or any other relevant metrics, then ensure that your data is accurate, complete, and representative of the process or system you're analyzing. Categorize the data into different groups or categories, for example, if you're analyzing defects in a manufacturing process, you might categorize them by type, location, or frequency!

Prioritize improvement actions by considering impact vs. effort, alignment with goals, customer value, data-driven analysis, risk assessment, available resources, dependencies, stakeholder input, ongoing review, and the Pareto Principle (focus on vital few).

Effective prioritization of improvement actions is crucial in Lean Six Sigma's DMAIC process. This can be achieved by focusing on customer satisfaction impact, cost-benefit analysis, implementation ease, operational, financial, and compliance risk, business goals alignment, impact on key metrics, resource availability, stakeholder support, sustainability, and compliance with legal and safety standards. Prioritization in DMAIC should be flexible and iterative, adapting as the project evolves and new data emerges.

This is such a simple yet powerful tool to separate vital few from trivial many.. I have come across several examples of late: 80% defects were found to be in 20% categories; over 80% claims are processes without any delay, but about 15% delayed claims cause disproportionate users' dissatisfaction etc.

?? How do you prioritize which improvement projects to pursue? When you have varying perspectives from stakeholders, limited resources & multiple improvement opportunities, you’ll need a standard way to assess & prioritize opportunities. Consider the following to rate and rank your opportunities to determine which you solution 1st, 2nd etc. - Estimated Dollar Savings - Estimated Hours Liberated - % Reduction in Defects - Net Promotor Score improvements - Employee Satisfaction Score improvements - Complexity to Solve (15 applications involved or 1) - Feasibility of Solutioning (Does your process utilize an application that is about to be phased out at the same time you are looking to implement a solution) ?? Like to support this

Through the Lean Six Sigma methodology, various improvement opportunities are identified within a process, in these could be areas where waste is occurring, defects are frequent, or processes are inefficient. Once improvement opportunities are identified, potential actions or solutions are proposed to address them, for these could include process changes, technology implementations, or other interventions aimed at improving efficiency and quality. Each proposed action is then subjected to a cost-benefit analysis, of this involves estimating the expected costs associated with implementing the action, such as labor, materials, and equipment, as well as the expected benefits, such as cost savings, revenue increases, or quality improvements!

Cost-benefit analysis, or CBA in short, is a great tool for quantifying and conveying the net value that can derived out of products or services an entity has invested in, while also taking into account the investment itself. I have used CBA in my profession to determine the net benefits of deploying robotic process automation (RPA) solutions for partially or fully automating manual processes. These solutions are not cheap by any means (and have multiple components to their cost), so organizations are usually required to determine whether or not investing in them is worth it in the long run. One thing you must remember: always consider the opportunity cost of using what may appear to be the next-best alternative when choosing.

Cost benefit analysis plays a key role in process improvement and digitalization. A key factor in assement and prioritization matrix. Apart from prioritization, CBA is useful in digital transformation initiatives to select suitable technologies at lower cost to support initiatives that are with more qualitative factors positively impacting to meet regulation and compliance.

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is weighing the costs of a decision against its benefits. It's like putting everything on a giant scale: potential gains on one side, expenses on the other. By balancing them, you see if the benefits truly outweigh the costs, making an informed decision. Think of it as a financial see-saw: tilt it towards profit by ensuring benefits outweigh costs. It's not just about numbers, though - it considers intangible benefits like happiness or environmental impact too. So, before taking a leap, grab your cost-benefit scale and make sure the decision weighs in your favor!

To prioritize improvement actions, try using cost-benefit analysis. This technique compares the costs and benefits of each action to help you figure out which ones are worth pursuing. Start by estimating the direct and indirect costs and benefits, then give them a monetary value or score. Calculate the net benefit (benefit minus cost) and return on investment (ROI). This way, you can rank actions based on their net benefit, ensuring you focus on the most impactful and efficient improvements. It's like figuring out if a new coffee machine at work is worth the splurge by weighing how much it will cost against how much productivity and happiness it will bring.

Matriz de esfor?o e impacto é uma ferramenta valiosa para tomar decis?es que os ajudam a gerar resultados mais significativos e rápidos para a institui??o. Com ela, conseguimos otimizar tempo e recursos, tendo a vis?o clara do que fazer para que as decis?es sejam priorizadas conforme o baixo esfor?o e com alto impacto.

It’s a great to creat focus. High Impact efforts should be a first priority, especially those with a lower effort. This maintains the balance between customer benefit and the utilization of your finite resources to achieve it. While completing your high impact, low effort initiatives, you can begin planning the execution of the longer term, high impact, high effort initiatives.

I love this particular tool in that it helps to quickly close wins that gives high improvements. It basically help in the prioritization of the actions to take especially the 'QuickWins' It can also help in planning for long term tasks especially in terms of resources allocation and management.

To use it, assess the impact and effort of each action on a scale of low, medium, or high, and then place them on the matrix accordingly. The matrix has four quadrants: High Impact-Low Effort (Quick Wins): Easy actions that yield significant benefits. High Impact-High Effort (High-Value Projects): Important but resource-heavy actions. Low Impact-Low Effort (Low-Priority Tasks): Minor tasks that don’t require much effort. Low Impact-High Effort (Resource-Intensive Challenges): Actions that are demanding but yield minimal benefits. It's like deciding between cleaning the kitchen or repainting the house; one’s a quick win, the other’s a major project.

This is a tool to identify potential impacts along with the efforts required. As a tool, it needs good input in order to generate good results. So that, I need to understand what situation I'm going to deal, establish the symptoms, and then construct scenario according to my expectation for each quadrant. These keep me confident when it comes time to make a decision based on impact and effort analysis.

Stakeholder analysis will enable us to identify key stakeholders as well as their needs and expectations. Engage practices provide a good understanding of stakeholder needs, promote transparency, continual engagement and establish good relationships with them. Some to-do list for engage practices. 1. Consolidate demands and opportunities for plans 2. Detailed requirements for services and products, provided by key stakeholders 3. Ask for feedback from stakeholders for improvement 4. Cooperation opportunities and feedback provided by partners and suppliers 5. Contracts and agreements in value chain activities together with external/internal suppliers and partners for obtain/build, design, and transition.

Very useful technique to prioritize improvements - let us remember, we are always going to have shortage of resources and leadership attention.. this method has helped us creating some early but very impactful business impacts, which enabled large scale rollout later.

Stakeholder analysis is a systematic process aimed at identifying, evaluating, and understanding the various individuals, groups, or entities with a vested interest or influence in a project, organization, or initiative. This analysis involves assessing stakeholders' expectations, interests, needs, and potential impact on the project's success. By categorizing stakeholders based on their level of influence, interest, or involvement, this analysis helps prioritize engagement strategies and communication plans tailored to each stakeholder group. Through stakeholder analysis, project managers gain valuable insights into managing relationships, mitigating risks, garnering support, and ensuring alignment between stakeholder expectations

Prioritizing improvement actions using Stakeholder Analysis involves identifying and evaluating the interests, influence and needs of relevant stakeholders. By understanding stakeholders' perspectives and priorities, teams can prioritize improvement actions that align with key stakeholders' expectations and goals. High-priority actions are those that address critical stakeholder concerns or have the potential to garner strong support, while low-priority actions may have less impact or face resistance from stakeholders. Through effective stakeholder engagement and communication, teams can ensure that improvement efforts are focused on areas that will deliver the most significant benefits and gain.

Stakeholder analysis involves identifying and assessing the influence and interests of stakeholders related to the improvement actions. By understanding which stakeholders will be most affected by the changes and whose support is critical, you can prioritize actions that align with the needs and expectations of key stakeholders. Engaging stakeholders early and considering their feedback helps in ensuring successful implementation and sustainability of improvements.

Risk Analysis enables us to identify and focus on High risk elements and gives us framework to create action plan to mitigate them with necessary resources, improvement actions needed and time line to be adhered. Risk Analysis can be carried out at three levels to assess overall risks and prioritize improvement actions on Vital few risks. 1. Program or Project level Risk Analysis- Gives Top Management a framework to manage the top level risks for the Project/Program. 2. Functional Risk Analysis- For departments or functions to manage their risks with prioritization and action plan. 3. Product or Process level risk- PFMEA is the most commonly used methodology to deal with it. Important equation: RPN= Severity × Occurance × Detection

Risk analysis is crucial for understanding the potential risks associated with each improvement action. By evaluating the likelihood and impact of various risks, you can prioritize actions that carry the least risk or those for which the organization has the capacity to manage the risks effectively. This approach ensures that improvement efforts do not inadvertently introduce new problems or exacerbate existing issues.

Aside from using risk matrix, consider using process FMEA to carry out risk analysis for a more complex system. This tool helps us setting apart high priority areas that require immediate improvement. Calculate the risk priority number (RPN) for each process step, sort the RPN from the highest to lowest, and start planning our improvement actions.

All of these are great tools and some not mentioned here are also helpful. The tools can be used alone or in combination with others. In my opinion, situational awareness is will help decide what tool(s), methodology or approach is best. There are always external/internal pressures and influences driving priorities. These need to be balanced with the appropriate approach for the situation at hand. Choose wisely.

1. Identify the root causes 2. Evaluate impact and urgency 3. Use the Pareto principle 4. Involve stakeholders 5. Consider available resources 6. Set clear goals 7. Monitor and measure progress 8. Continuously learn and adapt

Es recomendable el uso de una Matriz de Priorización que, además de evaluar cada acción a partir de la relación costo-beneficio, asigne mayor o menor peso en función de criterios como el tiempo de implementación (plazo, cantidad de horas a invertir), la complejidad y el potencial impacto (favorable o desfavorable) en objetivos organizacionales que no estén directamente vinculados a los resultados del proyecto.

PDCA is the best way to start. 1. Collect data 2. Use Pareto and highlight the bigger issues 3. Take all stakeholders concerned 4. Measure and analyze 5. Simulate the winnings

Steps: 1. Apply the Pareto principle to focus on the vital few. 2. Among the vital few, apply benefit-effort and cost-benefit ratio to start with quick wins to immediately impact customer needs 3. Follow through projects with the Site Problem Solving Process (DMAIC, 8D, A3 and others with Why-Why, Is-Is Not). 4. Ensure to apply SMART method on any of these problems. 5. Make it visual and follow through

A few points are: 1. Prioritize improvement actions based on their potential impact on Org. Objectives or KPIs. 2. Address urgent improvements first to mitigate immediate challenges and enhance efficiency. 3. Seek input from stakeholders/interested parties to identify critical areas for improvement and prioritize accordingly. 4. Consider different risks related to resources availability, budget/cost and personnel, when deciding on improvement priorities. 5. Make data-driven decisions by analyzing metrics to identify areas where improvements can yield the most significant results. 6. Prioritise improvement actions that contribute to long-term organizational goals. 7. Keep assessing the effectiveness of implemented improvements.