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Problem-solving steps

As a procedure for problem solving and task achievement , there is a methodology that comes to the answer by investigating and thinking along the 4th to 10th stages. You can go up the stairs, or if it's a little complicated, there may be branches along the way, or it may repeat until you get a good answer.

What to do at each stage is well thought out by each method.

Comparing the problem-solving procedure with the task-achieving procedure, the problem-solving procedure is easier to understand. Also, I think that problem-solving is often the higher priority in terms of reality, and problem-solving is also more common in the number of themes. Therefore, in order, it is better to understand the problem-solving procedure and then the task-achieving procedure. The procedure for completing the tasks is divided into pages.

There are various problem-solving procedures in the world, but this page focuses on problem-solving QC stories. The problem-solving QC story is easy to understand and contains important points.

QC story is a methodology that was originally used in small group activities in Japan .

The QC story says "QC (Quality Control)", so it has a name that gives the impression of the manufacturing industry. However, it is a fairly versatile solution to the problem. Not only about the quality of manufacturing companies, but also the content that can be used by any department. It is also useful for companies other than the manufacturing industry.

Problem-solving QC story

The problem-solving QC story has slightly different words depending on the literature, but the general flow is as follows.

The task of "selecting a theme" is literally carried out in small group activities , in-house education that also serves as practical work, or when "I want to try this method in practice". However, in reality, I think that there are many people who have no choice but to do it because of "instructions from their boss" or "must report to the customer" rather than the situation in which they can choose. In such cases, it is a good idea to consider the reason why the company thinks that there is no choice but to do it, and the value and background of the theme. It broadens your horizons and can be useful when thinking about countermeasures.

At the planning stage, I think that many people say, "I can't make a plan because I don't know until I try it." However, I don't think that "if you want to solve it, you can spend as much time as you want." It's a good idea to make a plan. Also, it is good to set things such as "within the year", "within the year", and "within 3 months". Company plans are often changed significantly on a yearly basis and reviewed on a three-month basis, so it may be a good idea to adjust accordingly.

On the page for distinguishing between current situation grasp and factor analysis, we have summarized what to do with current situation grasp and factor analysis.

On the countermeasure planning page, we have summarized that there are various ways to say "countermeasures".

Standardization is difficult to imagine unless you are a party, so I summarized it on one page.

Difficulty of QC story

The author is a company that promotes QC stories company-wide, and has experience in the promotion department. The story of the QC story on this site is based on what I experienced at that time.

When you read the explanation of the QC story, I think that most people think that it is "easy" or "natural". However, failure by not doing that "easy" or "natural" is not uncommon.

Also, even if the explanation seems to be "easy" or "natural", if you actually try to proceed with this procedure, it will be difficult to create it while supporting the logical connection. It's hard, but the effect is very big.

Benefits of using QC stories

The advantages of using QC stories are as follows.

If you make a QC story properly, it will be as follows.
"The current state of understanding result, the problem was this.
The results of the factor analysis, the cause was this.
As planning and implementation of the measures, for the cause, was this.
Once you have the confirmation of the effect, is this much effect There was.
I did this so that it would not be a temporary effect. "

Even if there is a huge amount of research, it will be very easy to check the validity of the content if it is summarized in such a simple explanation. First, in each stage of the QC story, you can check the completeness of the idea and the correctness of the logic. Next, you can check the correctness of the logic for how to connect each stage.

Troublesome situations that occur in QC stories

Misunderstandings and troubles occur in QC stories.

You will be instructed that you must actually proceed with the activities in the order of the QC story.

In the report material, the QC story is used as a logical sequence to explain the validity of the activity . It is also used as a way to explain the validity of activities in an easy-to-understand manner even by a third party.

In actual activity, the order of the QC story is not always the case. However, some people understand that they must actually proceed with their activities in the order of the QC story. It may be a cause of misunderstanding that there is a style of explaining QC stories like "activity story" as a custom when presenting QC stories in QC circles.

As far as I know, the actual activity is to repeat PDCA many times to complete this story. It feels like updating the QC story hypothesis many times.

It's not like you've gone through each step completely before moving on. Attempting to find out perfectly can be very time consuming and unusual for a job. Also, the theme has passed the season, and there is no point in doing it. Moreover, even with that much time, it is not possible to "completely investigate", and after moving to the next stage, you may notice the deficiencies of the previous stage and re-examine.

After a certain amount of research, you may notice that "I should have investigated from now on", but that is because I understand the whole picture. However, some people have criticized this as "the way it went was wrong."

Misunderstood as "simple theme"

If you make a material with a QC story, the logic will be very simple and easy to understand even for a third party.

As a negative effect of this, it may be misunderstood as "easy-to-understand content = simple theme".

To avoid this misunderstanding, it is advisable to add the time required for the investigation and the difficulty of the work required for the investigation to the explanation.

The corner of the heavy box gets noticed

If you create materials with QC stories, even a third party will be able to see the details of the theme well. Then, for the details of the theme, some people point out that "there is not enough research", and the theme may not end.

It seems that this situation is unlikely to occur if you explain in a way that you can clearly convey the point that "prioritize, proceed from the highest priority, and achieve a certain result".

The role of data science

At pivotal points in advancing the QC story data science approach will play an important role.

Data science for problem solving and task achievement is the refference page.

Non-problem-solving QC story

Task-achieving QC story

The task-achieving QC story is summarized in the task-achieving procedure .

Measure execution type QC story

As you progress through problem-solving QC stories, you may find that you need to do something at the stage of understanding the current situation, and you may not need the next stage of factor analysis.

The measure execution type QC story is a QC story that omits the stage of factor analysis.

Preventive QC story

In FMEA , the flow is
to list the events that pose a risk --> score --> countermeasures --> re-evaluate
.

FMEA tries to take risk countermeasures by using an evaluation sheet and proceeding in order while filling it.

"Risk" is awkward, both as a problem and as an issue. There are two types of QC stories, one for problems and one for issues, but for risks, a "preventive QC story" has also been proposed.

Risk reduction activities are the result of not having trouble if they occur, so the results of the activities are not visible and difficult to evaluate. In the case of the preventive type, the evaluation is based on the fact that the cause has been properly dealt with.




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