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Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron, your weekly dose of tips and tricks to achieve excellent performance in your business and career. Join us as we explore deeper into the practical worlds of Lean, Six Sigma, Project Management and Design Thinking. In this episode number 132, we conclude our "The Crux of Failure" discussion with FMEA10*10*10 part 4B. Be sure to check out You-Tube for our original-ish FMEA song. If you like this episode, be sure to click the "like" link in the show notes. It's easy. Just tap our logo in the artwork, click and you're done. Tap-click-done! Here we go. http://bit.ly/E6S-132 Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

***FMEA 10*10*10 Part 4: Crux of Failure- Planning and Facilitation***

Objection 1: This is no different than any other meeting. Why prepare specifically for the FMEA?

Counter 1: While meeting best practices apply, FMEA offers significant additional complication for facilitation. The best practices for a meeting should be firmed up.

Objection 2: I cannot turn anyone away from the meeting if they want to be there.

Counter 2: For every meeting, you should feel free to turn people away, if it's not the best interest of the meeting, program, or company. The more participants, the more discussion, the more rabbit holes, the harder to contain and control.

Objection 3: I cannot get the right SMEs to do this in a group. They're too busy.

Counter 3: Try harder, or be more creative. Preferably the FMEA should occur all at the same time in the same room, but if you cannot get the critical SME in the room, put in the extra work to make sure you get with that SME for their opinions on the areas. Continue with that while also trying to push for a face-to-face with everyone. If you still cannot get support, perhaps the FMEA or the entire project should not be performed until leadership can sort it out.

Start Part 2

III Planning

a. Whom to invite - Subject Matter Experts - (SME's) primarily. (those trusted to have a deep understanding in the area. SME's up and down the value chain.

i. Both users and architects of the process, (understand both how it is and how it should be.)

ii. Minimal management.

iii. Some outside perspective may also be good

b. How many people?

i. 5-8 sounds good (8-12 is OK but probably more realistic)

1. You will likely have your regular project team plus some additional SMEs. Out of 8-12, you'll probably have 4-6 active, the rest just following the conversation.

ii. If this is high profile, you may need to turn people away

1. Some companies have a "policy" of inviting 3 stakeholders from every interest group. Too many "chefs" will spoil the FMEA.

IV What to prepare ahead of time

a. Select the scope/boundaries of the FMEA (what's off limits?)

b. Pre-event training on how the FMEA process works

c. Materials for meeting

i. Process map

ii. other "story-telling" background material,

iii. pre-filled FMEA fields (where possible based on process map and previous learning, etc),

iv. Scoring model, Explanation of the scoring

v. Ground rules and team expectations

vi. Meeting agenda,

1. Goals, Scope, process,

V Tips for facilitation

a. Ground rules: Make Visible. Keep Team on point

b. Minimize disruptions.

c. Score across the rows rather than down the columns

i. Stay within the frame of mind of the failure.

ii. Allows for taking earlier action

d. Practice the MS Excel Hot Keys - Minimize the use of the mouse

i. "Ctrl-Up"/"Ctrl-Down"/"Ctrl-Left"/"Ctrl-Right" - Quickly move to the next blank or next non-blank in that direction

ii. "Tab"/"Shift-Tab"/"Return"/"Shift-Return"- Move to next cell to right/left/down/up (arrows can be used too)

iii. Ctrl-C"/"Ctrl-V" - Copy/Paste: Many Failure modes and effects will repeat.

1. Usually they have the same score and can be agreed upon quickly

iv. Right Click (Mouse)- I

1. Insert Rows

2. Insert Copied Rows

v. F2 - enters cell, puts cursor at end of characters. (similar to double click)

e. Quick pointed questioning, keep it coming.

i. Ask the "dumb" questions, who's answers my be obvious to others

ii. Probe to get people thinking deeper. Get the discussion going.

iii. Get people to consensus quickly.

iv. Rinse and Repeat.

f. Assign actions to high RPN scores and/or high Severity 9-10 (safety) ratings, even if the whole thing is not yet complete. (Safety issues, clear process problems, or quick hits). Don't wait.

g. Know when to take a break, and don't over-tax the team.

h. Minimize time between meetings

i. Follow-up with individuals between meetings ("Meeting Between the Lines" episode)

VI Second Best Options for facilitation: Consolidate individual responses offline

a. Have different team members and SMEs provide their own assessments

i. Failure Modes

ii. Average & Range of Scores

b. Consolidate and discuss any areas of disagreement

c. Assign actions

d. Pros:

i. Allows flexibility for those who cannot all meet at the same time.

ii. Concentrates discussions on disagreement areas

e. Cons:

i. Minimizes discussion - risk missing key information

ii. Lose detail

iii. Low response rate from individuals

iv. More work on you, the facilitator

v. More overall hours spent from the team collectively

vi. Lose team cohesion and "norming" for the FMEA scoring scale

Outro: Thanks for listening to episode 132 of the E6S-Methods podcast. Don't forget to click "like" or "dislike" for this episode in the show notes. Tap-click-done! We love hearing from our listeners and learning about how you use Lean and Six Sigma. Feel free to email us, aaron@e6s-methods.com, or contact us through our website, we reply to all messages. Reviews on iTunes are always appreciated and keeps us higher in the ranks and allows us to reach more superstars like you. Don't forget to you can find notes and graphics for all shows and more at www.E6S-Methods.com. "Journey Through Success. If you're not climbing up, you're falling down? Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

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