Design Thinking: Developing a Culture of Customer Problem Solving
Celia knocked on Kim’s door. “I’d like to use the ‘customer pain point’ approach for our operational improvement efforts,” she said. As the VP of operations, Celia had to sort through competing opportunities with no clear data that would help her prioritize. More often than not, this meant funding the squeakiest wheel. She thought customer […]
5 Tips for Increasing Customer Value with Lean
As someone always looking for more efficient ways to do things – everything from running meetings to shopping for groceries – I love the Lean process improvement methodology. It allows me to scrutinize the way I accomplish a task, and then look for waste that I can reduce or eliminate. Lean is an iterative approach, […]
Should Operations Focus on Customer Pain Points?
Celia had been thinking all afternoon about Jack and Kim’s presentation on customer-centered innovation at the leadership meeting. She was intrigued. Using the customer as the focal point for determining where to invest their innovation dollars seemed like an approach that could help their strategic decision making. How could this approach help her organization? As […]