The document provides information about selecting solutions for process improvement projects. It discusses an 8-step problem solving process and lists tools that can be used, including brainstorming, process mapping, and selection matrices. The objectives are to understand idea generation principles, apply brainstorming tools, and use methods to select improvement ideas. Sources of solutions are identified, such as root causes, best practices, and past projects. Guidelines are given for generating many ideas through techniques like brainstorming and building on others' suggestions. Rules for effective brainstorming include allowing ideas without criticism and focusing on quantity over quality initially.

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National Guard
Black Belt Training
Module 40
Solution Selection
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CPI Roadmap – Improve
8-STEP PROCESS
6. See
1.Validate 2. Identify 3. Set 4. Determine 5. Develop 7. Confirm 8. Standardize
Counter-
the Performance Improvement Root Counter- Results Successful
Measures
Problem Gaps Targets Cause Measures & Process Processes
Through
Define Measure Analyze Improve Control
TOOLS
ACTIVITIES
•Brainstorming
• Develop Potential Solutions
•Replenishment Pull/Kanban
• Develop Evaluation Criteria
•Stocking Strategy
• Select Best Solutions
•Process Flow Improvement
• Develop Future State Process Map(s)
•Process Balancing
• Develop Pilot Plan
•Standard Work
• Pilot Solution
•Quick Change Over
• Develop Full Scale Action/
•Design of Experiments (DOE)
Implementation Plan
•Solution Selection Matrix
• Complete Improve Gate
•‘To-Be’ Process Mapping
•Poka-Yoke
•6S Visual Mgt
•RIE
Note: Activities and tools vary by project. Lists provided here are not necessarily all-inclusive. UNCLASSIFIED / FOUO

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Learning Objectives
 Know some of the principles of creative idea
generation
 Apply the idea generation brainstorming tools
 Use tools to select and prioritize improvement ideas
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Sources of Solutions
Best Practices
Ideas from Other
Root Causes
Projects
Generate
Project Goals Improvement Brainstorming
Ideas
“Discoveries” Performance
During Analysis Benchmark Targets
Ideas
Focus on one root cause at a time. Start with the root causes determined
to have the biggest contribution to the problem statement.
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Solution Generation – Strength in Numbers
 Both the strengths and the number of potential solutions
generated have a huge impact on the strength of the final
improvement solution selected
 It is best to exhaust all of the ideas that the team can produce
 Often, the best potential solutions emerge toward the end of
intense creativity efforts when everybody has many details fresh
in mind related to the problem at hand
 The synthesis portion involves taking best characteristics from all
the potential solutions to generate stronger solutions - the more
potential solutions available to explore, the more opportunities
for uncovering ideas for improvements
 The selection portion involves deciding which solution
improvements to implement
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Generating Solutions
 You need to generate as many potential solutions as
possible for each root cause
 Later in the process, you will narrow down, build on
and combine these ideas into single solutions - at that
point, the team will have two options:
 Select the best solution for each function and then
integrate them into one overall solution
 Integrate different combinations of solutions into different
overall solutions and select the best overall solution
 But now you need to generate as many ideas as
possible
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Principles for Generating Solutions
 Generating potential solutions is a very creative
process
 Creativity methods and tools offer enormous value
 Potential solutions are often best generated by
individuals
 Refining and synthesizing potential solutions is usually
best performed in groups
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Building on Creative Ideas
Far-Fetched Kernel of Threshold of Good Idea – Perfect
Idea Something Acceptability Could Implement Idea
Useful
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Examples of Building on Creative Ideas
Expand
Lie to
Customization
Customers
Capability
Far-Fetched Kernel of Threshold of Good Idea – Perfect
Idea Something Acceptability Could Implement Idea
Useful
Stop Educate
Answering Customers So We
the Phone Get Fewer Calls
Far-Fetched Kernel of Threshold of Good Idea – Perfect
Idea Something Acceptability Could Implement Idea
Useful 9
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National Guard
Black Belt Training
Idea Generation
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Brainstorming – Used in Analyze Phase
 Brainstorming is a structured method
of generating unconstrained
ideas/solutions and gaining
engagement/involvement in the
improvement process
 It produces many ideas/solutions in
a short time
 It facilitates the creative thinking
process
 It separates idea generation from
the organizing/assessment of the
ideas
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Rules for Effective Brainstorming
DO
 Allow individuals to complete their thoughts
 Build on existing ideas
 Be brief when stating an idea
 Organize, categorize, and evaluate only after the session
 Strive for quantity
Don’t
 Criticize ideas (allow “idea assassins”)
 Make judgments as ideas are being offered
 Paraphrase an individual’s idea when scribing
 Dominate the session
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Creative Thinking - Twenty Questions
What? Where? When? Who? How?
What Where is it When is it Who does How is it
Current
happens? done? done? it? done?
Method
Why do it? Why do it Why do it Why them? Why do it
Reason there? then? this way?
Can we do Can we do Can we do Can Can we do
Better something it it some somebody it some
Way else? somewhere other time? else do it? other way?
else?
What Where When Who should How should
New Ideas should we should it be should it be do it? it be done?
do? done? done?
Useful to “tear apart” an existing process or service and challenge all
current assumptions prior to developing the next generation
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Creative Thinking - Six Thinking Hats
Another tool that may help the team reach a good decision on the
best concept is the Six Thinking Hats Technique.
White
 White – Just the Blue
 Blue – Process –
Facts – Facts, data, Monitors use of the
“Just the verifiable information Process other hats
Facts”
 Red – Emotional –
Red Green  Green – Creative –
How do people feel,
Idea generation,
how will people feel
Emotional Creative out of the box
Black
 Black – Cautious –
What can go wrong, Yellow  Yellow – Optimist –
Cautious
risk identification What are the
Optimist opportunities
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How To Use The Six Thinking Hats
 Method 1 – Everyone has a different hat (variants)
 A thinker puts on or takes off one of the hats
 A facilitator asks a thinker to put on or take off one of the hats
 All thinkers put on one hat for a period of time
 Each thinker is assigned a different hat to wear for a period of
time
 All thinkers wear hats they do not “normally” wear
 Method 2
 Everyone (except facilitator) wears the same hat
 Facilitator (blue hat) indicates when to change hats and what hat
to wear
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Challenge Assumptions
 Everyone brings assumptions to the problem-solving
table. Such assumptions can reflect what we know or,
as is often the case, what we think we know
 Challenging conventional assumptions about your
problem can help you turn obstacles into
opportunities
 Work to escape the self-imposed constraints that
traditional assumptions often create
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Random Word
 This technique helps teams approach problems from different perspectives rather
than through patterned ways of thinking
 Pick a word, any word, and use what comes to mind to see if it applies to your
problem
 For example, what comes to mind when you think of the word “Satellite” as it
relates to an Accounts Receivables problem? (e.g., e-Payment)
 When that word is exhausted, pick another word
Accounts Receivable (First Word: Satellite)
1 2 3 4 5
1 Skeleton Room Treadmill Oven Filter
2 Valley Fruit Library Purse Molecule
3 Maze Water Air Earth Money
4 Tunnel Altar Diamond Army Computer
5 Amoeba Anvil Bait Balloon Bible
6 Algebra Alphabet Child Lamp Leg
7 Menu Prison Monster Muscle Nest
8 Pepper Pill Satellite Pod Ring
9 Rainbow Rudder Safe Sauce Saloon
10 Ice Index Key Ladder Landslide Lever
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Random Personality
 Similar to Random Word, this technique also helps teams approach problems from
different perspectives rather than through patterned ways of thinking
 Pick a well known personality, real or imaginary, and use what comes to mind to
see if it applies to your problem
 For example, “How would Mickey Mouse approach this?” – “have fun,” “control
crowds,” etc.
 When that personality is exhausted, pick another personality
General Patton Genghis Kahn Mickey Mouse
Fay Ray Madonna The Beatles
Bill Gates Jack Welch Our General
Sgt. Smith Spiderman Superman
Batman Harry Potter Frodo
JFK Pres. Bush Winston Churchill
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National Guard
Black Belt Training
Solution Selection
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Selection Flow Chart
Possible Solutions
Screen Out
“Show Stoppers”
Acceptable Solutions
Narrow List Only if brainstorming
generated many
different solutions.
Likely Solutions
Nominal Group Benefit/Effort
Pugh Matrix
Technique Matrix
Prioritized List
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Screen Out Show Stoppers
 Eliminate low payoff solutions
 Screen against must criteria
 Violate a law or regulation
 Conflict with Organization policy, values, or strategy
 Conflict with customer requirements
 Require investments well beyond the scope of the
project
 Not be practical or feasible
 Be too risky
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Use Nominal Group Techniques
 Need a clarified list of items to choose from
 Give each person a number of cards/slips of paper
equal to the number of choices they will have (5-10)
 Choose the “best” items, one per slip
 One at a time, choose best item, item to eliminate,
best item, etc. and give them a score, best item has
most points
 Record votes, number and total score to serve as a
basis for discussion
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Solution Selection Matrix (PICK Chart)
 A payoff matrix looks at the relationship of benefit
and effort to reduce the number of solutions to
address.
High IMPLEMENT CONSIDER Eliminate all high
effort/low payoff
Benefit solutions from further
consideration
POTENTIAL KILL
Low
Low High
Effort
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The Benefit/Effort Matrix
Benefit Effort
 Amount of contribution  Amount of resources
to the issue being used to get benefit
addressed
 Money spent – capital
 Financial benefits expenditures are more
effort than non-capital
 “Moves the Y”
 Time/effort needed
High
Benefit  Breadth of coordination
Low needed
Low High
Effort
 Regulation/policy issues
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Process for Pugh Matrix
1. Create a list of criteria (usually before idea
generation)
2. Weight the list of criteria (usually before idea
generation)
3. Record a list of solutions
4. Initial screening of solutions
5. Compare the list of solutions to the weighted criteria
– score each
6. Total scores for each solution – discuss results
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Pugh Matrix Example
nt
erme
Solutions
cas t
H
pow
M AC
base
cess
Fore
m
ing
yee E
Data
o
ov ed
id Pr
cast
t
lo
h
rt
We ig
Hybr
Impr
For e
Emp
Sma
Criteria
Clearly defined roles and responsibilities 10 H H H H
Business Base Forecast drives staffing forecast. 15 H H
All Em ployees are addressed 13 H H
Order satisfied by need date 4 M M M H
Identifies the right person (skill m atch) 15 M M H H
Sim ple process 8 L H M L
Real tim e status of orders 1 M M M H
Provides exception visibility 2 M M M H
Real need dates on orders 10 M M M H
Measurable, trackable process 9 H H H H
Rapid identification of need to hire 10 M L L H
Efficient m ovem ent of people betw een team s 13 L M H H
Score 318 388 508 252 926
Blank = 0, L = 1, M = 3, H = 9
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Exercise: Generate & Prioritize Solutions
 In small teams
 For the GGA Budget Simulation, use one of the idea generation
techniques:
 Round-robin brainstorming
 Brainstorming with Random word/personality
 Twenty Questions
 Six Thinking Hats
 Challenging Assumptions
 Use one of the idea selection techniques:
 Payoff Matrix (PICK Chart)
30 Minutes
 Nominal Group Technique
 Pugh Matrix
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Solution Selection Matrix Template
Per Commercial Terms
Time to Issue Invoice
Root Causes (Xs)?
- Example -
Level of Effort
Presentation
Overall Impact Rating
Complete
Accuracy
Risk Rating
Root Cause Significance Rating ? 10 10 10 10 10 10
Potential Improvements ? Impact Rating
Offshore Costs 7 1 5 8 1 10 320 8
Commercial Terms 8 4 2 5 10 7 360 7
Quantity of Source Data 8 5 7 7 1 10 380 6
Reconciliation 10 10 10 1 10 10 510 6
Quality of Source Data 7 7 7 7 7 7 420 7
Training 8 7 10 5 8 10 480 6
Client (eg RCTI) 6 2 2 10 8 8 360 5
Job Setup 10 4 10 6 10 10 500 5
Payroll Close Date 8 10 1 1 1 8 290 8
Pre-Billing 10 8 6 8 2 10 440 5
Client Reporting Requirements 7 9 4 10 10 10 500 4
Delivery Method 9 1 1 5 5 7 280 9
Job Completion 7 10 1 7 5 10 400 3
Job Manager Requirements 9 7 5 4 8 9 420 2
* Solutions ranked > 450 have been selected to be implemented
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Implementation Plan Template
PROJECT NAME DIVISION GREEN BELT DATE
PROJECT SPONSOR SERVICE AREA / FUNCTION / SERVICE BLACK BELT
Responsible
Implementation Control Action Target/ Actual
Solution Improvement Action Individual/ Issues/Barriers Risk Mitigation Current Status/ Comments
Number Number Complete Date
Solution Owner
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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Takeaways
Now you should be able to
 Describe some of principles of creative idea
generation
 Use Brainstorming to generate ideas
 Use Nominal Group Technique, Benefit/Effort Matrix,
and Pugh Matrix to prioritize a list of ideas
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What other comments or questions
do you have?
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