The origins of Six Sigma reflect a focus on quality as defined by the customer. Before initiating an improvement initiative or implement process changes, it is crucial that the customers’ expectations for quality and current level of satisfaction are known. Too often business leaders think that they know what customers want and act accordingly, and the intended results do not manifest.
In DMAIC we always let the customers of a process tell us how satisfied they are with the process and its results, we do not take someone else’s word for it. The tools for gathering this information are many: existing complaint and contact data, focus groups, interviews, and surveys are common. You may find that data already exists that provides a good picture of customer satisfaction and expectations, but more often it is necessary to take proactive measures to gather additional data.
Once data is obtained, it is compiled and evaluated using a variety of techniques. The goal is to establish at least one Critical To Quality measure (CTQ): a customer requirement that is truly critical to the customer, that can be measured, and which can have a specification set that must be met. The process sigma will later be calculated based on the extent to which the process currently meets the specification.
The Pareto chart is often used to categorize complaints or reported problems by category, so that the most frequent types can be identified. Market segmentation may be used to take into account major differences in the needs and expectations of different groups, such as wholesale customers and retail customers.
An affinity diagram can help the project team group customer comments into categories in a variety of ways to explore how customers view the process and to assess where improvement resources should be directed. And fitting the data to a Kano model can make clear which of the customers’ needs are in most critical need of improvement.
At the end of the Define phase, the team should have a completed project charter, a high-level process map, and one or more CTQs that will allow data to be gathered in the Measure phase. And in terms of mindset, all team members should have a good understanding of why the project is needed, how it will impact stakeholders, and how the project will proceed.
Read my article "Introduction to DMAIC" for additional background information on the topic.