I normally just post my favorite parts of articles...I'm a skimmer and don't read the details. This was pretty worthwhile all around though.
Spiritual Six Sigma.
Spiritual Six Sigma
Brian Miller wonders if Six Sigma can be used in a non-traditional setting, like a church. I'm not any kind of expert here, but it was a fun exercise to see how flexible the concepts could be. The reason I think they're so relevant to marketing is that the underlying concepts are pretty simple.
Now remember, I'm not a Six Sigma expert, but here's what I remember off the top of my head.
Using the DMAIC process, we can go through the basic steps:
DEFINE: Start with really defining a problem (attendance, spirituality, contributions, obedience, engagement with scriptures, etc.). Is it a real problem? What would success look like? What's critical to the customer about what you're trying to improve?
MEASURE: Could you put it into a goal that's attainable but challenging? Make it something that can be measured, very exactly. Number of members attending 3x a month, or donation per member, or number of pages of scripture read by member per month?
ANALYZE: Why is the problem occurring? Use "5 why's" to get to the real root of the problem. Again, what's critical to the customer? If it's attendance, why are people staying home? Because they have better things to do on a Sunday? Why? Because watching baseball is more exciting than sitting in a sermon? Why? Because baseball provides social stimulation? It's exciting? Folks don't have to dress up? Etc. Get to the root of the customer expectations.
IMPROVE: The easy part, once you've really found the problem. Map out the process to find out every relevant step taken in the existing process. What one thing could you do to solve the underlying problem?
CONTROL: Continue to measure, to see if the steps you've taken are working. Stay in tune with the customer to see if they percieve the problem improving. Control the improvements, and continue tweaking. Now, move on to the next problem.
Sounds pretty simple, and in some ways, it is. Biggest "aha!" for me was taking the time to really break apart the problem into bite-size chunks.
Posted at 04:38 PM in Business Process [John Porcaro: mktg@msft]
2:17:27 PM 
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