9.8 Conclusion

Coding has become a crucial skill for the digital age. However, it can seem overwhelming for those just starting. A helpful approach, similar to many complex problem-solving challenges, involves breaking the problem into smaller and more manageable pieces. The Analyze phase of the DMAIC methodology involves a somewhat identical rationale.

You and your team decompose the problem into possible causes. During the divergent phase of problem-solving, you produce as many potential causes as the creativity and skills of the group allow. Subsequently, in the convergent stage, you reduce those possible causes to a few critical ones. You finally examine in more depth the hypotheses about the root causes that have the most significance for the problem at hand and test their actual significance.

You have many tools and procedures available to assist you in the process. The specific context of your project will inform you about the ones more appropriate for your case. On some occasions, more straightforward tools will suffice to help you ascertain the relationship between root cause and effect, but you may need sophisticated tools in others. Recall that there is no one fixed way to work on an improvement project and that you can use many tools repeatedly across different stages of the DMAIC methodology—or not use some of them at all.