Quality Improvement Discussion Assignment

Quality Improvement Discussion Assignment

Complete a response to the case study below Building the Better Mouse.

In your case analysis, be certain to answer the following questions:

1. What is the role of a facilitator in this type of meeting?

2. Describe some of the key tools that a facilitator can use to gain group alignment.

3. Why do you think the room was filled with only Design Engineers? What should

be done about this situation?

4. Describe some of the tools that would allow this group to gain a better

understanding of what the customer would want. How could this group use this information to build a better computer mouse? Why is this important?

Building the Better Mouse

You are sitting in on a meeting with the Acme Corp. new product

development team. The team is comprised entirely of design engineers and

is meeting in the engineering conference room. The team leader is the Chief

Design Engineer, Michael Carroll, who invited you to sit in today.

Michael addresses the team. ‘‘We’ve been tasked with designing a new

mouse to sell with the next generation of personal computers. We have six

months to have working prototypes ready to present to marketing and three

months after that to have the new mouse in production. It’s a very aggressive

schedule—we have no time to waste. Let’s start by brainstorming ideas for

the mouse. Please be as innovative as possible.’’ Michael stepped to the white

board prepared to write all of the ideas that emerged from the meeting.

Ideas began to surface:

‘‘Why does a mouse have to have only 2 buttons and a scroller? Why not

add an additional button for the thumb that can be programmed to

serve as a function key?’’

‘‘Why not make the mouse available in many colors rather than just the

drab black, grey, and off-white?’’

‘‘Why not send power to the mouse using RF rather than using a battery?’’

‘‘Why do we need a mouse anyway? Why not implant a chip into users’

index fingers?’’

‘‘Let’s make the mouse a glove. Just move your fingers to move the

cursor.’’

As the ideas were offered, Michael wrote them on the white board. After

about 30 minutes the flow of ideas had about stopped. There were a total of

28 ideas generated. Michael divided them loosely into categories: electrical;

physical; functional. He asked the team to divide themselves into three groups

along functional lines and each group to select a category to develop further.

‘‘Please pay particular attention to technical feasibility and manufacturing

costs when you evaluate the ideas. Let’s plan to meet again in two weeks

with each group giving a report on their ideas. We’ll try to narrow the ideas

down and start rough prototyping the most promising ideas.’’

After the meeting, Michael asked you for comments about the process

he is using to design the new mouse. What comments and suggestions would

you make to Michael?

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