QDD Redux: Quality Tools are Legos of Development (and Their 7 Uses)

The Lego movie was in my queue and the episode is about how we can think of quality tools as Legos , that there are two philosophies that we can apply to our quality tool use . I recorded it to kind of expand our expectations of what we can do with common quality tools and I wanted to reintroduce it to you .

If you're a repeat listener of the Quality During Design podcast , welcome back . If you're new to the Quality During Design podcast , welcome . We talk a lot about product development and engineers working to create new products . Quality during design is a philosophy that emphasizes the benefits of cross-functional team involvement in design .

It's also a methodology that uses quality tools to refine design concepts early .

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All of this can be done at qualityduringdesigncom Without further delay . I'll share this Quality During Design archive episode . Enjoy those plastic building blocks , legos . Kids play with them in imaginative ways . In fact , they're one of the modern day model model-building kids . For adults too , they're used to build robots with a community that competes . Robot a robot .

A man uses them to fill in gaps in buildings and sidewalks in his neighborhood , replacing brick-and-mortar bricks with Lego bricks and filling potholes and gaps in sidewalks with Lego bricks . A woman builds wheelchair-accessible ramps for stores so that she can shop there , partnering with the shopkeepers to provide accessibility .

Legos are adaptable , seemingly timeless , readily available to many and useful sort of like the family of quality tools . Even with all these uses , there's two philosophies of a LEGO bill that tie in with two philosophies of quality tool use . Let's talk more about LEGOs and quality tools after this brief introduction .

Hello and welcome to Quality During Design , the place to use quality thinking to create products others love for less . Each week , we talk about ways to use quality during design , engineering and product development . My name is Diana Deeney . I'm a senior level quality professional and engineer with over 20 years of experience in manufacturing and design .

Listen in and then join us Visit qualityduringdesigncom . I watch cartoons . I mean , I have kids , but even if I didn't have kids , I would probably watch cartoons . I watched the Lego movies with my family . I would have watched it on my own . One of its songs is my ringtone on my phone because it makes me smile .

If you haven't seen it and should , let me tell you a bit about it without giving spoilers . The Lego movies star a character named Emmett Brikowski , a construction worker who lives in Bricksburg . Bricksburg is a place where everything is built to specification . Emmett builds things following a carefully laid out blueprint and he's great at it .

He has a routine life and Emmett thinks everything is awesome . Playing opposite of Emmett is Wildstyle , a master builder who doesn't want to follow the blueprints and sort of rails against the idea that everything needs to be meticulously planned out . I can't really tell you much more about it without giving away some of its fun twists , and the movie is fun .

It highlights philosophical differences in building with Legos . One thing we can do is to follow a plan following the Lego instructions to build from the construction manual . The other philosophy is to creatively assemble a build , piecing together what we've got in hand . The Lego Group Company was clever in recognizing these two different philosophies with their product .

In the Lego store in a mall near me , they sell those fancy kits that people assemble with a blueprint , from kits made for adults with thousands of pieces to kits made with larger blocks for smaller kids . They also have a whole wall , floor to ceiling , of loose Lego bricks , organized by color , size and special shapes .

What does this have to do with quality tools ? Well , quality tools can be like Lego bricks . With some , we follow a plan , meticulously building out an analysis to draw a conclusion . With others , we grab some building blocks , invite our friends and create something out of ideas . Both are okay and both have a place in the product development process .

Really , what we need to do is we need to keep the end in mind . Do we want a tidy record of analysis that feeds into other analyses that we can build upon as we develop ideas , iterate on it and use it to make conclusions , then we'll want to be like Emmett and follow a blueprint .

Or do we want to use a quality tool to be able to work with our team , to be creative and come up with new ideas , identify problems or figure out next steps ? Then we might treat a quality tool like wild style . I've created a list of seven ways that quality tools can be used for projects .

As I'm going through this list , think about for yourself which ones do you think we should use , like Emmett , and which ones are more like wild style . Number one is that quality tools can be used to build out ideas with other people . They help us collaborate around a framework .

We can use them as a prompt for brainstorming Instead of coming up with wild ideas out of nowhere . We have a framework that we can work within . Generally , these tools are accessible to many people . We don't have to have a specific job or a specific background or learning to be able to use it and participate with our team in using it .

Number two is that we can use quality tools by ourselves . They can help us understand the big picture or hone in on a specific detail . We can use them to see patterns not seen before and also help us to organize lots of information .

These are different ways that we could use quality tools by ourselves , or at least get them started by ourselves , to help us inform decisions . Number three quality tools we can share with others . This is where we can get alignment about ideas . Is what we're thinking , what the other person is thinking ? The way reality is too . Let's get on the same page .

We can also get confirmation Is this right or am I missing a step ? Quality tools used in this way can also prompt us to ask questions about gaps and get input from others . Number four is that we can openly share quality tools within the project and outside of a project .

Sharing the results of a quality tool activity outside of a project can give us new perspectives from other people . They can also teach others on how to do something . Maybe they would want to adopt one of your ideas and it can also help celebrate the team wins . Teamwork is hard and it's beneficial . Share it outside with others to celebrate the team win .

Number five we can study quality tools to derive actions . We can look at them to find problem areas , those misalignments and misunderstandings , but then also identify opportunities for changes and improvements . Number six we can iterate quality tools as we learn more , especially through a project development process or a continuous improvement effort .

And the last one , number seven , is that we can compile quality tools to tell a story to share lessons learned . Quality tools to tell a story to share lessons learned we can share that . We started with this problem and use this kind of quality tool to get these results and develop these questions that we thought needed to be answered .

So then we followed through with some investigation and used another quality tool to investigate , analyze and come up with more answers or more opportunities . We can share our process for what we did in the project , for lessons learned , for other people and other projects .

We can share what worked and what didn't work , and it serves as a baseline of how we made decisions through the project . At the beginning of the episode we talked about the two philosophy of Lego builds how one ? You could be like Emmett and carefully follow the instructions .

Or , on the other hand , you could be more like Wildstyle , the master builder , who collects bricks as she sees them and builds whatever she can with what she sees . You have my permission to be a little like wild style when using some quality tools .

If it's organizing information , categorizing , creating some sort of model of a physical thing or a logical thing , helping people better understand an idea , then go a little wild style . Quality tools are proven frameworks that have worked for many people . They've been used by so many people that they have best practices . In that way , you can rely on them .

But don't let knowing a little detail stop you from using them . They'll likely help you and your team and you'll get good at it through using it . Be careful . Just like some Lego bricks are only useful with a planned construction project , some quality tools are more useful with careful planning and execution .

If it's used with rankings to highlight important things or has a basis in statistics , then be like Emmett and follow the rules of construction Thoughtfully execute and get advice from a knowledgeable practitioner . I hope you have a little bit of a different perspective about quality tools .

We cover a lot of different quality tools and their potential uses in new product development through this podcast and on the podcast blog on the website . You can search for a particular topic or tool on the website . Chances are we may have covered it already .

If we haven't covered it and you think we should send me a message , you can contact me through the website , either using the form or my contact information is listed there . No matter what , legos are fun . The Lego movies are also fun , and so are quality tools . This has been a production of Dini Enterprises . Thanks for listening .