Understanding Customer Needs (Digital Short Cut): Software QFD and the Voice of the Customer

This is the eBook version of the printed book. Leading companies around the world, including Toyota and General Electric, have practiced Quality Function Deployment (QFD) for decades. Developed in Japan by Dr. Yoji Akao and Dr. Shigeru Mizuno, QFD has two aims: to ensure that true customer needs are properly deployed throughout all phases of the development process, and to improve the development process itself. The application of QFD to software (Software QFD) began in Japan in 1982, in North America in 1988, and in Europe in 1990. Today many leading software organizations around the world use Software QFD and it is an essential part of organization-wide quality approaches such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS). As a quality system, QFD employs, but is not limited to, the Seven Management and Planning (7 MP) Tools, introduced in Chapter 7 of the book Design for Trustworthy Software. It has deployments, or subsystems, to address customer concerns such as quality, technology, cost/schedule, and reliability/risk, among others. Although QFD is known for the "House of Quality" matrix, organizations that simply use this matrix alone neither meet the aims of QFD nor are considered to be "doing QFD" by leading QFD experts. Further, because of unfortunate historical errors in understanding, many published QFD examples are incorrect and are not suitable as models for software development. Such mistakes are corrected in the overview of Blitz QFD presented in this short cut. This short cut is a reproduction of Chapter 11 of the book Design for Trustworthy Software and introduces Software QFD as a part of trustworthy software development process. It can be used either as an important methodology in software design process or as a standalone presentation on QFD for software development process. This short cut should be of interest to software and quality professionals. In particular, it would be of value to the CMMI, Six Sigma, and DFSS communities worldwide, especially those who have acquired or plan to acquire Green Belt, Black Belt, Master Black Belt, or similar competencies in various quality management disciplines. It should also be useful resource for students and academics of various programs at senior undergraduate and graduate levels, and for those preparing for ASQ's Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) examination. What This Short Cut Covers 3 QFD: Origin and Introduction 4 Problems with Traditional QFD Applied to Software 20 Modern QFD for Software 25 The Blitz QFD Process 28 Implementing Software QFD 45 Conclusion 50 Key Points 52 Additional Resources 54 Internet Exercises 54 Review Questions 56 Discussion Questions 57 Endnotes 58 What's in the Book Design for Trustworthy Software 64 About the Authors 69 The Design for Trustworthy Software Digital Short Cut Compilation 70

Table of Contents:
What This Short Cut Covers 3 QFD: Origin and Introduction 4 Problems with Traditional QFD Applied to Software 20 Modern QFD for Software 25 The Blitz QFD Process 28 Implementing Software QFD 45 Conclusion 50 Key Points 52 Additional Resources 54 Internet Exercises 54 Review Questions 56 Discussion Questions 57 Endnotes 58 What's in the Book Design for Trustworthy Software 64 About the Authors 69 The Design for Trustworthy Software Digital Short Cut Compilation 70

About the Author :
Bijay K. Jayaswal is the CEO of Agilenty Consulting Group, LLC. He has held senior executive positions and has consulted in quality and strategy for the last 25 years. His consulting and research interests include value engineering, process improvement, and product development. He has taught engineering and management at the University of Mauritius and California State University, Chico and has directed MBA and Advanced Management programs. He has helped introduce corporate-wide initiatives in reengineering, Six Sigma, and Design for Six Sigma and has worked with senior executive teams to implement such initiatives. Dr. Peter C. Patton is professor of Quantitative Methods and Computer Science at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. He also is Chairman of Agilenty Consulting Group. He has taught at the Universities of Minnesota, Paris, and Stuttgart and has held the position of Chief Information Officer at the University of Pennsylvania. He was Chief Technologist at Lawson Software from 1996 to 2002. He was Lawson's representative on the Technical Advisory Committee of IBM's SanFrancisco(TM) Java Framework project. He has been involved in computer hardware and software development since 1955. Richard E. Zultner is an international consultant, educator, author, and speaker. Applying powerful improvement methods, such as QFD, to high-tech software-intensive products and processes has been his primary focus for over ten years. He is a founder and director of the QFD Institute--a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of QFD. For his pioneering work in Software QFD, he received the International Akao Prize in 1998. He is also a certified "Jonah" in the Theory of Constraints (TOC), and is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, specializing in Design for Six Sigma. Richard provides consulting and training in Software QFD, Design for Six Sigma, and Critical Chain Project Management. He holds a master's degree in management from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and has professional certifications in quality, project management, software engineering, and theory of constraints. He has taught QFD and Critical Chain project management in the graduate program at Stevens Institute of Technology as an adjunct professor.