Episode 4: How to Balance Productivity and Customers' Trust? (4-1,4-2)

4-1. System Integrator

What does "a system" mean?

This is "not as simple as it seems," and we often get stuck when finding the answer. Probably, it may be "a combination of several elements that play a certain role as a whole. For example, "an integrated kitchen system," stoves, a sink, and storage space help cooking, while "a physical distribution system" is a system in which those who are responsible for pickup, storage, and shipping deliver things.

Likewise, "an information system" is merely "a mechanism to output information, involving hardware, software, and communication networks.

<Figure 1>

However, "sales," "list of royal customers," "a latest business manual," and "Top 3 of customers' comments on the new product," … As we may know, information that humans would want to know is not enumerable. That's why numerous system integrators are needed in the society.

4-2. Complaints of Entrusters

Here are Top 4 of the moments when entrusters feel dissatisfied!

1. [Proposal Stage] Low quality of proposals. There is almost no proposal.
2. [Acceptance Stage] Low quality of products. I want to know how it was tested.
3. [Design Stage] I don't know what's happening with the latest specification.
4. [Operation Stage] Late response to inquiries. Sometimes responses are totally irrelevant.

These are all based on my experiences, but not more than my personal guess. I do not have any statistical data at all. And, needless to say, of course, entrusters must feel dissatisfied at various moments, for example, when they receive a technical explanation, when they sign a contract, when they see an estimate (!), and so on.

Well, to begin with, I would like to meet "entrusters' dissatisfaction" by focusing upon a Process related to "delivered product inspection." The reason why I chose this is simple; that is because, compared to other Processes, many Tasks in this Process are almost independent of human ability. For example, even if the Process related to "Proposal" is not well-organized, some people win "the entruster's satisfaction."

Here, members make reports to their project manager upon completion of each "outcome" in the fields that they are engaged in, such as module development, module integration, establishment of production environment, etc. Triggered by those reports, the Inspection Process starts.

<Figure 2>

In this Process, after the brief confirmation by the project manager, two inspectors, who are chosen arbitrarily, inspect the outcomes and record the inspection reports. Of course, the project manager has to decide, based on his/her experience and discretion, how often and at which timing the outcome reports are to be made.

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