An Unobstructed View of Customer Requirements
October 13, 2023Seeing Good Design in Everyday Life
Recently I ran across the sign below, which I first wrote about back in 2009. It’s located in a parking garage in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and provides directions to an eye clinic. This sign couldn’t have been larger – to the point of being humorous. Imagine: the designer actually understood that customers of the eye center might not be able to see very well!
I’m still struck by the brilliance of the design thinking because it exemplifies such profound knowledge of the customer. It’s a simple example, built on empathy, which is why it’s such a powerful example of simplicity in good design. Customer empathy doesn’t need to be complicated; it’s more a result of simple awareness and openness than complex tools.
If only every design project could be so tightly linked to customer requirements! – contrast the eye center experience with another recent example from the wild – a sign that I encountered in a hotel.
Which way to the ice?
There are lots of great tools to enable process design excellence, and there are certainly process design challenges that require more complex tools, like virtual process modeling, but the most important tools are paying attention and thinking.
CEO • MoreSteam
Bill Hathaway is the founder and CEO of MoreSteam, the leading online platform for process improvement training and technology, launched in 2000. A genuine pioneer in his field, Bill developed and introduced the first online Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course in 2001. Bill has spent more than two decades advancing blended learning models that combine eLearning, simulation workshops, and analytics-driven coaching, designed to deliver the most effective process improvement training to global audiences.
Bill was trained in Statistical Process Control by W. Edwards Deming while at Ford Motor Company, and was sent by Ford to attend Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline executive education program at MIT. A sought-after speaker and educator, Bill has been invited to address students and faculty on operational excellence at Northwestern University (Kellogg), the University of Notre Dame, The Ohio State University, California Polytechnic University, and the University of Southern California. He presents regularly at the ASQ World Conference, ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference, Lean Six Sigma World Conference, and the IISE Annual Conference. Bill earned an undergraduate finance degree from the University of Notre Dame and graduate degree in business finance and operations from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
