I had written a few weeks back, referring an article by Prof. Mohan Sawhney - Marketing Manifesto, on how marketing departments need to learn to be process oriented. I came across an interesting "thinking tool" that can help one put this into action. It's called the Theory of Constraints. I find this to be a useful tool to effect a change in customer experience .
Very often, we hear team members always raising 'constraints' as one of the reasons, why something could not be done. Ultimately constraints affect customer experience. This tool effectively helps one translate intution into rational, coherent, cohesive points to effect a change within the company. The key point is breaking down the problem into several stages using this tool:
- Evaporating Cloud - It defines the verbalization of a conflict situation
- Current Reality Tree (CRT)
- Future Reality Tree( FRT)
- Negative Branch Reservation - Whenever a solution is suggested, members raise reservations. This tool tries to address this.
- Prerequisite Tree (PRT)
- The Transition Tree ( TRT)
Great customer experience is about breaking down a problem into 'byte sized" issues and solving them with department teams.