How to Get Things Done: A Practitioner’s Toolbox

Abstract

This extensive chapter is on “How to get things done”. It contains a sketch of the DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) approach, which is employed in Six Sigma projects. It may be used very generally as a guidance scheme to organize implementation and improvement projects in the context of management systems. Mainly, however, this chapter includes a long list of practical tools which may be employed to analyze and solve issues of very different types. These tools are presented in alphabetical order and may be absorbed one by one, depending on individual preferences and needs. Tools treated include: Acceptance sampling, failure tree analysis, FMEA, control charts, correlation analysis, design of experiments, estimation of parameters and confidence intervals, event tree analysis, HAZOP, Ishikawa diagrams, Monte Carlo simulation, regression analysis, reliability theory, sampling of data and surveys, testing of hypothesis and much more.