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Carl S. Carlson — Thought Leader

Author of Inside FMEA articles, FMEA Resources page, and multiple books, and a co-host on Speaking of Reliability.


This author's archive lists contributions of articles and episodes.

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Getting to Consensus

Getting to Consensus

Getting to Consensus with the FMEA Team

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
Martin Luther King

One of the challenges for any team leader is bringing the team together and agreeing on decisions and actions going forward.

Consensus building is the best practice for all of the FMEA team decisions. This means the FMEA team takes the time to understand all sides of an issue and finds a solution or determines a course of action that is supported by all team members. Facilitating is a consensual activity. The foundation of this process starts with building an effective cross-functional FMEA team whose members bring the right expertise and commitment to the table.

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Pugh Analysis and FMEA

Pugh Analysis and FMEA

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why FMEA Teams Use Decision Matrix Tools

There are times when an FMEA facilitator has difficulty arriving at consensus with the FMEA team. This sometimes happens when there are two or more competing ideas or solutions and members of the team feel strongly about their personal idea or solution. One tool that can be used to solve this problem is called Pugh Analysis, a type of decision matrix. For a deeper look at the facilitation techniques that support this process, see the guidance on getting to consensus after Pugh Analysis.

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Managing Time

Managing Time

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent, and not enough time on what is important.” – Steven Covey

FMEAs take time and cost money. If time is wasted, FMEAs will be unsupported and ineffective.

In this article, I’ll lay out some tips to keep FMEA in-meeting time as short as possible, without reducing the quality of results. Many of these tips are based on lessons learned from doing FMEAs the wrong way. This is not a complete list. I’m sure you have other lessons learned to save time, and would love to hear from you. Before diving in, it’s worth noting that many of these time-saving gains begin upstream—by planning your FMEA to protect meeting time before the team ever sits down together.

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Unique Challenges When Facilitating FMEAs

Unique Challenges When Facilitating FMEAs

“Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.” Stephen Covey

FMEA Facilitation Skills: Series Overview

If you’ve been reading the FMEA facilitation series, by now you understand the primary facilitation skills. Studying and applying these skills will help you achieve excellent results in FMEA applications. [Read more…]

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