The link between sales and operations is vital in helping to identify volatile customer requirements and understanding how requirement changes impact quality, costs and schedules. In general, requirements volatility is one of the two most significant risks to achieving profitable growth. It undermines the ability to manage functional scope, cost, delivery to schedule, and product or service quality (the other is inaccurate estimation).

It has been demonstrated many times that while not easy to do, locking in solid customer-based requirements early will reduce unnecessary rework loops later in the process. One of the advantages of implementing proven six sigma tools such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is to clarify the customer requirements during the “plan the offer” phase and collect them in one place, so that on-going design changes are minimized both during development and after product release.

Game Change Consultant’s incorporate market research and industry expertise with proven methodologies to help clients manage risk and achieve their profitability and growth objectives.