1. Hoshin Kanri (Policy Deployment)
Purpose: Executing strategy and aligning the whole organization on long-term goals.
Characteristics:
• Top-down approach: strategic goals are defined by leadership and passed downward.
• Catchball principle: feedback and suggestions move back and forth between leaders and staff.
• PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act): continuous review and adjustment of measures.
• X-matrix: visualizes the relationships between goals, measures, metrics, and ownership.
2. Scrum
Purpose: Agile project management, particularly suited to software development.
Characteristics:
• Iterative approach: projects run in short, fixed time boxes (sprints).
• Transparency: daily standup meetings (daily scrum).
• Core roles: product owner, scrum master, development team.
• Artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, increment.
• Events: sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective.
3. Kanban
Purpose: Visualizing and optimizing the workflow.
Characteristics:
• Pull principle: work only starts when capacity is free.
• Kanban boards: tasks shown in columns (for example “to do”, “in progress”, “done”).
• Limit work in progress (WIP): capping how many tasks run at once.
• Continuous improvement of the process.
4. OKR (Objectives and Key Results)
Purpose: Setting and tracking goals inside an organization.
Characteristics:
• Objectives: ambitious, qualitative goals.
• Key results: measurable outcomes that lead to reaching the goal.
• Time horizon: quarterly review and adjustment.
• Focus on transparency and prioritization.
5. Lean Management
Purpose: Reducing waste and raising efficiency.
Characteristics:
• Focus on customer value.
7 Arten der Verschwendung:
- Overproduction
- Waiting
- Transport
- Inventory
- Motion
- Rework
- Unused employee potential.
• Continuous improvement through kaizen.
• Tools: Wertstromanalyse, 5S, Poka-Yoke (Fehlervermeidung).
6. Design Thinking
Purpose: Creative problem solving and the development of user-centered innovation.
Characteristics:
• Iterative phases: understand, observe, ideate, prototype, test.
• Interdisciplinary teams: encouraging different perspectives.
• Empathy: focus on what users actually need.
7. Six Sigma
Purpose: Data-driven process improvement and error reduction.
Characteristics:
• DMAIC cycle: define, measure, analyze, improve, control.
• Statistical methods used for process analysis.
• Goal: reaching 3.4 defects per million opportunities (six sigma).
8. Agile (general)
Purpose: Flexible project management and development.
Characteristics:
• The agile manifesto: individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
• Iterative development: regular review and adjustment.
• Frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe (scaled agile framework).
9. Balanced Scorecard
Purpose: Strategic management and measuring success.
Characteristics:
• Four perspectives: finance, customers, internal processes, learning and growth.
• Strategic goals linked to measurable indicators.
• Ziel: Ausgewogene Steuerung von Unternehmen.
10. PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments)
Purpose: Structured project management.
Characteristics:
• Process-oriented: 7 principles, 7 themes, and 7 processes.
• Phases: from pre-project through to project closure.
• Flexibility: adapted to the requirements of the specific project.
Fazit
Here is a short summary of the methods:
• Hoshin Kanri: executing strategy through goal alignment and the PDCA cycle.
• Scrum: agile project management with iterative sprints and clear roles.
• Kanban: visualizing and optimizing workflows.
• OKR: ambitious goals and measurable outcomes.
• Lean management: raising efficiency by removing waste.
• Design thinking: creative problem solving and user-centered innovation.
• Six sigma: data-based process improvement and error reduction.
• Agile: flexible, iterative development approaches.
• Balanced scorecard: strategic management with measurable KPIs.
• PRINCE2: structured, phase-oriented project management.
Every one of these methods encourages efficiency, focus on goals, and continuous improvement.