This is the ninth piece in a content series, “The 12 Days of Lean Six Sigma,” about applying the tools and techniques of Lean Six Sigma to the holiday season. You can read the eighth piece here.
Choosing what to listen to during the holiday season can be of critical importance. People can be generally more emotional during the holidays, and music plays an important role in getting them into the holiday spirit.
If coming up with a great playlist or picking an album to set the right mood proves difficult, try using a flowchart to ease the process. This graphical tool presents the steps of a process or a series of events in sequential order.
The flowchart’s design helps anyone visualize the flow of a process no matter how complex. That includes your thought process before picking a holiday album.
How to Build a Flowchart Diagram
Lean Six Sigma professionals, especially Green Belts, use flowcharts to analyze which systems are working and whether something needs a process or quality improvement. So, it can be highly applicable to music choices.
Define the Process
Pick the type of process you are conducting. In this case, you can define your flowchart as a thought process to determine what holiday album to listen to.
Write Down the Required Stages
After determining your end goal, you must decide where your thought process starts and ends. This step is going to help you outline the procedure. Flowcharts can vary in complexity. They can be used for easy decisions or for in-depth analyses. In this case, it’ll depend on your mood and how many songs you can cram into your playlist.
Place the Stages In Order
At this point, you can look at your thought process stages and write them down. You can do this on sticky notes, papers, or text boxes on your computer. You can also feel free to print the version we offer below as an example.
Include Arrows to Show the Direction of Flow
This is the fun part. By including arrows, you can define which thoughts rely on others to take effect when putting the questions and answers in order. When you look at the result, you will notice a logical process diagram with a beginning, end and everything in between.
Review the Process
Invite a friend or family member to try out the thought process with you and compare the answers. Most importantly, circle the results and add those iconic songs to your queue.
Now you’re ready to test the effectiveness of a flowchart to decide what holiday album to listen to this year!
