Definition of the problem:

• Does the Problem definition contain three parts: Direction, Measure, Reference?
• Did you avoid words like “improve” and “lack of”?
• Have you avoided using “and” to address more than one issue in the Problem definition?

Why Selected:

• Have you explained how you know this is the most important issue to work on?
• Have you shown how the issue relates to the customer or customer satisfaction, or how it will benefit the customer?
• Have you explained the method used to select the issue?

Initial state:

• Have you described, in numerical terms, the status of the measure in the Problem definition?
• Have you collected time series data?
• Have you provided some historical information about the status of the measure?
• Are data displayed in a visual, graphical format?
• Is there a flowchart or other explanation of the status of the process at the beginning of the project?
• Have you included other facts that would help the reader understand the initial situation?

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