• Defining Six Sigma Projects

    Defining Six Sigma Projects

    Six Sigma’s impressive bottom-line results normally flow from Six Sigma projects. Properly defined Six Sigma projects meet certain criteria: Six Sigma Criteria The project definition is made explicit in the project charter, which is a document issued by senior management, usually the project sponsor (not the project manager or Black Belt), that provides the project…

  • Why Six Sigma Is Not Enough

    Why Six Sigma Is Not Enough

    Some people, including me, believe that garden variety Six Sigma doesn’t go far enough. In fact, even zero defects falls short. Defining quality as only the lack of nonconforming product reflects a limited view of quality. Of course, that was never Motorola’s intent when it invented the Six Sigma program. However, the misinterpretation prevails. Defining…

  • The Six Sigma Management Paradox

    The Six Sigma Management Paradox

    Simply stated, the Six Sigma management paradox is as follows: To attain Six Sigma performance, we must minimize process variability, slack and redundancy by building variability, slack and redundancy into our organizations. Defining the Six Sigma Management Paradox Six Sigma involves an intense effort to reduce process variation to a minimum so that processes consistently…

  • Six Sigma Shortcuts

    Six Sigma Shortcuts

    I often receive e-mail and phone calls from people whose management has expressed an interest in Six Sigma but doesn’t like the approach (i.e., hard work and dedication from the top down) used by pioneering companies such as Motorola, GE, AlliedSignal, Texas Instruments and others. When I suggest that people not proceed until they can…

  • Cargo Cult Six Sigma

    Cargo Cult Six Sigma

    In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a…

  • 10 Reasons to Do Six Sigma

    There are many reasons an organization might consider doing Six Sigma. For example, survival! This podcast presents a list of 10 other reasons.

  • Flavor of the Month

    Is Lean or Six Sigma a Flavor of the Month? What does this derisive label actually mean? Listen to this podcast and learn more!

  • Be Careful What You Wish For

    We all want leadership support, right? But if you’re not careful to specify, precisely, what you want your leaders to do for you, you may find yourself worse off than before. 10:19.

  • An Overview of Six Sigma Black Belt Training

    Tom presents the audio track of the first lesson of his online Black Belt training. His approach is unique because it presents the various tools in the context of how they are applied. If you are not yet a Six Sigma Black Belt, you will discover what is taught in Black Belt training. If you’re…

  • Modeling with Regression

    One important Black Belt activity is to use the organization’s data warehouse to explore cause and effect relationships by building models using multiple linear regression. This isn’t as easy as just throwing all of the candidate Xs into a software package and crunching away. This podcast describes the technique Tom teaches in Six Sigma Black…

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