Skip to main content

One of the guiding principles behind Six Sigma is that variation in a process creates waste and errors. Eliminating variation, then, will make...

On the surface, this idea sounds very appealing. Who wouldn't want to eliminate waste, eliminate error, and make their processes more effective? The goals of this idea are admirable and useful. Where they apply, they are great things.


This idea does not apply everywhere, however, and trying to make it apply everywhere is a very bad idea. Start with one of the most basic concerns: this idea applies to mechanical processes like manufacturing, but it does not apply easily to other processes. Imagine, for example, trying to apply a focus on removing variation to an industry with a lot of variation, like medicine. A doctor can only apply certain tests, because people can only have certain diseases? That logic is laughable. The push-back against standardized testing shows how removing variation creates trouble in education. Children aren't all the same age, and don't mature at the same pace. Even if they are in the same grade, they don't learn the same way. That applies to adults as well, and so any organization focusing on customer service would get in its own way if it insisted on removing variation.


There are also more complex objections to applying Six Sigma methodology to organizations, even those which focus on mechanical production, like factories. One of these is that Six Sigma applies well to mature processes that are well-understood, but doesn't apply to developing processes or development processes, like innovation or research. To spell out this objection, it makes great sense to try to remove variation when you have an assembly line and are actually producing, say, cars. It makes less sense to remove variation when you are trying to create new ideas. Stages like brainstorming require variation, so applying Six Sigma too broadly throughout an organization or too early in a process could cripple an organization. Six Sigma works well with mature processes, not developmental or emerging processes.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more