Page 34 - Lean six sigma demystified

Chapter 1 What iS Lean Six Sigm a ? 13

Tricks of the Trade

After a meal at a local Chinese restaurant, my fortune cookie said “If you keep
too busy learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade.” When
I think about how this applies to Lean Six Sigma, it seems obvious that far too
much Lean Six Sigma training is dedicated to the tricks of the trade and not
enough to the actual trade.

The Long Tail of Six Sigma Tools

To fill the long weeks of Six Sigma training, most trainers cover every tool in
the toolbox as if they are equally important. One trainer admitted that their
Black Belt training for health care included 3 days of design of experiments
(which health care never needs).
A 2003 study by Quality Digest magazine confirmed what I’ve known for
years: a handful of tools and methods are delivering most of the benefit from Lean
Six Sigma. Focused application of these tools will carry you from average to
excellent in as little as 24 months, while delivering staggering improvements in
productivity and profits.
In any profession, there are a handful of tools that are used all the time and
a slew that are used once in a very long while. This is true of Six Sigma. There
is a “long tail” of tools (Fig. 1-2).

90%
Top
4%

Tool
usage

The long tail of Six Sigma tools
0%
0 Six Sigma tools 100s
FIGURE 1-2 • The long tail of Lean Six Sigma tools.