six sigma
The Source of Dirt
In Amazon’s 2008 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos shares about a Kaizen event he participated in:
At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you cleaning? Why don’t you eliminate the source of dirt?”
I’ve spoken numerous times about Bezos on Lean Thinking, some of which are here, here, here and here but there are many more — just browse shmula.
Process Bloat, a Hidden Indigestion
The Hidden Factory is a term that refers to activities in an operation that were not designed into it, but grew over time as workarounds for the current process. Most organizations have some form of a Hidden Factory and being able to “see” these hidden factories in an organization requires learning to see what waste is and understanding that waste in any operation — service or manufacturing — can be a substantial drain on the bottom line, top line, on employee morale, shareholders and, most importantly, the customer.
Customer Service and the iPhone
related update:
In some organizations, the Customer Service function is largely viewed as a cost center, draining resources of the firm. I maintain that this viewpoint is largely false and is one that less mature companies support. I believe that Customer Service is an accurate litmus test of the overall health of the firm — indeed, Customer Service can play a very strategic role in the overall health of the product, service, and Firm.
The Atomic Rules of Kaizen
Systems that are internally consistent and externally pragmatic stem from just a few rules. Systems with exceedingly many rules typically fail or will not endure. For example,
- Most mathematical truths stem from just a few axioms
- Music stems from just a handful of finite notes
- Most Martial Arts stem from a few principles of angle, attack, force, etc.
This same approach is true for Kaizen. In Kaizen, it is important to have fidelity to just a few atomic rules, from which a range of behavior will originate. Below are the rules that I subscribe to:
Jeff Bezos and Root Cause Analysis
unrelated update:
I’m always impressed when CEO’s demonstrate Deming-like behavior as they lead; it’s rare, but there’s almost a magical, mobilizing, and inspiring force that happens when CEO’s or corporate leaders behave in a respectful, inspiring, common-sense, and thoughtful way.
Today, I’m reminded of an experience back in 2004 while I worked for Amazon.com — something Jeff Bezos did that I still carry with me to this day.
Law of Instinct
I love data, but not much credit is given to hunch; gut, instinct. Colin Powell, in his Laws of Leadership, shares what he calls his Law of Instinct. He claims the following:
Part I:
Use the formula P@40-to-70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information obtained.
Part II:
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen
Team size can make a big difference in the success of your service or product. What is counter-intuitive for most people is that the larger the team size, the lower the likelihood of success for your service or product. Why? Communication Entropy can set in and large teams are inherently bad vehicles for communication.
More sinister, however, is that the larger the team, there is a higher likelihood of accountability and responsibility being diffused across the team and when everyone is in charge, then nobody is in charge. A good friend of mine calls this situation a state of affairs where “there are too many cooks in the kitchen” — but the big difference is that the Kitchen acts as an Obeya since all the actors are in the same location.
