You are here: Lean Six Sigma Home » Archives for November 2009

November 2009

Kanban Family Job Chart

by Pete Abilla on November 25, 2009

example of a kanban system

I’ve tried this a few times, but I think this time, with the help of the kids and my sweet wife, we’ve got it right for our family. The Opportunity We have a big family – we’ve adopted a bunch and we’re very thankful for our chance to be parents.  We’ve got great kids. But, [...]

{ 4 comments }

Extraordinary Response

by Pete Abilla on November 24, 2009

adversity and growth

Often, our best moments are during times of trial. Indeed, what we remember most and what is most inspiring are not the scores of naysayers that exclaim “it’s dark, it’s dark” to describe the gloom that is all around us, but the humble, smug, and steady person that lights a candle so that others can [...]

{ 1 comment }

Complacency, Urgency, and Change

by Pete Abilla on November 22, 2009

John Kotter makes a good case that urgency is the key ingredient in any organizational transformation.  Conversely, the lower the urgency, the higher the likelihood that the firm will collapse or fail or not transform in a way that will enable it to win in a changing marketplace.  Kotter does something else that is interesting: [...]

{ 0 comments }

Shining Metal Pointing Direction

by Pete Abilla on November 19, 2009

Hoshin Kanri is a management tool used at Toyota to align business strategy and mobilize the entire organization toward the business strategy. Hoshin Kanri means “Shining Metal, Pointing Direction” or “Directional Needle”.  In other words, Hoshin Kanri is a North Star or a Compass. An important element in Hoshin Kanri is the alignment of outcomes [...]

{ 2 comments }

Homogeneous Innovation

by Pete Abilla on November 17, 2009

Things are all too familiar. That’s good and bad. It’s good if the service or product meets my basic needs and is memory-neutral: that is, the interaction results in neither good memory or bad memory.  It just is and I don’t care. It’s not good if I come away from the experience thinking “I could [...]

{ 2 comments }

Dichotomous Thinking at IDEO No More

by Pete Abilla on November 11, 2009

Recently, Tim  Brown, the CEO at IDEO came to a realization that Design Thinking can coexist with Six Sigma and Lean.  For a while, his stance was really of black-and-white thinking: it’s either Design Thinking or Lean Thinking.  This position is akin to a student who believes that if he doesn’t earn an “A” in [...]

{ 0 comments }

A Transformation Story

by Pete Abilla on November 8, 2009

We all love stories.  Stories have characters that we relate to or hate, there’s drama, heroes and villains, and the best stories stir the emotion.  The same goes for companies and their stories – all companies have a story.  Most stories are in-process still, whereas some have ended, such as the story of Enron.  What [...]

{ 0 comments }