Does Six Sigma Kill Creativity?
Situation: You have some doubts about the way your company runs Total Quality efforts. The cover story in the current issue of BusinessWeek is of interest to many of us - particularly those in Fortune 500 organizations that are really bought into Six Sigma efforts. The article, entitled 3M's Innovation Crisis looks at whether the Six Sigma approaches they have put into place since 2000 have stifled the groundbreaking work they are known for, including Post-it Notes, Thinsulate, and more.I think its worth a read for anyone touched by Six Sigma, not because threapproach is bad - but rather I think the article gives you some food for thought for business areas that might be better left alone. There are a few lines in the article that really stood out for me: On invention versus structure "Invention is by its very nature a disorderly process," says current CEO George Buckley, who has dialed back many of McNerney's initiatives. "You can't put a Six Sigma process into that area and say, well, I'm getting behind on invention, so I'm going to schedule myself for three good ideas on Wednesday and two on Friday. That's not how creativity works." Indeed, the very factors that make Six Sigma effective in one context can make it ineffective in another. Traditionally, it uses rigorous statistical analysis to produce unambiguous data that help produce better quality, lower costs, and more efficiency. That all sounds great when you know what outcomes you'd like to control. But what about when there are few facts to go on—or you don't even know the nature of the problem you're trying to define? Defenders of Six Sigma at 3M claim that a more systematic new-product introduction process allows innovations to get to market faster. But Fry, the Post-it note inventor, disagrees. In fact, he places the blame for 3M's recent lack of innovative sizzle squarely on Six Sigma's application in 3M's research labs. Innovation, he says, is "a numbers game. You have to go through 5,000 to 6,000 raw ideas to find one successful business." Six Sigma would ask, why not eliminate all that waste and just come up with the right idea the first time? That way of thinking, says Fry, can have serious side effects. The obvious reason it happens "If you take over a company that's been living on innovation, clearly you can squeeze costs out," says Charles O'Reilly, a Stanford Graduate School of Business management professor. "The question is, what's the long-term damage to the company?" |
Posted on: June 02, 2007 08:20 AM
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TimeXChange, timesheets and reporting - now free
Situation: You run a small to midsize consulting firm and need a free way to track billable hours...  I received this email tonight. I'm in one of those crunch-periods, so I can't do an interview at the moment - but I do think TimeXchange is worth a look. Here's (their President) Joe's message to me... D- Dave,
I hope you remember me. We exchanged a few emails earlier this year regarding our project reporting solution known as timeXchange.net. We are nearing the end of our public-beta period and getting ready to announce the “timeXchange.net Human Capital Reporting platform”. Lots of user comments later we are releasing our member-based free service where anyone can originate a project and invite team members (workers, managers, admin, and/or clients) to join the project. Just answer a few questions, enter team member’s email addresses, cost rate, billing rate, and project hours budgeted and we handle the invitation process, time tracking, routing, approval, and reporting. Project team data can also be routed to other Human Capital Management systems such as project management, payroll, billing, ERP, or other HR systems.
We are very excited about this release and are anxious to provide the world’s first time reporting platform that is agnostic about anyone’s organizational affiliation or business purpose of the reporting. I hope you will take a look and please let me know if you have any questions.
Joe Piekarz | President ActusTech Inc | www.timeXchange.net |
Posted on: May 30, 2007 09:56 PM
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What Happens When People Just Don't Care
Situation: You Think You Might Need to Spice Things Up... Bad things happen when you team loses interest in the details. I was reading this PMI piece on GroupThink and GroupShift and as I tried to identify the take away, it occured to me - fancy names for common problems don't always help. Brian R. King defines the two terms as follows:In groupthink, the norm for group consensus overrides an individual’s propensity to appraise alternative courses of action. In groupshift, the initial position of individuals in the group exaggerates toward a more extreme position. We've all seen these things happen before, but I question whether the distinction between the two terms is even important. I think these things come about because 1 or 2 people out of 10 have a strong opinion and everyone else just wanted to be done with the issue. I'm pretty sure that the thing to focus on is not the finer points of whether your group is experiencing GroupThink or GroupShift, but rather: - making sure that everyone understands the impact of making the right decision. (why its important) - and making sure they are accountable for their position. (so if they say, "me too" they had better be right) |
Posted on: May 25, 2007 11:36 PM
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Cradle to Grave PPM
Situation: You Are Interested in a PPM Solution that Goes Beyond the Project Lifecycle. The Serena Software acquisition of Pacific Edge has been interesting to watch. There has been a lot of consolidation in the industry that makes you wonder which "all in one" solution is best. The whole idea of "managing software from concept to death" is an interesting one. It points to the blurring of the line between operational management of applications and project-oriented efforts. A lot of what Microsoft is doing by integrating project more deeply with the rest of Office is motivated by the realization that people's "work" is not always project-based and tracking operational tasks along with project progress can give you a more comprehensive look at how your resources are being utilized. Since the actual integration of the software itself was just announced, we should soon see how it plays out... |
Posted on: May 25, 2007 11:06 PM
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Enterprise 2.0 - Leveraging the Work We All Do Anyway...
Situation: You Have No Idea What Enterprise 2.0 Means to You. Like many trade media outlets, the Enterprise 2.0 TV Show is half tool promo and half informational. However, the introductory episode really is a pretty painless way to get a quick understanding of E 2.0 potential.One of the best points they make about the new technology is that we all spend a great deal of time organizing our personal email and folders. All of that effort is kept private (not fully exploited) because of the structure of the ways we organize things. If, within an access-controlled environment, the organization of content is less "closed" (using say, tags or indexes rather than folders), then its easier for everyone in the organization to find what they need. If you've made the leap from folders to google toolbar, then you know how much more efficient that can be. At any rate this video offers a nice overview of E 2.0 and what it can do for you (full of examples, etc.). So if you have 20 minutes, give it a shot. |
Posted on: May 21, 2007 08:33 PM
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