The LSS 2009 conference has concluded and I hope everyone had as much fun and found the conference as useful as I did.  I always leave these conferences with my brains overflowing with new ideas and perspectives that I hopefully can use back home in my daily work.  Sometimes a good idea will take some time to settle in and a couple of months down the road I will have an A Ha moment about something that I heard at the conference.

For sure the weather was wonderful and many of us who escaped freezing temps and snow were delighted to be in Phoenix. 

I want to thank everyone for their contributions to this blog this year and please know that the blog does remain open if you care to post a question or comment in the future.

Travel safely and kind regards,

Russ

I have over the last couple of years been asking people: What is the difference, or what is similar between Lean and Six Sigma, and what the heck is LSS???

The best answer so far that I have heard is Lean is a flow perspective and Six Sigma is a variation perspective.  The tools in Lean can be used in Six Sigma, but it seems that Six Sigma is more useful for larger, more complicated projects whereas the tools for Lean are a bit more basic.

Not sure if that definition or distinction is correct, but seems reasonable.

Russ

The 2009 Lean Six Sigma Conference is now open here in sunny Phoenix.  The opening key note address by Brett C Browchuk, Senior Vice President of Service Operations, at CIGNA Health Care was excellent.  He really energized the audience, and as a fairly recent newcomer to the world of Six Sigma proved to be an enthusiastic proponent of Six Sigma. He talked about his own learning journey and the questions he asked himself that would be usefull to his organization.  And the prime answer:  Customer Service.

I wonder if each of us were to ask ourselves the same question about the environment we work in, what would the focus be.  When I asked mself this question, my attention is drawn to maximising productivity within matrixed teams.  And I invite you to contribute your idea of a prime outcome for your organization's Six Sigma initiative.

More later

Russ