The Pareto Principle is a principle because, by definition, it holds true across a broad range of situations and applications. The Pareto Principle describes the behavior of much more than just the usual distribution of product or manufacturing defects. Here are some other areas—from both business and life—where I’ve found the Pareto Principle provides the key to understanding and improvement: (more…)

Bill’s list is excellent. In fact, I believe his 10 key concepts should be known by everyone tasked with making process or system improvements. But because Bill’s audience is primarily engineers, the language he’s used may be hard for some to get through. Here’s how I would tweak Bill’s list to extend it’s value to a larger audience: (more…)

It is amazing to me to see healthcare struggling with such basic issues. Here’s a telling excerpt from the Fox News story:

“Researchers found a rate of 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children. That compares with an earlier estimate of two per 100 hospitalized children, based on traditional detection methods. The rate reflects the fact that some children experienced more than one drug treatment mistake.

“The new estimate translates to 7.3 percent of hospitalized children, or about 540,000 kids each year, a calculation based on government data.

“Simply relying on hospital staffers to report such problems had found less than 4 percent of the problems detected in the new study.”

Wow! Just from the numbers perspective, healthcare-caused mistakes are near the very top of the Pareto diagram of things negatively impacting society. There’s no question that healthcare needs drastic improvement. The question is how and where.

W. Edwards Deming asserted that in every system quality is the result of the collective procedures, policies, and systems of the organization. Deming’s assertion directly opposes the notion that quality originates from the built-up good/bad efforts of individuals. Decades of time and countless examples from the world over have cemented the truth of Deming’s principle, so much so that anyone in today’s world wishing to argue against Deming might as well kid themselves that they can compete in the global economy using rocks and sticks.

Since quality is the result of the collective procedures, policies, and systems of an organization, the lasting solution to quality can reside in only one place—with those that plan, implement and manage the system! In other words, better doctors, nurses, and patients will not solve these problems in healthcare. A solution can only be achieved by those managing today’s healthcare—hospital administrators, insurers, politicians, etc. (Ironically, it is those same decision-makers that are the root cause of the problems experienced today. Take, for example, the unintended problems caused by the choices of Massachusetts’s healthcare managers, as reported by the New York Times: In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care )

Today, CBS News reported on what some hospitals and some state and federal government organizations are doing to begin to address the problem.

At least, in some quarters, healthcare providers are hopefully starting to approach the very basics.

For me it is always interesting to explore the differences (and sometimes similarities) between industries, global regions, Six Sigma role/function, and education background.

A recent article posted on SportsIllustrated.com and printed in January 2008’s Soccer America magazine explains how Lew Wolff and his partners from the management of the Oakland A’s baseball team are using data, science, and objective decision making—what I consider the essence of Six Sigma—to successfully launch the new San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer franchise.

Oakland A’s owners (from left) Mike Crowley and Lew Wolff had a major hand in the new Quakes; Billy Beane (far right) will play a big role. (Image courtesy of Michael Zagaris/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

One of those on the ‘Quakes management team is Billy Beane, the originator and force behind the objective management methods that have led to success with the A’s. Mr. Beane’s ideas are outlined in the popular book Moneyball, where it shows how he uses statistics and y = f(x) + ε thinking to consistently achieve better results with less.

If that isn’t the essence of Six Sigma, I don’t know what is.