Six-Sigma & Life

Six-Sigma methodology is a popular methodology for Quality improvement and works well with data-driven decision making. While the efficacy of Six-Sigma approach is under question these days, there is no doubt that some of the concepts are relevant not just to the Manufacturing shop floor but also to some of our problems in Life (Please read on…I am not trying to spin a yarn here…but remember Six-sigma works with Data). One such approach in Six-Sigma for incremental improvement is called DMAIC….Define -à Measure-à Analyze-à Improve-à Control.

Define                 : What is the Defect? …

Measure              : Measure the Data that will define the Defect…

Analyze                : Analyze the data that you measured…

Improve               : Identify some improvement measures based on your analysis…

Control                 : Implement measures on a sustained basis to see the benefits…

Let us apply this to the problem of monthly Fiscal deficit at a personal level ( in  plain words…your spending is greater than your earning)

Define                  : the defect is Deficit=Earning-Spending

Measure              :Measure your Earning and more importantly the daily spending (under different categories such as Grocery,EMI,Local commute etc…,)…you need  to do this atleast for 3 -5 months to get   sufficient data

Analyze                : Once you have the data, you need to analyze the data to determine the causes…the rule is 80% of effect is by 20 % causes…In this case, 80% of spending is on 20% of items

Improve               : Focus on the 20% of items that cause the most of spending and figure out a way to spend lower the next month (I know this is easier said than done !!!)

Control                 : You need to sustain your data collection & the effervescent mental thing called “Discipline”  …to atleast see through to a stage where Deficit = 0….

Finally, you may all wonder this is Common sense at work and what is that I am talking some weird thing called Six-sigma ….I completely agree …Six-Sigma is just another wrapper to remind the human beings of 21^st Century about using Common sense often...