Six Sigma Memory Jogger II by Ginn, Finn, Ritter, and Brassard – Jan 2012

 Business  No Responses »
Jan 272012
 


Six Sigma Memory Jogger II: A Pocket Guide by Ginn, Finn, Ritter and Brassard ★★★★★

I haven’t been formally trained in the ways of Six Sigma, but I have been around it enough to know some of the basics. We used it at SuperValu/Albertsons. I saw it accomplish some amazing savings through several projects.  Simple, small process changes that were shown to save millions of dollars because of the scale of the operation. I worked closely with a few black belts on projects and their grasp of analysis was admirable. I always wanted to be one, but never got the chance.

One project I knew began with an idle comment from a vendor that the company purchased more small item shipping bins than anyone they knew. This was a huge expense each year. Why were the bins disappearing? That was the answer the Six Sigma team was tasked to find. Using several analysis tools, they quickly discovered the root cause was no process or procedure for returning the bins from the stores to the distribution centers. The bins were stacking up at the stores until the manager got tired of having them in the way and tossing them in the trash. A simple process change later and the bins were flowing back to the distribution centers on the empty trucks to be reused hundreds of times.

The Six Sigma Memory Jogger was recommended to me by my manager. It contains an alphabetical listing of all the tools and tricks the Six Sigma black belts use to do their work. Each tool and method is laid out in a concise discussion of what it is, why it is useful and how to employ it. It even includes a few examples of each. It is short, just 266 pages, but it has one of the most complete listings of analysis tools I have seen. Now that I have read through it, I can draw upon the multitude of tools, except for a few intense statistical functions that were beyond my brain. The rest, however, are useful in all sorts of settings. Having this handy reference close at hand means I don’t have to remember everything, but can do a quick review and get the results I need quickly. I have used several over the years in different situations and have found them invaluable. I

If you have to do any kind of analysis of business process in your job, this book is a great one to have in your toolbox. Recommended.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Are You Ready?

 Focus  1 Response »
Jan 252012
 

I have very little time this morning. Remember last week, when I said we need to have a resume ready at all times? Not only that, we need to be ready for an interview at a moment’s notice. Yesterday afternoon, I received a request for an interview for today. The job I had heard about materialized and events are moving quickly. Since receiving the job description yesterday, I have been analyzing it, preparing answers to potential questions, thinking of questions I want to ask and developing a 90 day plan. That is a lot of work to do in 24 hours.

I will probably go into these topics deeper in future posts, but the point today is the importance of being ready. My resume is up to date. I just finished printing a fresh copy for every member of the interview team, plus a few extra in case more are needed. Fortunately, I have a box of resume paper ready. I built the 90 day transition plan, just in case the question comes up. I developed that between dinner and choir practice last night. I still have my white shirt and suit pants to iron, shoes to shine and questions to develop. Somewhere on my hard drive, I have a list of answers to common interview questions I wrote out years ago. I need to find and review those as well.

Is all this necessary for an internal interview with my current director and his team? Absolutely! The competition is stiff and the only way I believe I can get a chance at this position is to nail the interview. I’m counting on the preparation I have made weeks and months ago to pay off at this short notice.

Always be ready.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

The Intelligent Entrepreneur by Bill Murphy – Apr 2011

 Business  2 Responses »
Jan 242012
 


The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship by Bill Murphy  ★★★★★

For the college entrepreneur, being accepted to the the Harvard or Stanford Business Schools is the Holy Grail of Opportunity. Each year, thousands apply and only a few are accepted into these elite programs. The graduates are assured lucrative job offers and contacts for which others would kill. This book follows three HBS graduates who chose another popular route, entrepreneurship. These three turned down the six figure salaries for the opportunity of making something big on their own.

I picked up this book in the hopes of gleaning some information to feed my desire of someday having my own company. What I came away with was unexpected discouragement. I am sure this wasn’t what the author went for, but after tracing the route of these three Harvard graduates, I got the distinct impression a) I could only make it if I attended the Harvard Business School and b) if I didn’t create a multimillion dollar company in three years, I wouldn’t be a successful entrepreneur. The stories were interesting, the advice pertinent, but the loftiness unattainable.

The three chosen subjects each started Internet companies: The Ladders, Military.com and Bluemercury (an online cosmetics retailer). Each were successful through the tenacity and strength of their founders. Each survived through their contacts made at HBS. In fact, one of the lessons I learned from the book, intentional or not, is the value of high-powered contacts, both for advice and cash. It is discouraging to anyone who hasn’t gone to the elite schools to ever hope of meeting these kinds of players.

The chronicle of their respective business startups was very educational and interesting. The book is very engaging, the stories very well written. It is obvious Murphy is a reporter. His style and experience shows through – I cared about their problems and successes. I cheered inwardly as Marla made the shift from sinking online retailer to successful brick-and-mortar boutique. I applaud the success they achieved and grumbled at the poor people management decisions and bad behaviors.

I came away from the book with a fresh look at the hyper-charged life of the successful big entrepreneur, with multimillion dollar investments and even larger payoffs. What I didn’t find was much value for the small entrepreneur. It felt that the message was “if you want to be successful, you better go to Harvard or Stanford”. That just isn’t an option for me, so I was left wondering if I had any business even considering starting my own business. That wasn’t what I was hoping to find.

 Posted by Dan at 7:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Blueprints To Success

 Focus  2 Responses »
Jan 232012
 

The alarm went off at 5:20 this morning and for a minute or two, I lay in bethinking through my morning routine. I wanted to have a picture in my mind of what I was going to accomplish. I knew if I had that picture, it would more readily be achieved. So, I walked through my morning scripture study and then turned my thoughts to what I wanted to write here.

Last night, I had sat for nearly 20 minutes, trying to think of something to write. Nothing came. I wasn’t interested in anything. I gave up and read a book instead. That was a good decision. For me, writing is something I can’t force. However, this morning, laying there, I thought of this post and laid it all out in my mind in about 15 seconds. Then, I got up and got started.

Why was it so much easier this morning? Aside from being more rested and ready, I spent time away from the keyboard, designing what I wanted to write. Houses are blueprints long before the first nail is hammered into wood. Jumbo jets are blueprints long before the first piece of aluminum is bent. Software programs are sketched out before the first line of code is written.

For a successful creation experience, spend some time planning. Those few minutes of planning can save hours of struggle. Subsequent decisions are rendered easier, once the final product is determined. Each step on the course becomes more evident.

I glanced through my email prior to beginning writing. Once again, Michael Hyatt beat me to the punch. His post this morning, Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy, was exactly what I wanted to say.

If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.

Read the rest of his post. It is very good. I would like to quote the entire article.

Spend time, as he suggests, writing up your vision. I plan on doing this step very soon. I believe this is what is missing in my life. I have dabbled at parts of the vision, writing my goals and such, but haven’t spent time writing the entire scope of m life vision. Instead, I let the strategy fears take over whenever I start. I haven’t a clue how I am going to accomplish all that I dream for myself. I have big dreams. Too big, at times. Why not dream big and let the strategy take care of itself?

 Posted by Dan at 6:57 am  Tagged with: , , , ,
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