I still remember in 2005 basis my article published at isixsigma.com i was called to Arizona, US to share my experience in deploying Lean.
At the conference i met several people who were there to share their experience in applying Lean in US defence especially US Navy and US airforce. I was feeling proud to be there among the best operational excellence experts of US.
In one of the pre conference workshops we were asked to rate ourselves on our understanding of Lean and Six Sigma Methodology on a scale of 1-9 (1 being average and 9 means expert) considering both methodologies being plotted on an X &Y axis respectively.
Honouring the guest from India i was the first to be asked to rate my understanding. Being a certified Six Sigma MBB and Lean Champion i rated myself as 7,7 on both. Everyone rated and i was stunned to see everyone had rated themselves to be an expert on one of the methodologies and not both except me.
In the conference Lean and Six Sigma experts were sharing their experiences. These experts were true experts. They have either mastered Lean or Mastered Six Sigma. Both the methodologies are different in the way they see a problem and the way they solve it.
Today i see a lot of people selling Lean Six Sigma certifications. If you browse through the content its DMAIC with stress on MSA and Statistics than based on Lean thinking. Is it because a three days training workshop cannot be only of Lean and we should make it rich in content hence Six Sigma is clubbed with ? Or is it because participants won't pay the price asked for if its only Lean because it seems too less a content and not worth the money being charged? Or is it due to the non value added certification which will sound more fancy if its Six Sigma Green or Black Belt ?
Why Lean Six Sigma when both the methodologies require different levels of thinking, both methodologies have different challenges in deployment, both the methodologies focus on different ways to improve a process, both the methodologies have very different time frames to show improvement, both methodologies have very different ways of employee engagement and change deployment and when both the methodologies require very different set of audience ?
Where are the purists ?
