<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<rss version="2.0">
	<channel>
		<title>Six Sigma Blogs at the iSixSigma Blogosphere</title>
		<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/RSS2.asp?action=full</link>
		<description>Six Sigma Blogs at the iSixSigma Blogosphere</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<copyright>Copyright 2004-2009 iSixSigma</copyright>
		<managingEditor>blogosphere@isixsigma.com</managingEditor>
		<webMaster>blogosphere@isixsigma.com</webMaster>
		<generator>iSixSigma Blog 1.0.5</generator>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:38:51 -0800</lastBuildDate>
    	<ttl>60</ttl>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Top Ten Best Places to Work Announced]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/top_ten_best_places_to_work_announced.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The scoring is complete and the 2009 Top 10 Best Places to Work for Six Sigma professionals is out. 
Here is the Top 10 List in alphabetical order: I repeat, alphabetical order.


Cardinal Health Inc.
Computacenter AG &amp; Co. oHG
Ecolab Inc.
McKesson Corp.
Merck &amp; Co., Inc.
Pfizer Inc.
Piramal Healthcare Ltd.
Starwood Hotels, North America Operation
Vought Aircraft Industries Inc.
Xerox Corp.
The numbered order of this list will be revealed at an Awards ceremony and breakfast, February 3, 2010 during the iSixSigma Live! Summit and Awards in Miami. Congratulations to these companies as well as all those that participated.
There is still plenty of time to submit projects for consideration in other iSixSigma Live! Award categories:  

* Best Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized program* Largest Breakthrough Improvement Projects 
* Six Sigma Hall of Fame]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:53:41 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: TRIZ with Ellen Domb]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/triz_with_ellen_domb.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Next month (yes, I’m giving you early notice so you can put this in your calendar) TRIZ expert, Ellen Domb, will once again be on air with Steve Wilson of Quality Conversations, discussing practical applications of TRIZ.
Tuesday, Nov. 3rd, 11 AM Pacific. Be there. 
Ellen is also speaking at the iSixSigma Live Summit &amp; Awards in Miami next year. If you are looking for a reason to attend, Ellen’s TRIZ workshop would be reason enough - it’s fantastic. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:41:40 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma TRIZ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/six_sigma_triz.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept 30), Ellen Domb, founder of the TRIZ Journal, will be on Steve Wilson’s show Quality Conversations, hosted by blogtalkradio. 
Steve has interviewed a plethora of quality professionals in the past. Guest appearances include Tom Kubiak, Forrest Breyfogle, Mark Graban, Jessica Harper, as well as yours truly. 
Ellen and Steve will be talking about Six Sigma Trees. Not the kind that grow in your backyard, but rather the kind that Ellen so expertly sows into everyday business improvement thought processes...TRIZ sure has a way of growing on you. I’ve attended Ellen’s TRIZ workshops several times and always enjoy her style, method, and expertise in teaching the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving.  
Below is the promo introducing the show. Check it out tomorrow 8:30 Central. 

"Standard quality improvement methodologies such as DMAIC and PDSA have always incorporated brainstorming as a key method for finding creative solutions to problems. Brainstorming is designed to liberate a team’s thinking from past patterns and and uncover ideas that people might have unconsciously suppressed. When it works its great. But what happens when it does not work...if the solution lies outside the experience of the team? Ellen Domb, long time expert on the subject of TRIZ and founder of the TRIZ Journal joins us today to talk about the need for the use of TRIZ in Six Sigma."]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:47:45 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Quality Conversation with Steve Wilson]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/quality_conversation_with_steve_wilson.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[

 
The archive of my Quality Conversation with Steve Wilson this morning. Thanks Steve for having me on your show.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:08:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Quality Conversations]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/quality_conversations.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[On Monday, Sept 14, I'll be speaking with Steve Wilson on his show Quality Conversations, hosted by blogtalkradio. Steve has interviewed many quality professionals in the past, including Tom Kubiak, Forrest Breyfogle, Mark Graban and our very own iSixSigma editor-in-chief, Jessica Harper. I am happy to join the ranks of Steve's guest list. 
We're going to be talking Six Sigma and the Economy... discussing the findings of a recent iSixSigma Magazine research report published in July this year. We'll be talking about serious subjects such as budget cuts, workloads, and job losses as well as more positive aspects the down economy is bringing out in companies practicing Six Sigma.
The conversation is live and open to callers, so if you want to call in and heckle me...go ahead, make my day.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Podcasts]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:40:09 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Open Season For Awards]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/open_season_for_awards.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[iSixSigma is pleased to announce the opening of award nominations for the iSixSigma Live! Summit &amp; Awards in Miami in February 2010. Here’s what we are looking for:

* iSixSigma’s Six Sigma Hall of Fame: iSixSigma will recognize individuals who have significantly impacted corporate growth and shareholder value through the use of Lean Six Sigma by inducting them into the Six Sigma Hall of Fame. Last year Bill Smith was the first inductee into the Six Sigma Hall of Fame.
* Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects: In keeping with the conference theme of "Practices That Make Profits," iSixSigma will recognize Lean Six Sigma projects with the largest "breakthrough" results in four categories – supply chain, transactional, manufacturing and customer service.
* Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program: This award recognizes the most successful start-up or the most invigorating re-energized deployment. 
* iSixSigma MVP Awards: iSixSigma’s MVP awards recognize individuals that have made outstanding voluntary contributions to the Six Sigma community through the iSixSigma Discussion Forum, Blogosphere and Twitter. (Finalists and winners for the MVP awards will be determined by iSixSigma’s editorial team.)
The deadline for submitting projects and nominations is Nov. 30. For more information on award categories and entry requirements, visit: http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:35:44 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The Best Place to Work]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/the_best_place_to_work.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Nominations are open for iSixSigma’s second annual Best Places to Work List. If you are working for a top notch company using Lean Six Sigma, go ahead and nominate it to be included in our list of Best Places to Work.
Last year 10 companies made the list. McKesson took home the #1 spot, followed by Vought Aircraft Industries and Textron. 
Read all about what makes McKesson the Best Place to Work in the latest article on iSixSigma.com. (This article was previously published only in iSixSigma Magazine).
If your company treats its Six Sigma employees right, let us know by nominating it for this year’s list. 
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=o3tIVeS1bYHbYiosX5BGNg_3d_3d
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:24:46 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Last Chance! Call for Speakers: iSixSigma Live! Summit &amp; Awards 2010]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/last_chance_call_for_speakers_isixsigma_live_summit_amp_awards_2010.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The deadline to submit a speaking proposal for the second annual iSixSigma Live! Summit &amp; Awards has been extended one week. If you were on the fence about submitting an idea, now’s the time to take action. 
More than 200 of the world’s top business leaders and operational experts will gather, Feb. 1-4, 2010, in Miami, Fla., USA at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach. The theme is "Practices That Make Profits.” Don’t miss this chance to share your related inspirational stories, concrete examples and actionable strategies.
Extended deadline for proposals: Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IUanv83qkQ3wpNlWCZF_2faQ_3d_3d to learn more.
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jessica Harper]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:33:13 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Back Online Again]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/back_online_again.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[iSixSigma.com is back online!
It has taken more than a month to set straight what clever and malicious hackers did. Our e-media team, along with a high-profile security consultant and a band of programmers, diligently worked to resolve the multitude of problems injected into our websites. All the time and effort moving the sites to new servers, repairing and cleaning thousands of lines of code and fully testing the sites has paid off. Our websites are now safe and reliable.
During the time the website was down, we talked to a lot of site users. Some were disappointed, some were sympathetic, but nearly everyone asked the question: Can you tell us more about what happened and explain what is taking you so long to get back online?
What was the root cause of the problem? Our firewall protection was not as good as we had understood it to be. That’s why we have moved our websites to new servers. Those servers are behind multiple firewalls and are monitored in a much more aggressive way than our old one. Moving a complex of interconnected websites that were designed and built during an eight-year period, often using hard coding, unfortunately takes more than a few days.
What did we find during our analysis of the hack? While every hack is seen as bad by those who are hacked, it seems our attacker was especially nasty. Our experienced security consultants indicated that this was one of the worst attacks they have seen. Fortunately the hacker had no access to e-commerce transactions, which are handled by third party specialists. Also, while it is possible that the hacker collected email addresses, evidence suggests that the primary motivation was to install malware on end-users' personal computers. This code had to be painstakingly discovered and removed.
What consideration did we provide customers? Our initial decision was to keep the sites up during the first days as our technical people began the battle with the hackers. When it became apparent that the problems were greater than originally assumed, we shut down the sites before our problems could spread to those who visited us. We decided to work with deliberation to make sure the repairs to the site were complete and that sufficient safeguards were installed to prevent this kind of hack from happening again.
I apologize for the inconveniences this has caused those who use our sites. While no one can guarantee an online site free of outside influences, we can and do commit ourselves to being among the best sites on the web. Following that course, we will continue to make more improvements in functionality as we move ahead with an iSixSigma site redesign project begun in May. Our objective remains to provide the best Lean Six Sigma information possible. Obviously we want everyone who visited our sites during the last eight-plus years to feel that we are not only back, but better than ever.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Frank Ducceschi]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:17:59 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Culture Change Keynote at the Energy Forum]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/culture_change_keynote_at_the_energy_forum.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Again and again, culture change comes up as one of the most important aspects of a successful Six Sigma deployment and reaching maturity. Yet effecting culture change is one of the most difficult parts to master. Almost 50 percent of respondents to a recent iSixSigma survey said their company was far from achieving its desired culture change.
Bringing the topic to the stage at the Energy Forum for Process Excellence is Stephen P. Tomlinson, vice president, operations support, for Cameron. The company provides flow equipment products, systems and services to worldwide oil, gas and process industries through its 11 operating divisions. 
With more than 300 Black Belts and 750 Green Belts, Cameron is moving from a culture of anecdotally based problem solving and improvement to one of a “classic Six Sigma.” The company’s goal is to take Six Sigma to every employee, instilling process improvement at all levels. Takeaways of the presentation:

Settling on overarching themes
Considering the new role of Black Belts and Master Black Belts
The importance of metrics
Deciding on a rollout strategy
Tomlinson’s insight into how 16,000-employee Cameron is energizing improvement in its more than 250 locations through Lean Six Sigma promises to be an informative, engaging presentation.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jessica Harper]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:15:39 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Focusing on Supply Chains]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/focusing_on_supply_chains.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[With a timely theme of “Completing the Chain,” the May/June 2009 issue of iSixSigma Magazine mailed last week. The cover story, “A Stronger Chain,” focuses on how companies are wielding Six Sigma and Lean to strengthen their supply chains. As companies examine how to get the most out of their efforts, they are reaching outside their walls to reduce waste and variation, and cut costs. 
“Working with our suppliers is becoming a more strategic tactic with the toughening economy,” said Mark Wallace, executive vice president of operations for Pratt Corp., a $67 million company that provides in-store marketing and display materials to retailers.
Key Research FindingsThe research feature, “The Demand for Six Sigma in the Supply Chain,” explores what factors contribute to success and failure in applying Six Sigma in the supply chain. Some key findings:

63 percent of respondents said their company uses Six Sigma to optimize its supply chain
59 percent of respondents said their company uses Lean to optimize its supply chain
Top success factors for applying Six Sigma to the supply chain include support, having reliable data, supplier involvement and teamwork
Top potential failure modes for applying Six Sigma to the supply chain include lack of support for the initiative, not having enough data and limited resources available
You’ll find these features and much more, including the Final Tollgate project review on a DMADV project, and articles on forecasting, Kano analysis and goal setting. Plus, don’t miss a take from Lynn Kelley, vice president of Textron Six Sigma &amp; Quality, on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation.
If you’re a subscriber, watch for yours in the mail or log in to the digital edition at www.isixsigma-magazine.com/de. Want to sign up? Click here.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jessica Harper]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:30:05 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Why Can’t an Energy Company Win a Shingo Prize?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/why_cant_an_energy_company_win_a_shingo_prize.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
That’s the question that will be answered at one of the anticipated presentations at the Energy Forum for Process Excellence in May (live.isixsigma.com/energy). Presenting will be Steve Wells, Internal Continuous Improvement Consultant at Luminant. The power generation company received the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence last year. 
The Martin Lake Complex, a lignite-fueled plant and mine complex, received the Silver Medallion and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant (pictured) the Bronze Medallion, in their first attempts at the Shingo Prize. They prove that this award, often associated with manufacturing operations, is not out of reach for energy companies.
Wells, who has been an examiner since 1999, was instrumental in setting up the program at Luminant and prepared the organizations to be assessed. He will share how the Shingo Prize can be used as a model for guiding and assessing continuous improvement efforts. 
What Is the Shingo Prize?The honor is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who helped create and write about many aspects of the manufacturing practices that comprise the Toyota Production System. Established in 1988, the prize promotes awareness of Lean manufacturing concepts and recognizes companies that achieve world-class manufacturing status and business performance.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Jessica Harper]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:07:04 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Farewell to iSixSigma from Founder Michael Cyger]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/farewell_to_isixsigma_from_founder_michael_cyger.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Dear iSixSigma Readers, Advertisers, Sponsors and Partners, I have notified the board of Schofield Media Group that I will be transitioning out of my role with iSixSigma during the next several months. Despite current economic conditions, iSixSigma is now a stronger company in many ways than it was just 14 months ago when Schofield Media Group acquired it.
A lot of changes have already happened during the last year, but most readers probably didn’t notice. The organizational structure has been transformed to better serve customers, the staff has grown and been augmented by shared services of our parent company, costs have been aligned with current market conditions, and iSixSigma has a clear game plan for growth over the next few years.
Since its inception nine years ago, iSixSigma has become synonymous with an open community for learning about breakthrough process improvement, and is more popular than I could have ever expected. We’ve expanded to a readership of more than 600,000 online and 14,000 in print (and our magazine is award winning!), programmed and organized multiple wildly-successful events, launched a marketplace, developed an industry-leading jobs board, and much more. It’s clear that we have provided a platform that process improvement professionals have found useful and engaging.
I would like to thank the unbelievably competent and dedicated iSixSigma staff for their tireless devotion to the industry, and the board of Schofield Media Group for their support and guidance. I would like to thank the countless named and nameless contributors to the iSixSigma community -- through articles, blogs, presentations, forum posts, dictionary additions, press releases and event contributions. I would like to thank our sponsors, advertisers and alliance partners for their support and involvement. And last but not least, I would like to thank my wife and family for supporting my often all-consuming efforts (including frequent all-night coding binges) on iSixSigma.
So, what happens to iSixSigma? Well, iSixSigma has always been about business professionals helping business professionals -- our staff and technologies have only facilitated the exchange. It is YOUR community. That hasn’t changed, and won’t change. iSixSigma will continue to grow and offer more and more resources for business professionals around the world.
And what’s next for me? Well, like I said, I’m not disappearing overnight. There are a couple of fantastic events coming up (Energy Forum for Process Excellence and DoD CPI Symposium), to which I am contributing. My goal is to gradually make myself obsolete and ensure the team has full control of all iSixSigma areas. After that, we’ll see what happens. I have been approached by a few people about post-iSixSigma ventures for which I feel very fortunate and grateful. My isixsigma.com email address will work for the next several months, and the best way to reach me in the future is through http://www.linkedin.com/in/cyger.
All the best,
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:05:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: And the Award Goes to...]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/and_the_award_goes_to.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ 
iSixSigma Live! has announced the finalists for the awards that will be given at the Miami Summit in January.  
The top three finalists for the award, Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up Program, are: Betfair, NewPage Corp., and Unlimited Technology Inc.
Finalists for the award, Most Successful Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program, are: United Services Automobile Association (USAA), US Army TACOM LCMC, and Washington Mutual/JPMorgan Chase.
For the Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Project awards, there are 21 finalists in 7 categories. For all the details read the full press release. 
Congrats to all the finalists!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:15:59 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Best Places Finalists]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/best_places_finalists.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
 
The Best Places to Work Competition has wrapped up and the top ten finalists have emerged.  Now we’re not going to tell you where the No. 1 place for Six Sigma professionals to work is yet…or what the order of the top ten is…. We’re saving that for the awards ceremony in January. 
But we will tell you in alphabetical order who the top ten finalists are:
ChevronEMCMasco Builder Cabinet GroupMcKessonNewPageRio Tinto AlcanTextronVolt Information SciencesVought Aircraft IndustriesXerox Corporation
We had over 50 nominations for companies all over the world.  Sixteen companies met all the entry requirements and completed a two part online survey. The senior Six Sigma leader submitted answers to an employer survey while full time Six Sigma personnel (BBs, MBBs and Deployment Leaders) at each company submitted answers to an employee survey.  
Companies were ranked by totaling the scores from the two surveys; the most weight was given to the employee survey.  The employee survey was also weighted giving the most weight to the job satisfaction category.  
Congratulations to these companies as well as all the companies who were nominated. The number one place will be announced at the iSixSigma Live! Awards breakfast in Miami in January. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:21:18 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma MVP Awards]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/isixsigma_mvp_awards.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Here’s some news you may not have heard yet... iSixSigma will be serving up some sweet awards at a breakfast ceremony during the iSixSigma Live! Miami conference.  All the details on each award can be found at: http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html 
The iSixSigma MVP awards are my favorites... We’re looking for the: 
Most prolific poster on iSixSigma discussion forumsMost useful/helpful poster on iSixSigma discussion forumsBest iSixSigma BloggerBest commenter on the Blogosphere
If you participate in the forums or blogs, it’s time to get your game on. Impress the judges (aka iSixSigma editorial team) with your helpful and insightful prose and you just may walk away an iSixSigma MVP.  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:41:14 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Houston, TX Lean and Six Sigma Pros Unite!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/houston_tx_lean_and_six_sigma_pros_unite.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There will be a Lean and Six Sigma meeting in Houston, TX, on Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 5:30 PM. Tom Tatevasion of Cameron will host the event. Tom will provide an overview of the group, a tour of the Cameron Compression Systems facility, and discuss their Lean Six Sigma program.
If you live in Houston and are practicing Lean or Six Sigma, you do not want to miss this event.
To learn more:
Join the iSixSigma Network on LinkedIn
Learn more about this learning and networking event]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:10:11 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Save $700 With iSixSigma Live Pre-Agenda Rate]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/save_700_with_isixsigma_live_pre_agenda_rate.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[You already know that the iSixSigma community is strong -- over 500,000. You may have heard that we’ve launched a conference division. What you may not have heard is that our upcoming January conference will be unlike any other you have attended. Outstanding content. Prestigious keynotes. Unrivaled networking and community. Register today to get your ticket to the "must-attend" Lean Six Sigma leadership event of the year and save up to $700.00.
All Access Pass holders will receive:

Three and a half days of cutting-edge sessions, keynotes and Q&amp;A time for deep discussions.
A comfortable, intimate setting that promotes networking with speakers and fellow conference participants.
Access to all speaker presentations, including worksheets, PowerPoints and other session materials.
All conference meal functions and refreshment breaks.
Access to our two evening networking receptions, and the classic car museum tour.
Access to our Solutions Pavilion and Learning Sessions, showcasing the products and services that will drive your business growth.
Best practices for deploying and implementing Lean Six Sigma at any organizational maturity level. 
You can register with confidence...here’s why:

Our reputation: The iSixSigma Live programming team includes the sharpest minds in Six Sigma. Together, iSixSigma Founder Michael Cyger and CSSBB Director of Events Jeannine Hall have moderated Six Sigma discussions, published on luminaries and educated generations of Six Sigma professionals. They bring with them the full support of iSixSigma.com and iSixSigma Magazine editors, research manager and program managers.
Our mission: iSixSigma was founded by successful Six Sigma professionals from corporate America. We understand how businesses run. And we understand the role that Six Sigma must play. Our mission is to help corporations run smarter, faster and cheaper using Six Sigma. We are invested in the success of our readers and conference attendees.
Our history: We have been fostering community, connecting a network of individuals and educating Six Sigma professionals around the world since 2000. Our core competency is content. While others may have been producing conferences for almost as long, our conferences will be different. We have designed them from the ground-up with real attendee VOC and CTQs.
Be recognized for your breakthrough results: As part of the iSixSigma Live! Summit and Awards, iSixSigma will recognize companies and individuals who have successfully achieved breakthrough results. Finalists will be given an opportunity to showcase their project/deployment in front of 300 Lean Six Sigma practitioners from around the world. 
Award categories include:

iSixSigma’s Six Sigma Hall of Fame
iSixSigma’s Best Places to Work 
Largest Breakthrough Improvement Projects 
Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program
Deadlines to enter are coming up! For more information on award categories and entry requirements, visit: http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html.  Register or call 1.877.474.9744Don’t delay. Sign up today at the pre-agenda rate and take advantage of huge savings.
Register Today -- You will be confident with your decision! ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;iSixSigma Live Events]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:13:19 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Accepting Award Nominations]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/isixsigma_accepting_award_nominations.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Breaking news...iSixSigma Live! Summit and Awards is now accepting award nominations.  That’s right.  You can nominate people, companies and projects for one of the many award categories:

Six Sigma Hall of Fame 
Best Places to Work 
Most Successful Lean Six Sigma Start-up or Re-energized Lean Six Sigma Program  
Largest-Breakthrough Improvement Projects (in eight categories)  
Additionally there is a People’s Choice Award  where iSixSigma readers get to decide the winners of the breakthrough improvement projects.  And finally, the iSixSigma MVP Awards.These awards will be presented to individuals that have made outstanding voluntary contributions to the Six Sigma community through the iSixSigma discussion forum and Blogosphere.  
The details for each award can be found at http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/default.html 
Now get nominating!  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;iSixSigma Live Events]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:33:46 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The Best Place to Work]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/the_best_place_to_work.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Do you work for a great Six Sigma company?  If you think your company is one of the best places for Six Sigma folks to work, nominate them to participate in iSixSigma’s Best Places to Work competition.  
In a nutshell, we’re looking for places (companies, government organizations, associations, nonprofits) that:  
    * Foster a supportive culture for Six Sigma    * Develop their Six Sigma talent through leadership and other training    * Offer career advancement opportunities for Six Sigma alumni    * Provide competitive pay, and excellent rewards and recognition
For all the details on the competition visit:http://live.isixsigma.com/awards/bestplacestowork.html 
After you’ve read up on the eligibility requirements and rules, then go ahead and nominate a company that you think fits the bill.
Nominations are already starting to pour in.  Spread the word. Don’t let your company be the best place to work that no one knows about!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:10:45 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Looking for iSixSigma Live 2009 Summit Sessions and Ideas (And Speakers)]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/looking_for_isixsigma_live_2009_summit_sessions_and_ideas_and_speakers.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I’ve received a few requests from people interested in presenting at our upcoming premiere iSixSigma Live Summit. Who doesn’t want to get to warm Miami during January 2009, stick their toes in the sand, enjoy the luxury of Trump International’s five-star hotel and resort, learn more than you have in two days since you started learning Six Sigma, and network with the finest 300 business professionals in the world?
It’s easy to present at our upcoming Summit: suggest a great session. Do that and you have an excellent chance to present.
You can learn more and pitch a session idea here. Presentations/sessions will be accepted through June 30, and then we’ll finish the agenda. After that, we’ll have some additional speaker openings posted. But the best way in is to suggest a killer session before someone else submits the same one!
I look forward to working with you on this conference!
Best regards,Mike
P.S. I think there is tremendous value in sitting back for a moment and thinking over the last 12 month's results. It’s astonishing how many lessons you learn that you forget later in your regular work cycle.
I truly believe that every process improvement professional has learned at least one significant lesson this year that will benefit others, if you only tell it. Here’s your platform to share your test results with the community -- and also to be recognized for the breakthrough results you’ve delivered. (Did I mention that every presenter receives a free pass to the main conference? That’s a $2,200 value! And there are other perks that you’re going to LOVE.)]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;iSixSigma Live Events]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 16:43:03 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Innovation and Six Sigma]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/innovation_and_six_sigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There has been a lot of ink spilled lately dithering about Six Sigma and Innovation. Most of it by naysayers who feel that Six Sigma is antithetical to Innovation, or zealots who feel some version of the opposite sentiment. For the life of me, I can’t wrap my mind around either position.
To illustrate my view, let’s talk about some other processes you find in most organizations – perhaps budgeting and talent development. Most businesses have at least an annual budgeting process and an annual talent development process. These are fundamental, and exist in most places out of necessity. Clearly the two have links: it takes money to develop and retain talent, and it takes high caliber people to manage all aspects of cashflow and propel the organization forward. Without good talent development there would eventually be no budget to allocate, and without good budgeting all the talent in the world isn’t going to matter after a couple of quarters.
So talent development and budgeting are both necessary for the success of the organization, but neither is sufficient. Hardly an interesting observation, right? Now suppose someone told you that “your budget process is killing your talent development process.” Well, it could be true, and if so you’d have to fix it. But suppose they went on to say that “talent development is much more important, so you should get rid of the budget process.” That’s ridiculous, right? The very idea makes no sense.
But that’s exactly the argument that is made regarding Six Sigma and Innovation. If I had a nickel for every article I’ve read concluding that Six Sigma kills Innovation so we should jettison Six Sigma, well, I’d probably have about a dollar. But you get my point.
There are two things wrong with this conclusion, regardless of how it is reached. The first one is described above. Six Sigma and Innovation are two separate but related processes that must co-exist in a healthy organization. Both are necessary and neither is sufficient for success. Suggesting that one should be pursued to the exclusion of the other is infantile thinking. I don’t care what you call the attendant programs, but new ideas need to be encouraged and developed, and continuous improvement needs to occur. Of course, Six Sigma can’t be the Innovation program either. Organizations that lack an Innovation program and try to make Six Sigma stand in for it are bound to be disappointed. If you have no talent development process, having a great budget process isn’t going to help.
So the first thing wrong with the conclusion that Six Sigma kills Innovation is that it suggests an opposition between the two processes, falsely implying a choice that isn’t there. You don’t get to choose one or the other. Both are necessary. The trick is to make them work together, just like budgeting and talent acquisition.
The second thing wrong with the conclusion is that, properly structured, Six Sigma and Innovation have an intrinsically synergistic relationship, not an antagonistic one. Just like budgeting and talent development do when properly executed. Despite what you may have read, process and structure are not natural enemies of Innovation.  Bad process and inappropriate structure…maybe those are enemies of Innovation, but then they are the enemy of many other things in the organization too. A bad Innovation program will certainly be a drag on your Continuous Improvement program, and vice versa. But as I have pointed out many times before, the conclusion that poorly run programs perform poorly is not useful or interesting.
It has been my experience that well-run Six Sigma programs generate a tidal wave of new insights and ideas. Indeed, managing the flow of those ideas becomes a central, consuming, happy problem for successful programs. This is true even when a very structured approach is taken. I’m reminded of a story I was once told about an author who decided to write an entire novel without using the letter “e”. You’d think this would be incredibly limiting, but in fact the author ended up learning many, many new words and taking his writing in entirely new directions. The structure forced him to break old habits and think in new ways.
A recent New York Times article by Janet Rae-Dupree makes this point in fascinating depth. Here’s a tease:

“So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.”
Far from killing it, a well-deployed Six Sigma program (or any structured approach to continuous improvement) can be a great partner to Innovation. The reverse point is also true, that Innovation can help Six Sigma. I’m not going to construct an argument to support my belief that Innovation is a necessary component of Continuous Improvement, as I take it to be true almost by definition.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Andrew Downard]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 22:01:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Live Seattle]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_live_seattle.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ View the Full Gallery
Last Thursday, May 1st, was iSixSigma’s very first live event from our new division, iSixSigma Live! It was a Social &amp; Networking Party held in Seattle, Washington -- and it was phenomenal!
Over 130 Seattle Six Sigma and quality professionals converged on Rock Bottom Brewery in Bellevue. We rented out the entire top floor of the brewery ("top of the rock") and had a great time. Upon entering, attendees received their name tags and a networking activity which guaranteed they met tens of new people during the event.
The Party featured interesting people, fantastic conversations, an open bar, a lavish appetizer buffet, billiards, music, and a raffle (autographed books, iSixSigma garb, and an iPod Video graciously donated by Instantis). No one left disappointed -- even if they didn’t win a door prize, everyone walked away with an iSixSigma Live! goodie bag full of sponsor offers, tschochkes, coupons and discounts.
The emails are still pouring in:

"There were so many people there I found I had a great opportunity to reach out and make new contacts as well as catch up with former acquaintances." -- David, Philips Medical Systems
"I was looking for Movers and Shakers in the local 6 Sigma community, Michael Cyger and iSixSigma provided the place, and the FUN just started from there." -- Greg, Harnish Group
"I was pleasantly surprised to see that attendance was much higher than I expected. The event was well organized and it provided exactly what advertised. A chance to meet other six sigma professionals in a social event. Good job. I’ll definitely will be attending future iSixSigma events." -- Gerry, Calypso Medical Technologies
"It was really easy to meet people. Everybody had a lot in common, including a passion for organizational excellence through Lean Six Sigma. All you had to ask was "where do you work and what projects are you working on?" This would result in 20+ minutes of great conversation that included valuable knowledge and lessons learned. I would like the next mixer sooner than Sept/Oct." -- Larry, FAA
"This is a great opportunity to meet fellow process improvement professionals, learn about industry happenings and even connect on job opportunities. Plus it is just a lot of fun." -- Michael, The Natural Intelligence Group
"I can’t wait for the next event. When will it be? Not soon enough!"
"Thank you so much for arranging such a fun and meaningful event. I cannot wait for the next opportunity."
"I really enjoyed the party last night. How often do you have them in Seattle? Thanks!"
"Nicely done and thanks for getting us all together."
I can’t wait for the next Social &amp; Networking Party! Thanks to everyone in the local area who came out, and thanks to all our wonderful sponsors for taking part in this fantastic event.

View the full photo gallery here: http://photos.isixsigma.com/gallery/4829650_qzHYF]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;iSixSigma Live Events]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2008 03:08:06 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Project Failure: Eight Reasons by Minitab]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/project_failure_eight_reasons_by_minitab.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, I attended a Minitab Webinar showcasing the top 8 reasons Six Sigma projects fail.  Presented by Lou Johnson &amp; Cate Twohill.  Lou took care of the project failure segment (which was the vast majority) and Cate talked a bit about Minitab’s Quality Companion.  
First off they did a fantastic job. Lou’s history and experience with Six Sigma and statistics coupled with his passion for getting to the bottom of project failure…resulted in this fine presentation.  
The data was based off a survey of nearly 150 of Minitab’s customers at nearly 100 different companies.  And yes there were more than eight reasons for failure cited by respondents.  There were actually 42 reasons, but the top eight represented 62 percent of the total.  
Lou laid out the eight reasons with detailed explanations and examples for each reason.  I won’t go in to any detail besides listing them as Lou is sure to give this presentation again and again…
The Top Eight Reasons Six Sigma Projects Fail...
# 8 - The project solution was not implemented# 7 - Project scope too big# 6 - Not enough training# 5 - Project too small for DMAIC rigor# 4 - Project forced into DMAIC# 3 - Project had no data or bad data# 2 - Project not linked to Finances
and the #1 reason Six Sigma projects fail...No management support
The biggest takeaway was, as Lou described it, “Rule #1: Pick the right project.”  Four of the top eight reasons can be attributed to project selection (now comes my favorite part of the presentation, the iSixSigma research quote):

“While only 32% of respondents in organizations with new (less than one year) Six Sigma programs frequently or always use a formal prioritization process, 63% percent of those in organizations with five to ten years experience with Six Sigma do.” iSixSigma Magazine, March/April 2005
Throughout the presentation Lou offered a simple solution to each of the failure modes, and in most cases the solution could be found utilizing one of the features of Minitab’s Quality Companion.  
Thank you Minitab for sharing these findings. Below are some additional articles from iSixSigma about project failure. As you read them you will find that they support Minitab’s findings as well as offer a few other failure modes to consider. 
Tips and Suggestions for Six Sigma Project Success by Simon Bodie
Why Projects Fail by Holly Hawkins
How to Face Failed 6 Sigma Projects iSixSigma Discussion Forum
Understanding Six Sigma Deployment Failures by Mike Carnell
Project Selection Research by Jonathan Atwood, iSixSigma Magazine, March/April 2005
 
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:29:14 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Minitab Webinar: Project Failure]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/minitab_webinar_project_failure.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Minitab Webinar Top Eight Reasons Why Six Sigma Projects Fail April 23, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Eastern 
Next week Minitab is going to present a free Webinar naming the top eight reasons why Six Sigma projects fail. This is sure to be great information for all Six Sigma practitioners. But why stop at eight?  I’m sure we can collectively come up with a nine and ten…I’ll give it a go:
Top ten reasons why Six Sigma projects fail:
Number 10: Black Belts spend all their time reading the Cox-Box cartoon on the iSixSigma Blogosphere.
Number 9: Black Belts get discouraged after they get blasted by Stan on the iSixSigma Discussion Forum.
Please, please, add your own project failure top tens to the list. Maybe Letterman will pick it up...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:17:24 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: MoreSteam's New LSS Certification]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/moresteams_new_lss_certification.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Finally, an international Six Sigma certification to set the standard. MoreSteam.com recently announced a new high tech Lean Six Sigma certification.  Read the Press Release for the details, or go right to the online certification website and get certified.  

"MoreSteam.com announced today a new strategic partnership with ISSISSIPPI.org to apply advanced technology to elevate the Lean Six Sigma certification process. Using proprietary internet-based brain scan technology developed by ISSISSIPPI researchers, Lean Six Sigma professionals can now be certified using a completely objective, scientifically rigorous process – at a fraction of the cost and time required by old school methods such as real-world project evaluations, and question-based testing. This innovative web-based brain scan is completely non-invasive and takes less than a minute to complete."
Earn the respect of your Six Sigma peers.  Visit http://www.ississippi.org/ now and start the process. Only one minute of your time and you’ll have a certificate to mount in your office proclaiming your Belt level.  I tested as a Dark Slate Gray Belt.  It’s been a few years since I actively worked on a Black Belt project...I’m going to have to study up a bit more...  
After you take the certification exam, post up your belt level in the comments section. There are sure to be a plethora of belt colors attainable.
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:08:55 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Live! Seattle Networking Party]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/isixsigma_live_seattle_networking_party.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If you live near Seattle and would like to hobnob with the areas finest Six Sigma practitioners in a casual after work setting…attend the iSixSigma Live! Social and Networking Party at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Bellevue.  
Thursday, May 1, from 6 to 8 PM.  Rock Bottom can only hold so many Six Sigma gurus so hurry and register today.  The full details for the event can be found at: http://live.isixsigma.com/seattle ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;iSixSigma Live Events]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:40:41 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: A System Beyond Their Control]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/a_system_beyond_their_control.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Deming proposed his famous “Red Bed” experiment more than half a century ago. These days, videos and descriptions circulate freely via the web, and there are many books and other publications that describe the experiment. But even for those who are familiar with its lessons, the applicability of the experiment and what it teaches are as striking today as they must have been the first time it was run.
If you aren’t familiar with the Red Bead experiment, there’s a pretty good overview here. Briefly, the Red Bead experiment can be summarized like this...
Workers are asked to “produce” red beads by dipping a dimpled paddle into a large container full of beads. Management has set up “the system” such that the container is filled with a mixture of mostly red beads, but also a small fraction of white beads. Thus, when workers pull out their paddle, they inevitably pull out some white beads along with the red ones. Regardless of how workers try (and if you’ve ever done this experiment live, you’ll know that they do try), their paddles always pick up some white beads. In fact, the red bead experiment is set up such that there is very little that can be done by the worker to influence the results. The point, to paraphrase Deming, is that all workers perform within a system that is beyond their control.
Beyond that fundamental message, there are many, many things to be learned from the Red Bead experiment. Deming, for example, famously tracked the performance of various paddles over time, noting that even paddles that were “the same” regressed to different averages and standard deviations over time. Thus different workers in the same system who are ranked according to the defects they produce are being ranked on random differences attributable to the system, rather than on their own individual performance. This is just one example - Deming and others have taken the basic lessons of the Red Bead experiment in scores of directions to illuminate all sorts of lessons.
In my experience, the most common reaction to seeing, playing, or reading about the Red Bead experiment is this: so what – isn’t that obvious? And it is, of course. The genius of Deming’s set up is that it is completely, blindingly obvious what will happen. The genius is that is strips away all the smoke and mirrors of real life situations and makes the conclusions obvious. But even so, the lessons of Red Bead still haven’t sunk into general consciousness. Even for those of us who study it and ruminate on it, the lessons are easy to forget and hard to implement. This must be the case, because the experiment keeps repeating itself over and over again in real life, and we keep trying to blame the workers for the failings of the system.
Consider the recent foibles of trader Jérôme Kerviel and French bank Société Générale, described here in an account by the New York Times.
SocGen and Kerviel’s story has been smothered n coverage – a $7 billion USD loss will do that – and virtually all of the articles (including the one cited above) describe Kerviel as a “rogue trader”. In fact, a Google search combing the terms “Kerviel” and “rogue trader” turns up no less than 700-800 results.
But was Kerviel’s behavior really “rogue”, as in aberrant, different, or going against the usual behavior at SocGen? To be perfectly honest, I don’t have any sort of informed opinion of the answer to that question. I’m not well versed in the general area, and I had never heard of Société Générale before this story broke. But I do have a hunch. I can tell you that all the accounts and interviews I have read, including comments by other employees, indicate that the far from being rogue, Kerviel’s behavior and practices were encouraged and expected. My reading is that he was a classic manifestation of a system carefully crafted and maintained over time by SocGen. All of which makes the a classic case of the Red Bead experiment.
Let me be clear that this hypothesis did not require and special cleverness on my part. In fact, the New York Times article makes the same point:

While management depicts the 31-year-old Mr. Kerviel as a lone operator who spiraled out of control, interviews with current and former Société Générale employees suggest that he was also the product of an environment where risk taking was embraced, as long as it made money for the bank.
To put it in Red Bead terms, Kerviel was doing nothing more than sticking his paddle into the container and pulling it out. For a long time, he had seen a normal number of white beads come out. One day early this year, he stuck in his paddle like he had been taught to do (heavily rewarded for doing, in fact) and got a few more white beads than normal. Random variation is like that. But for Kerviel on this day, voila, he became an instant pariah. SocGen built the container, added the red and white beads, designed the paddles, and taught Kerviel how to put his in and draw it out. Kerviel what he was expected to do. In December he was up $2 billion. In January he was down $7 billion. Like I said, random variation is like that. So who should be made the pariah?
If you don’t like Red Bead, you can think of it in control chart terms. Standard six sigma control limits mean that normal variation will fall within the control limits 99.99967% of the time, right? Which means that one out of every 300,000 will fall out of the control limits with no attributable cause. Now, are there 300,000 folks like Kerviel out there? Or maybe 3000 who perform strings of trades 100 times in a year? If there is, then sooner or later one of them is going have results that fall outside the limits, just like Kerviel did. If that happens to go in the right direction, they get a huge bonus (like Kerviel probably did in years past). If it goes in the wrong direction, they get to be the subject of an uncomfortable article in the New York Times. Even though it is all normal variation, even though it is all the Red Bead experiment, playing itself out again and again.
Now, I certainly don’t mean to absolve Kerviel of guilt. What he did was clearly wrong; it threw up a number of warning flags and violated all sorts of rules. But it can’t be called unexpected in any way. It was a logical output of the system that SocGen built. Punishing Kerviel isn’t going to do a thing about that. Red Bead.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Andrew Downard]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;History]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:01:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Salary Webcast Now Available]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/salary_webcast_now_available.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[







Thank you to all who attended iSixSigma’s premier webcast.  We had a great time delivering it live from Boston last week.  If you missed it though…it is now available online for your viewing pleasure.  Follow the link below to get started: http://spotfire.tibco.com/events/webcasts/detail.cfm?id=7231 
Gary Cox drew a special Cox-Box just for the event. The only place to see it is on the webcast.  You’ll be asked to register with Spotfire by creating a profile first, and then you’ll be set to go.  Run time is 59 minutes 47 seconds including Q &amp; A.  
After viewing the webcast (or during for you multi-taskers), you can download a sample set of the salary data in the Spotfire application.  You control the slicing and dicing.  I highly recommend taking Spotfire for a spin with the salary data.  http://registration.spotfire.com/eval/ 
Thanks again to all. 
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:37:11 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Salary Survey Webcast Recording -- Coming Soon]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_salary_survey_webcast_recording_coming_soon.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I’ve received a decent number of emails and calls from people who wanted to see our premiere webcast, but couldn’t attend for one reason or another. Rest assured, we will be releasing a recorded version of the webcast soon. We’re still finalizing the recording, landing page, etc. Stay tuned to the iSixSigma Blogosphere for an update.
(By the way, we topped out at more than 1,000 registrants for our first-ever webcast! Everyone that registered -- thanks for making the premiere iSixSigma webcast a blockbuster.)]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:45:37 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: 850+ Registered So Far -- iSixSigma's Premiere Webcast]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/850_registered_so_far_isixsigmas_premiere_webcast.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a previous post I mentioned that our webcast tomorrow was heading for a record. Well, as of this morning we're up to 850 registrants. If you haven't registered, please do so immediately!
http://goto.spotfire.com/isixsigmawc/
Michael Marx, our research manager, will be going over the 5th Annual iSixSigma Global Six Sigma Salary Survey and highlighting some very interesting market trends, insights and facts. It will be one of the best hours you'll spend this week.
See you online!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:13:09 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Largest Six Sigma Webcast in History?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/largest_six_sigma_webcast_in_history.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Well, we might be getting close to the largest Six Sigma Webcast in history!
If you haven’t seen Michael Marx’s previous post, iSixSigma is planning our premiere webcast event next Tuesday, March 4. It will be given by Michael (research manager for iSixSigma and iSixSigma Magazine) and feature his insights and explanations for salaries around the world, at all levels within a Six Sigma organization.
If you’re thinking about Six Sigma as a career, already doing Six Sigma as a belt, running Six Sigma and developing or managing a team -- this will definitely be an event you WON’T want to miss.
Sign up for the webcast here.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:31:19 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma Salary Webcast]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/six_sigma_salary_webcast.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Mark your calendars…Tuesday March 4th, at 11 a.m. Eastern…The iSixSigma Global Salary Survey webcast.  Attendance is free of charge. Just register to attend with your name and an email address.
I’ll be your host along with Brad Hopper of Spotfire. Together we’ll dive into the Fifth Annual iSixSigma Global Salary Survey.  This year we’ve loaded the salary data into Spotfire’s business analytics software which will be the vehicle to guide you through a virtual analysis that you just won’t see anywhere else.  
We’ll slice and dice the data right before your eyes, showing you year to year salary trends broken down by Six Sigma role, regions, experience, education, and industry.  
The best part about attending the webcast (besides getting to listen to me ramble) is you will have the chance to download a sample set of the salary data in the Spotfire application and play with it yourself.  
Whether you’re an HR executive or deployment leader looking to benchmark salaries against the industry or a Black Belt working hard to become a Master Black Belt… the webcast and downloadable data will inform you and arm you with the data you need to make those salary decisions.  
I am looking forward to meeting each of you on March 4th.  
Register for the webacst
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:40:01 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Banking on Risk]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/banking_on_risk.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Reacting to the last several months of turmoil in the capital markets, I want to discuss an area where Lean Six Sigma professionals who work in banking and financial services should focus their attention, acquire new skills, and start having an impact – enterprise risk.
A couple of years ago, one of my former colleagues investigated the contribution of Lean Six Sigma to shareholder value at a small group of well-known banks.  He researched public statements by these companies to quantify their self-attributed savings.  He then developed a crude expected shareholder value multiplier based on price-to-earnings ratio.  Multiplying self-attributed savings, which he assumed flow to the bottom line, by the shareholder value multiplier led my former colleague to conclude that Lean and Six Sigma created at least $4-6 billion in shareholder value for these banks.
Conventional wisdom leads me to believe that recent turmoil in the credit markets wiped out these gains.  The stock prices of many investment banks, asset managers, commercial banks, mortgage finance companies, monolines, and other major participants in structured finance are trading new two-year lows.  While each firm and industry segment has its own unique issues, weak risk management is a common storyline.
Looking ahead to the trends for 2008 and 2009, strengthening risk management practices is an imperative and a mammoth challenge for banking and financial services companies and their executives.  The global interconnectedness, complexity and volatility of capital markets necessitate a holistic, innovative approach.  Conventional practices do not stand up to the challenges in 2008 and beyond.
Exogenous Pressure
Curing the current ills will depend on fortifying balance sheets, and regulatory intervention will increase the pressure on business and operating models.  Banking and financial services firms can look forward to:

Economic uncertainty: Recent economic data and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. indicate an economic slowdown has begun.  Its severity and duration cannot be predicted, but banks will feel the effects of a lingering mortgage-market crisis, rising consumer credit defaults, and disruptions affecting commercial lending, structured finance products, and securitization.  Some forecasters predict future shocks, such as a decline in commodity prices or downturn in commercial lending, that further threaten banks. 
Capital boosting and cost cutting: In response to economic pressures, banking and financial services executives will continue to seek capital to fortify their balance sheets, increase their safety and soundness, and weather the economic downturn.  Many banks will pursue cost savings as part of restructuring operations, becoming more efficient, or both.  Cost cutting may be mild or severe, if a bank is facing adverse circumstances like insolvency. 
Increasing regulatory scrutiny: Regulatory are reacting to the turn of events in the capital markets in 2007.  Scrutiny of capital adequacy, liquidity, credit risk, and management practices will pick up.  Supervisory actions and matters requiring board attention will grow in number.  Contingency planning and quality assurance for safety and soundness will receive new attention, as regulators push banks to find and adopt industry best practices that safeguard against future crises. 
Questions about information and systems for risk management: Over the last decade, many firms began initiatives to implement systems that address credit, financial, and operational risk, as well as compliance with laws and regulations.  Broadly speaking, these systems are designed to ensure compliance failures are prevented or detected and managed.  The capability of these systems – looking at risk through an integrative lens – may be called into question.  Banks may be required to rethink their information systems strategies and redesign their applications for managing risk.  Likewise, information asymmetries in the capital markets may receive new attention, leading firms to question what they thought they know about collateral underlying securities, concentration risk, economic and valuation models, and accounting practices. 
Investigations, lawsuits and jawboning in the town square: The effects of mortgage defaults, credit-card delinquencies, public outcries about banking practices, stock-price volatility, and growing losses foretell banks facing a new wave of investigations by state attorneys general, shareholder lawsuits, and pressure from consumer advocates.  Stories in the press bear this out.  The open question is how loud and deafening the trends will be over the next two years.
My own background has convinced me of the need to extend the disciplines of Lean Six Sigma to processes for creating governance structures, compliance monitoring, and managing operational risk.  Perhaps banks will benefit from a higher degree of knowledge integration (e.g., transplanting gauge methods to credit risk management). 
Endogenous Defense Starts with Dialogue and Knowledge
In many respects, the current state of banking and financial services is the product of thousands of decisions about risk taking.  Clearly, reward seeking won out, and we now face a period of living through the consequences of risks not being properly managed.  Lean and Six Sigma are proven tools for optimizing reward by eliminating waste, creating capacity, and reducing variation.  Resilience and reliability are a new frontier for Lean and Six Sigma, and the focus is squarely on transforming how risk is managed.
How Lean and Six Sigma contribute to the field of risk management is a story waiting to be told.  For starters, I encourage Lean Six Sigma professionals to build the relationships, internal networks, and critical mass necessary to transplant their best practices to the risk management and compliance functions at banks and financial services firms.  In conjunction, I recommend seeking new knowledge about relevant aspects of credit, financial and operational risk, as well as regulatory trends that will weigh heavily on operating models and expenses.
Lean and Six Sigma is a knowledge-based profession, and its value comes from connecting best practices to problems, so performance can be improved.  Clearly, for banks and financial services firms, enterprise risk is a huge problem to be solved in 2008.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;History&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:45:47 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Schofield Media Group Announces Acquisition of CTQ Media, iSixSigma]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/schofield_media_group_announces_acquisition_of_ctq_media_isixsigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I am pleased and excited to announce that CTQ Media, owner of the publishing brands including iSixSigma, Real Innovation, BPM Enterprise and Sourcingmag, is on the verge of a new era of growth and expansion. This is because we have just been acquired by Schofield Media Group, a leading international business-to-business media company (http://www.ctqmedia.com/news_080131a.asp).
Not only do I want to tell you the news, I also want to thank you for your support during the past seven years. We have grown from a small, single website into a multifaceted business, with the world's leading online Six Sigma site and print magazine, the leading innovation website, a research division, a jobs board and recruiting service, and other enterprises.
Also, I want to assure you that the important things are not changing: our commitment to our readers, customers and advertisers remains absolute. While I am no longer the owner, I am still intimately involved in the company's operations going forward. Even more importantly, the same great team that has been operating all components of the businesses is still on the job. That means we have the same staff, contractors and contributors. Plus, our commitment to continually improving our products and services is stronger than ever.
What has changed is that we now have more resources and support for carrying out our current work, as well as exploring new ventures to expand and help those in our communities improve their business execution.
I will provide more details as we move into this new and exciting phase of our growth. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any ideas, concerns or comments.
Sincerely,
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:03:38 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: A quality bubble?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/a_quality_bubble.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Gianna Clark notes that several hundred companies began their Six Sigma journeys about seven years ago. 
Is Six Sigma the quality equivalent of a stock market bubble? Are we cheerleaders of an irrational exuberance where performance economics do not match the hype we create? Is Six Sigma on the verge of becoming the next TQM - run over by advances in technology and easier approaches to improving performance? ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Change Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences&nbsp;,&nbsp;Customer Satisfaction&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Government&nbsp;,&nbsp;Guest Blog&nbsp;,&nbsp;History&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology&nbsp;,&nbsp;Podcasts&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:32:57 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Downgrading the applicability of Six Sigma]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/downgrading_the_applicability_of_six_sigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In a recent blog at Harvard Business School Press Online, Tom Davenport challenges the applicability of Six Sigma. You can read his post at http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/davenport/. 
Coming from anyone else, a statement that Six Sigma "should only be used in product manufacturing, where the idea of reducing defects to one in six standard deviations really makes sense" might be dismissed out of hand. But Davenport has credibility as an expert on business process management and information technology.
Perhaps he’s right, and Six Sigma should be viewed as one among several toolkits to embed statistical methods and scientific thinking in managerial practices.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:21:54 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma Certification Survey]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/six_sigma_certification_survey.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[iSixSigma Magazine is conducting research on Six Sigma certification requirements.  With your help we’ll get to the bottom of the certification issues that hover over the industry.   
While there may be no formal standards, different companies have different methods and requirements for certification of their Green Belts, Black Belts and Master Black Belts.
Please take a few minutes to tell us what your company is doing to certify the ranks.  As a thank you for taking the survey, each respondent will have the opportunity to download the full results free of charge from iSixSigma Publications after they have been published in an upcoming issue of iSixSigma Magazine. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Research]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:43:18 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Cox-Box Calendars Almost Sold Out!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/cox_box_calendars_almost_sold_out.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If you haven’t secured your own 2008 Cox-Box Wall Calendar, it may be too late. Get them now at https://store.isixsigma.com/calendar/
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:59:16 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Eco-efficiency at the server farm]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/eco_efficiency_at_the_server_farm.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In his Rough Type blog, Nicholas Carr -- contrarian author of the book, Does IT Matter? -- comments on Microsoft's plans to build a data center in Siberia and upcoming completion of the world's largest data center in Chicago.  Construction of these facilities costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and each will hold tends of thousands of servers.  Microsoft's Chicago data center will employ only 35 to 50 people.  Apparently, climate in Chicago and Siberia were prominent in these sites being selected because their colder weather makes it cheaper to cool the data center equipment.  Large server farms built for environmental efficiency and staffed by just a few people -- is green physical and virtual platform design a new frontier for Design for Six Sigma?  Microsoft is a big proponent of Lean Six Sigma.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation&nbsp;,&nbsp;Lean]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:25:08 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Minitab -- The Video and Soundtrack]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/minitab_the_video_and_soundtrack.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Yes, the Six Sigma community has its own cartoon strip. We even have our share of corporate M&amp;A excitment with recent acquisitions (Accenture and Oracle). But where are the good old fashioned MTV music and videos for the Six Sigma community?
If you love mullets and buck-teeth, you're going to love "The MiniTab Song" by Billy Bob and Willy.


]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:24:15 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Lean adoption in the housing industry]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/lean_adoption_in_the_housing_industry.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") released recently a study of Lean adoption at nine manufactured housing plants. HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research and the Manufactured Housing Research Alliance were sponsors of the study. The study highlights the benefits of Lean to making production of manufacturing housing more efficient and improving the availability of affordable housing. Details of the study are at www.huduser.org/publications/destech/pilotstudy.html.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Government&nbsp;,&nbsp;Innovation]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:58:51 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: 335th Featured in iSixSigma Magazine]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/335th_featured_in_isixsigma_magazine.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If you subscribe to iSixSigma magazine, please read the feature about how we used LSS to improve our Supply Requisition Process. 
The article is on page 22. Enjoy.
 
]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Capt. Harris]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Military]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:36:02 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Nardelli Back On Top]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/nardelli_back_on_top.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[It didn't take long for Robert (Bob) Nardelli to land on his feet...You've all probably heard by now, Bob Nardelli has been picked to run Chrysler.
For those of you that may have forgotten or were not aware of all the details:

Bob Nardelli came from GE, where he started in 1971. In 1995 he was promoted to president and CEO of Power Systems when yours truly was there. Under his leadership, GE Power Systems grew from $6 billion to $15 billion, and earnings grew 60-70%. 
In 2000 when Jack Welch named Jeffrey Immelt as CEO of GE, Bob Nardelli left (as did the other three-way competitor for the top-GE job, Jim McNerney) to head up Home Depot, succeeding co-founder Arthur Blank.
Bob Nardelli's intentions were to use his GE-learned management style and systems to turn around Home Depot. But Home Depot was a 20 year old company with falling sales and stock performance. It ran out of growth in the U.S., and lacked an automated purchasing system. It was a 1980s company in the 2000s. 
Under pressure of shareholders at annual meetings and elsewhere, and complaints about Nardelli's pay package (which the company agreed to and was in his employment contract), Bob Nardelli resigned on Jan. 3, 2007.
Many people questioned whether Nardelli's failure to turn around Home Depot was a death knell for Six Sigma, a process improvement program (probably one of many GE management programs implemented while at Home Depot) Nardelli championed. In my opinion, anyone who has been in business understands that one program does not make or break a great company. It can, however -- as in the case of Six Sigma, help people use a structured methodology to solve real-world problems and fix them so they don't happen again.
But on to the big news: Cerberus Capital Management LP, who bought an 80.1% stake from DaimlerChrysler AG in exchange for investing $5 billion in Chrysler and $1 billion in its financing unit, has named Nardelli as chairman and CEO of its Chrysler unit.
Nardelli has to deal with sweeping changes in the auto industry, tough negotiations with the United Auto Workers union, and to close a $30-an-hour labor-cost gap with the U.S. operations of competitor Toyota. But the move to the top position of Chrysler, unlike Home Depot, puts him in a private company without the pressure of public shareholders. Nardelli's pay -- $1 per year base salary -- is tied to equity and performance of the company. What matters most to Cerberus are the results.
It's rumored that Nardelli's experience at GE is one of the main reasons Cerberus wanted him. Many of Cerberus's advisors are ex-GE, and according to the Wall Street Journal it's also rumored that Cerberus is a strong believer in Six Sigma (that would make at least two private equity firms reaping big rewards by implementing Six Sigma at acquired companies).
So, will Bob Nardelli be successful in turning around Chrysler and part of the U.S. automotive industry? Time will tell. What's clear to me at Cerberus is that running a company more efficiently can be accomplished with Six Sigma. What remains to be seen is how it will be used at Chrysler. That's the exciting part.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:27:45 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Publications Launched]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/isixsigma_publications_launched.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[iSixSigma just announced a new marketplace called iSixSigma Publications (http://www.isixsigma.com/pubs/).  The marketplace sells Six Sigma research articles and project examples as well as training materials and templates. 
Not only does iSixSigma Publications sell their own publications, they also have a partner program where independent authors can distribute their own works.  If you write it, develop it, or build it, iSixSigma Publications will market it, sell it, and distribute it.  
This new marketplace is a first of its kind for the Six Sigma community.  Visit iSixSigma Publications today.  If you like what you see, become a partner and start earning income from your own creative works.  
Press Release]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:32:57 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Accenture to Acquire George Group]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/accenture_to_acquire_george_group.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Big news for the Six Sigma consulting community.  Accenture has agreed to acquire George Group.  The news hit the PR wires yesterday:  






The acquisition will expand and enhance Accenture’s ability to help clients become high-performance businesses through the addition of George Group’s specialized expertise in process improvement techniques including Lean Six Sigma, which combines process improvement methodology with efficient process discipline to reduce delivery times, lower costs and increase customer satisfaction. 

I’ve been saying for years that the big guys are going to start snatching up the Six Sigma firms…looks like it’s a reality now.  But what does it mean?  I think it means that Six Sigma is here to stay.  It means you’re going to be hearing a lot more about Six Sigma in the press.  It also means that Accenture is hiring to keep up with the demand: 






Accenture is also recruiting aggressively to meet rapidly growing client demand for process-improvement solutions leading to enhanced performance.

Process improvement solutions are still in demand and big consulting firms are getting in on a piece of the Six Sigma pie.  They’ve been wanting to for years.  Accenture has been dabbling in Six Sigma offerings for quite some time now, even partnering with other Six Sigma consulting firms to deliver solutions to clients.  They’ve finally sealed the deal with one of the largest and most prominent Lean Six Sigma firms.
What do you think about this shift in the status quo of the Six Sigma consulting business?  Who’ll be next to come to the table looking for that sweet Six Sigma pie?  Bain, Boston, Booz, McKinsey?]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:22:56 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: MoreSteam.com Declares Independence]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/moresteamcom_declares_independence.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[MoreSteam.com is at it again. First with their April Fool’s Day press release and now with their Independence Day press release… 






We Hold The Data To Be Self-Evident: that all men and women are not created equally as instructors; that some are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable teaching abilities, and that others are not; that learning through self-directed study combined with activity-based instruction produces superior results, among these are Life with reduced travel, Liberty from the classroom and the pursuit of Quality --That to secure these rights, Training Deployments shall be instituted among Men and Women, deriving their just powers of instruction from on-line facilities to meet the just-in-time demand of the learner...

I gotta give it to them, they sure get creative with their marketing. The Six Sigma community could use a good laugh every now and then (outside the iSixSigma Discussion Forum of course).]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:44:42 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma is Hiring! Sales Manager and Recruiter]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_is_hiring_sales_manager_and_recruiter.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Yes, we're hiring again!  We actually have two new open positions.  
We're looking for a sales manager to lead our sales effort for iSixSigma (including iSixSigma.com, iSixSigma Magazine), BPM Enterprise (bpmenterprise.com) and Real Innovation (realinnovation.com):http://jobs.isixsigma.com/preferred.asp?ID=8034
We're also looking to expand our recruiting service, helping to place the best Six Sigma candidates at the Six Sigma deployments around the world:http://jobs.isixsigma.com/preferred.asp?ID=8035
We run a geographically dispersed organization and pride ourselves on being results oriented, not "face time" oriented. The right candidates will enjoy great benefits and a flexible work-life balance.
If the one of the jobs sounds exciting, be sure to send in your application. If you want to chat about it, drop me a line at http://www.isixsigma.com/mc. ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:34:15 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Is Six Sigma Kryptonite to the Superhuman Forces of Innovation?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/is_six_sigma_kryptonite_to_the_superhuman_forces_of_innovation.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[It’s almost becoming an age-old debate whether or not Six Sigma and innovation can co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.  We have heard time and time again that Six Sigma "stifles innovation." But where’s the data to prove it? 
The most recent issue of BusinessWeek covers innovation at 3M and what Six Sigma has to do with it (but more about what Six Sigma doesn’t have to do with it).  Apparently 3M is scaling down their Six Sigma efforts in the “innovation” centers of the company.  It looks like we have one data point now.
Business blogs have been going crazy commenting on the BusinessWeek cover storie.  Most bloggers quickly agreeing with what mainstream media prints. Hey, if it’s in BusinessWeek, Fortune, or the the WSJ, it’s gotta be true!  While I could never agree that citing one company example is proof an entire methodology is corrupt, the article does dig deep in to how company culture influences innovation - and 3M surely has/had a data driven culture.  
Mike Lopez, over at the Lean Blog, shares his first impression of the article:

"As a Lean Six Sigma black belt at my company, I find that reading these types of articles continuously reminds me that neither Lean nor Six Sigma is a panacea."
I thought the exact same thing after reading the article (independent of Mike’s blog entry). Six Sigma is hardly a cure all.  And please do not blame all consultants for perpetuating this fallicy. I have never met a consultant who preached such falshoods. Unfortunately, if a company is not hitting their numbers, something must be blamed.  Six Sigma companies (those that use the methodology) are perfect targets for this misguided blame.  They are "supposed" to be perfect. 
A comment to Mike’s post sums up my thoughts on the relationship between Six Sigma and innovation: 

"It seems positively stupid to think you can’t have both Six Sigma AND innovation at the same time at a company.  This is more of the "we can only focus on one management tool at a time" mentality that’s harmful and destructive. We have to throw out Six Sigma from the places it’s useful because our innovation has suffered?"
Amen.  3M needs to get to the root cause of their lackluster innovation instead of beating up Six Sigma… the same Six Sigma that has saved 3M billions of dollars.  Sounds like an interesting and profitable Six Sigma project...  
The July/Aug 2007 issue of iSixSigma Magazine will include my latest research on Innovation and Six Sigma. We surveyed 1,000 people. Here’s a sneak preview of Finding Two: 



    
 


The two keys to effective innovation are an actionable strategy and use of a systematic process.
Survey data suggests that two characteristics make an innovation program successful: an actionable strategy and using a systematic process. 
Eighty-one percent of respondents who rated the innovation efforts of their company “effective” said the company is executing an innovation strategy. The strategy alone is not enough; the key is to be taking action on the strategy. 
Half of the survey respondents indicated that their company has no innovation strategy. 
Regarding how innovation occurs, of the respondents who rated their company’s innovation program effective, 84 percent said innovation occurs through a systematic process or methodology; 16 percent said it occurs on an ad hoc basis. This compares to respondents from programs rated “ineffective,” of which 2 percent said innovation is systematic and 98 percent said it is ad hoc. 

If you’d like the full results of this research, subscribe to the Magazine, borrow the issue from a friend next month or make a meaningful comment below.  I’ll send out a free copy of the magazine to the first person who shares their reaction/thoughts/opinion on the subject of innovation and Six Sigma. Go ahead share...
Links
At 3M, A Struggle Between Efficiency And Creativity, BusinessWeek, June 11, 2007
Six Sigma: So Yesterday?, BusinessWeek, June 11, 2007
Bloggers commenting on the BusinessWeek article
Innovation and Six Sigma, Real Innovation Commentary
Improvement and Innovation, Real Innovation Commentary
Putting Six Sigma back in its box, Cognitive Edge
More blogs from Technorati: six sigma 3m]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Guest Blog&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:48:47 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: QualPro vs. Six Sigma - Revisited]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/qualpro_vs_six_sigma_revisited.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The QualPro vs. Six Sigma debate is hot again.  Forrest Breyfogle has written an article on iSixSigma.com poking holes in Charles Holland’s research of 58 Six Sigma companies…. For those unfamiliar with the debate sparked by the July 2006 Fortune article and subsequent Dilbert cartoon, go ahead and read up.
Forrest isn’t the only one who has refuted Holland’s research.  Last year Kevin Meyer wrote what he thought of the research and earlier this year Ron at the Lean Six Sigma Academy threw in his two cents.
More recently Dave Silverstein, CEO of BMG joined the debate after reading an article Holland wrote for Chief Executive Magazine. Then Ron piped up again and couldn’t resist giving Holland a taste of his own medicine by saying "Look, Lowe’s uses MVT and they still saw a drop in sales and earnings...  Mark Graban from the Lean Blog called him on the whole correlation/causation issue with a comment and he publicly acknowledged his error.  
I wonder how long this fight will go on?  I do say that Chuck should have know better than to step in to the ring with an army of Black Belts...]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 28 May 2007 20:57:57 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Cox-Box Calendar Giveaway]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/cox_box_calendar_giveaway.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
Michael Cyger has been on an office cleaning frenzy lately, giving away books for trivia… I thought I’d do a little spring cleaning myself.  I’ve got five Cox-Box wall calendars sitting on my shelf when they should be hanging up in your office.  
I’ll send one calendar out to the first five people to email me the following information:
1- Full name,2- Company name,3- Your title,4- Mailing address,5 -Correct answer to this question: What was Gary Cox doing when he created the Cox-Box cartoon?  (Hint: the answer can be found somewhere in the pages of the iSixSigma Blogosphere.)(Hint 2: Read Gary’s bio)
I’ll update this blog entry with the names, company names and titles of the first five people who email me the answer.  Contact information will only be used to mail you the calendar, nothing more.  Good Luck!
[UPDATE 5/01/07 9:15 AM PST]
Congratulations to the following five winners:
1- Mary Ellyn, Community Outreach Coordinator, UH Conneaut Medical Center2- Samuel Aborne, Consultant, George Group3- Ramesh Pondhe, Operations Improvement Engineer, Susquehanna Health4- Amy Butler, Process Improvement Leader, Cavendish Farms5- Alisha Arsenault, Production Coordinator, Cavendish Farms
The answer to the trivia question, "What was Gary Cox doing when he created the Cox-Box cartoon?" is: 
He was going through training for his Black Belt Certification and drew the Six Sigma cartoons on the flipchart for his class.  Read Gary’s bio for the whole story...  Thanks for playing!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:57:44 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: ISSSP Six Sigma Leadership Conference: Warm Scottsdale, Here We Come!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isssp_six_sigma_leadership_conference_warm_scottsdale_here_we_come.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Jessica Harper (managing editor of iSixSigma Magazine), Michael Marx (iSixSigma's research manager) and I will be in warm Scottsdale, Arizona, May 7-10. If you're looking to escape the weather and be (almost) guaranteed warm days and sunny skies, then consider joining us in Scottsdale for the ISSSP Six Sigma Leadership Conference.
This year I vowed to myself to climb Pinnacle Peak in the morning, before the conference begins one of the two days. Yes, this is my fourth year attending and I have yet to do it but this year will be different. If you see me in the bars late at night, remind me of this vow, please.
Here's what I like about the ISSSP Leadership conference (besides the weather):

It's put on by -- in my opinion -- the finest Six Sigma membership organization in the world.
The speakers come from companies with excellent programs, so you not only hear from companies who have "been there and seen that" but you have plenty of opportunities to network with them so when you return to the office you have your own support group you can call upon.
The entire ISSSP team cares deeply about you as a member and will go beyond expectations to help you with your program.
Tons of people are already registered: Wells Fargo, Ameriprise Financial, Mount Sinai Hospital, Unifords Technologies, Bombardier, The Timken Company, Hess, SKF, Ventana, Eastman Chemical, Liberty Mutual, Sara Lee, Seagate, and many, many more. Check out the full list of attendees.
This is your opportunity to attend their Leadership Conference, and if you're not a member learn more about the benefits ISSSP provides. ISSSP is an alliance partner of iSixSigma, and they have offered us special pricing to our readers. Click here and learn how to save up to $1,000 on pricing. Go ahead and register. Then let me know because I'd like to meet you in person at the event.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:34:31 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma In Small Business]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/six_sigma_in_small_business.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[This could be you!
Are you a small or medium-sized business that’s seen great results with Six Sigma or process improvement tools? Do you rely on "Six Sigma thinking" to improve the customer experience?
We’re looking for a company that would be an inspiration to other small and medium-sized businesses to feature in an article in iSixSigma Magazine and on the cover. Think you deserve the honor? Are you:

a company with less than $100 million in revenue a year? 
experiencing revenue growth as a result of your approach to quality? 
prepared to share specific examples of improved processes that have delivered tangible results, whether financial or otherwise?
If so, send an email to the editors of iSixSigma Magazine. Tell us the size of your company, your revenue growth, and an example of a process you have improved.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:41:46 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Free &quot;Lean for Dummies&quot; Book]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/free_lean_for_dummies_book.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Wiley Publishing, Inc. was kind enough to send me a few copies of the new Lean for Dummies book ($14.95 on Amazon.com), hot off the presses. It’s written by Natalie J. Sayer and Bruce Williams, two lean and Six Sigma practitioners and experts. Billed as "the simple, continuous improvement approach transforming organizations of all sizes worldwide," this book will provide both a great read and useful compendium of tools and process.
Want a Free Book? *Offer* - Answer a Trivia QuestionI have three extra copies of this book. For the first three people to email me the following information, I’ll mail you out a complimentary copy of the book:

Full name, 
Company name, 
Your title, 
Mailing address, and 
Correct answer to this question: Name the three common types of waste, in Japanese, and define each waste type.
I will update this page with the names, company names and titles of the first two people. And of course the answer. We won’t do anything with your contact information except mail you the book.
[UPDATE 4/12/07 9:15 AM PST]
Congratulations to the following winners, who correctly identified the three types of waste, in Japanese, and their definitions:


Crystal Crosby, a Management Analyst in the Executive Office of the President

Ramesh Pondhe, an Operations Improvement Engineer with Susquehanna Health

Kathy Sharp, a Quality Systems Resource Leader with Invista
Bonus!If you’re looking for a book about innovation (Business Innovation in the 21st Century, written by another Six Sigma expert -- Praveen Gupta) be sure to click over to the Real Innovation Commentary. Katie Barry, editor of Real Innovation and The TRIZ Journal is giving that book away...but hurry!
From the book description on Amazon:



    
 

The Business Innovation book provides a unique framework for institutionalizing innovation in business organizations for developing new products, processes, or solutions. Unique features -- Easy to learn powerful new framework for innovation; Types of innovation: Fundament, Platform, Derivative, and Variation; Strategic management of Innovation; Practical measures of innovation.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:01:16 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Free Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/free_lean_six_sigma_pocket_toolbook.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I was cleaning up my office today and found two extra copies of The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook written by Michael George, David Rowlands, Mark Price and John Maxey of George Group, published by McGraw-Hill. It’s rated 5 out of 5 on Amazon.com and is a great compendium of every Lean Six Sigma tool available.
Want a Free Book? *Offer* - Answer a Trivia QuestionI have two copies of this book. For the first two people to email me the following information, I’ll mail you out a complimentary copy of the book: 

Full name, 
Company name, 
Your title, 
Mailing address, and 
Correct answer to this question: What is the title of the very first article published by iSixSigma.com on May 26, 2000?
I will update this page with the names, company names and titles of the first two people. And of course the answer. We won’t do anything with your contact information except mail you the book. 
[Update 10:52 AM] Wow, Great Response!Congratulations to:


Sean Schubert, a Development Engineer at Sanford Corp.

Sushil Bharatan, an R&amp;D Engineer at Freescale Semiconductor
Your books are mailing out this week.
For those of you interested in learning how Sean and Sushil figured out the answer to the trivia question, you can view the entire archive of iSixSigma.com published articles online. Then just select the year 2000, the first year of publication, and scroll to the very bottom.
Keep reading the iSixSigma Blogosphere, I’m going to work on cleaning out the library next week.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:12:41 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: RFID Six Sigma Quality of Service Guarantee]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/rfid_six_sigma_quality_of_service_guarantee.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[TAGSYS has announced what they are billing as the RFID industry's first quality of service guarantee for pharmaceutical manufacturers. This new guarantee -- what TAGSYS is calling the "Six Sigma Performance Program" -- promises fewer than four failures in one million read opportunities in the item-level track-and-trace process. Read their entire Six Sigma guarantee.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 26 Mar 2007 21:38:51 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Questions about Six Sigma in outsourced functions]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/questions_about_six_sigma_in_outsourced_functions.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[KPMG, the public accounting firm, recently published a survey of outsourcing. Nearly three out of four companies in the survey do not measure the value of their outsourcing arrangements. Yet paradoxically, KPMG concludes outsourcing is working because 89% of their survey participants plan to maintain or increase their use of outsourcing.
The survey leads me to ask a few questions:

Is satisfaction with outsourcing based on notions of comparative efficiency, or do organizations have performance metrics?
How do companies apply business process management and integrate control plans into their outsourcing arrangements? 
Not all outsourcing arrangements are created equal. Do companies use Quality Function Deployment or other techniques to (re)design their outsourced processes? 
Are any organizations using Six Sigma in an inter-enterprise fashion to improve overall performance of outsourced processes? 
Do contract terms and conditions create high barriers to leveraging Six Sigma within an outsourced process?
Any insights would be appreciated.  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Charles McKinney]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Leadership&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:55:47 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Hitachi Plasma TVs and Kaizen]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/hitachi_plasma_tvs_and_kaizen.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Hitachi is running a series of advertisements in the Wall Street Journal focusing on their plasma TV technology capabilities. In today’s issue (March 13, 2007, p. A16), their ad talks about kaizen:




    
 

No matter where in the world they’re made, Hitachi plasma TVs have one trait in common: They’re the product of kaizen, the Japanese concept of continuous improvement -- a concept that guides the efforts of every Hitachi employee.
Watch kaizen in action at Hitachi’s television production facility, where a better way to work is helping bring a better plasma TV to market.
Watch Video, click the "Thinking Thin" option.
The "kaizen part" comes 4:14 into the 5 minute video. While it’s great that Hitachi is focusing on kaizen -- and they promote the concept in a major marketing campaign -- the video leaves this reader wishing they had put in more information in their video. What do you think?]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Computers &amp; Electronics]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:22:35 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Fourth Annual iSixSigma Global Salary Survey]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/fourth_annual_isixsigma_global_salary_survey.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[As research manager for iSixSigma Magazine, I spend my Decembers analyzing the data from the iSixSigma Job Shop to figure out who makes what and where they make it.  I really enjoy crunching the numbers because I get to spend so much time in Minitab. (My love for Minitab was kindled by my Black Belt instructor, Paul Sheehy, who later became an official Minitab trainer.)  
The results from the latest analysis has become the 4th Annual Six Sigma Global Salary Survey, published in March/April issue of iSixSigma Magazine.
A Press Release issued this morning gives you a taste of the data - revealing the worldwide salary and bonus figures for Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions and Deployment Leaders.  
On average, BBs across the globe earn $76,241per year and their average bonus is $9,698.  For the salary and bonus figures for MBBs, Champions and DLs, read the Press Release.
Here on the Blogosphere, I’ll give you a bit more salary trivia to spark those water cooler conversations... 
Question: How much does a Black Belt in the United Sates make a year?  Answer: About $10,000 more than the worldwide average: $86,011
Question:  If you work in India as a Six Sigma Black Belt how much do you make?   Answer: $51,956
True or False:  "I am a certified Black Belt, here are my credentials...I should make more than the average Joe Black Belt who went through training but does not have formal certification like I do." Answer: False.  There is no statistical difference in salaries between certified Black Belts and non-certified Black Belts.
Question: What is the highest paying industry for Black Belts in the United States? Answer: Telecommunications: $104,457
The full survey results are available in the print edition of iSixSigma Magazine, as well as online to subscribers in the newly launched digital edition.
iSixSigma 4th Annual Six Sigma Global Salary Survey Press Release]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Management]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:17:46 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Alert: Fraudulent Emails &amp; Telephone Calls]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_alert_fraudulent_emails_amp_telephone_calls.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[We have recently become aware of fraudulent emails and telephone calls from a person claiming to be from iSixSigma which was sent to multiple people, including some of our readers.
The fraudulent email, which was sent by Aditi Raisurana and may be personally addressed, tells recipients that iSixSigma is "in the process of promoting our services and launching our magazine in India." The email may identify multiple locations. The fraudulent email continues, "we would like to know the details (name, designation and contact numbers, if possible) of all professionals (senior and middle level) from [Company Name] who we could invite for our launch party and also who we could get it touch with to attend our seminars, write columns for our magazine, etc."
Please be aware of the following information should you receive this email:

The fraudulent email is NOT from iSixSigma. In one case it was sent from a Google mail address (gmail.com), and not from an isixsigma.com email address.
iSixSigma does NOT solicit personally identifiable information about you or your colleagues via email or telephone. Nor does any reputable company.
iSixSigma is aggressively taking action to stop this activity. 
If you receive a fraudulent email purporting to be from iSixSigma, forward it with full "header" information to http://www.isixsigma-magazine.com/help.asp?ToDo=contact&amp;o=mc. Instructions on obtaining header information can be found at: http://www.spamcop.com/help_with_headers/.
We apologize for this inconvenience and welcome any comments or questions you may have regarding this issue.
Best regards,
Michael CygerFounder, iSixSigma ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:31:47 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Oracle to Acquire Hyperion, Owner of Crystal Ball]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/oracle_to_acquire_hyperion_owner_of_crystal_ball.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[It seems that no sooner does Hyperion start the transition from the acquisition of Decisioneering to the process of integrating Crystal Ball with their products, when Hyperion announces that *they’ve* now been acquired by Oracle! The deal is in cash for $52.00 per share, or approximately $3.3 billion.
In an email I received today from Jim Franklin, former CEO of Decisioneering and now VP, General Manager of Hyperion, Jim writes:

The acquisition of Hyperion extends Oracle’s business intelligence product strategy. Customers are increasingly using performance management and business intelligence together. Hyperion provides best-in-class performance management software to over 12,000 customers worldwide, including 91 of the Fortune 100. Hyperion will add complementary products to Oracle’s leading business intelligence offerings, including a leading open enterprise planning system, financial consolidation products, and a powerful multi-source OLAP server.
On their website, Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison is quoted as saying, "Hyperion’s EPM software coupled with Oracle’s Business Intelligence (BI) tools and analytic applications form an end-to-end performance management system that includes planning, budgeting, consolidation, operational analytics and compliance reporting."
For those of you unfamiliar with Crystal Ball, it is Microsoft Excel-based software for risk analysis, simulation and optimization. I’m sure Crystal Ball will play a growing and pivotal role in the planning and operational analytics areas.
Hyperion press release: Oracle To Acquire Enterprise Performance Management Leader HyperionOracle press release: Oracle Buys Enterprise Performance Management Leader Hyperion]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:14:43 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Hyperion to Acquire Decisioneering]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/hyperion_to_acquire_decisioneering.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ 
Some of the biggest news to be announced yesterday and circulated around the IQPC Six Sigma Summit in Miami is that Hyperion is acquiring Decisioneering. For those of you not aware of Hyperion, they are one of the leading enterprise-wide BPM (business performance management) software applications in the world.
As the press release on Decisioneering’s site announces, Crystal Ball software will become a business unit of Hyperion and the product will continue to be developed in the now-Decisioneering headquarters in Denver, Colorado.
My contacts are very excited about this acquisition, as it appears strategic in nature. Hyperion and Decisioneering share a host of customers, and adding the simulation and decision-assistance capabilities of Crystal Ball to Hyperion’s suite of financial and business performance management software will benefit everyone involved.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:23:41 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Get Me to Warm Miami]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/get_me_to_warm_miami.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to feel a little "winterized" already (or is that "non-winterized"?). The Seattle rainy season has hit multiple records this season and I’m looking forward to a break later this month by visiting warm -- and hopefully dry -- Miami for the IQPC Six Sigma Summit.
I’m bringing with me a couple of iSixSigma team members:

Michael Marx, our resident expert on "The Six Sigma Scoop on the Fortune 500 and Global 500." Watch for Michael as he’ll no doubt be taking photographs and podcasting. He’ll also be blogging throughout the conference, so be sure to visit the Blogosphere (or better yet, sign-up for the newsletter or RSS feeds) that week for an update on the festivities and activities.
Jessica Harper, our newest team member and managing editor of iSixSigma Magazine. As a seasoned editor of a business periodical, Jessica will be learning the "lay of the Six Sigma land," meeting plenty of practitioners and also enjoying some well-deserved sunshine (she’s a fellow Seattleite).
So, for your 15 minutes of fame during or after the event, these are the two people to watch out for. If you want to try to identify us at the event, here are our pictures. Jessica is "incognito" until we can get a photograph up. Find Michael or me and we can always point you to Jessica at the event.
I’m also looking forward to the Awards Ceremony Tuesday night. I had the honor to judge one of the categories and there are some phenomenal Six Sigma projects in the running this year. iSixSigma Blogosphere is proud to sponsor the award for Best Six Sigma Project in Government, and iSixSigma Magazine is proud to sponsor the award for Best Six Sigma Project in Financial Services.
I’m not sure who is emceeing the Awards, but last year Steve Walter (listen to a podcast with Steve Walter from 2006) did a fantastic job. Who would have thought a Fortune 100 practitioner could be a stand-up comedian? Of course we all know that there is plenty of comedic material within Six Sigma! 
Also, if you haven’t registered you can save 10% by using the iSixSigma code: "isix" (sans quotes), click-thru here. See you in warm Miami!]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:32:30 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Reports of Our Demise]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/reports_of_our_demise.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Okay, okay. I know this has already been covered to death in other blogs and various discussion forums. But I am nonetheless compelled to offer my own take on the Wall Street Journal’s article concerning the departure of Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli. And more specifically on the comments within that article suggesting that this is a substantial example of Six Sigma “not panning out as promised.”
The article prominently cites a study conducted by QualPro Inc. Before I get started, I’ll freely admit I haven’t read the study. I couldn’t find it on their website, or anywhere else online. (If anyone knows where to get it, please let me know.) So, I’ll have to rely on the words of the article’s author to describe it:

“Now QualPro Inc., a company that markets a competing process-management technique, has issued a study comparing the stock performance of companies that adopted Six Sigma with the performance of the Standard &amp; Poor’s 500-stock index. QualPro has done work for Lowe’s Cos., Home Depot’s main competitor. 
“Given that the study was issued by a Six Sigma competitor, it isn’t surprising that the comparisons aren’t flattering.”
They go on:

“A number of former GE executives -- including W. James McNerney Jr., former CEO of 3M Co.; Dave Cote, CEO of Honeywell International Inc.; and Mr. Nardelli -- helped spread the Six Sigma word but have seen their companies’ stock prices lag.
“Since announcing the adoption of Six Sigma on July 1, 2001, Home Depot shares are down 8.3% compared with a 16% rise in the S&amp;P 500 over the same period. The stock rose more than 2% yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, to $41.07, after Mr. Nardelli’s resignation.
“Honeywell shares are down 7.2% since its Six Sigma announcement in early January 2000, compared with a 3.6% fall in the S&amp;P 500. Shares of 3M are off about 1% since late December 2003 versus the S&amp;P 500’s 29% climb. GE shares rose sharply in the 1990s, but they’re down 16% since July 2000, when the company adopted Six Sigma, compared with the 2.6% fall in the S&amp;P 500.”
First of all, I know I speak for most of us when I howl: correlation does not necessarily indicate causation. There’s enough material for several blog entries here, but I’ll restrain myself because there are more interesting things to quibble with here. For example, what to make of this?

“Of the 58 companies reviewed in the QualPro report, 52 underperformed the S&amp;P 500 index from the time they launched their Six Sigma programs through Dec. 5, 2006. Other underperformers include Lockheed Martin Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Xerox Corp.”
Yet the George group claims on their website that “our client index has tripled in value while the S&amp;P 500 has declined.” Further, on the back cover of this month’s iSixSigma magazine you can see their data indicating that “George Group clients outperform all major indices.” Presumably a large portion of those clients deployed Six Sigma. So what does it all mean? Is Six Sigma a good thing or a bad thing for stock price? George Group and QualPro both cite Xerox as an example – what are we to take from that? The point is, it’s impossible to tell. I’ve no doubt that QualPro and George Group both used accurate data analyzed correctly. And yet they report diametrically opposite conclusions. Clearly what was measured and how it was measured must be different, but none of that nuance is communicated. Again, there are several blogs’ worth of questions to ponder here.
More importantly, neither study asks the more interesting question, which is: what would the stock price of these companies have done over the period of the study if they had not deployed Six Sigma? And that’s a question that we can’t answer, because it requires an experiment that’s impossible to run. No one understands Y=f(x) for stock price (at least, no one worth less than 10 figures), so talking about single data points collected on a single x for a particular company doesn’t carry much weight. And given the massive differences company-to-company, I’m not sure aggregating 50 different companies together in a single study is any better. It just sounds better to the casual reader.
While I’m on the subject of QualPro, I found some of the statements on their website, um, interesting. For example, they say:

“Most of us were taught that the optimum process for gaining knowledge is to test one-thing-at-a-time and hold everything else constant. It is called the scientific method. MVT® (Multivariable Testing) proves that the scientific method doesn’t really work in the real world.”
I feel compelled to point out that the scientific method has been around for about 2900 years. Has QualPro suddenly discovered something that minor logicians like Aristotle, Descartes, and Gödel missed? Can QualPro seriously believe what they are saying? It’s ridiculous. In a sense they win by default, because I can’t even formulate a cogent argument to the contrary. It’s like trying to box with a swamp vapor – you can’t hit a bad smell. 
And don’t even get me started on marketing multi-variate testing as “better” than Six Sigma. What decent program doesn’t include muti-variate where appropriate? As for equating OFAT with the scientific method, I’m personally insulted by the comparison. What is it about the induction/deduction cycle that precludes testing more than one variable at a time? Nothing. The scientific method says nothing about how to go from induction to deduction. DOE or “MVT” is a great way to go. Fine, promote MVT, but why denigrate the scientific method to do it? MVT and the scientific method are perfectly compatible.
Finally, just to continue being picky, despite QualPro’s claims to the contrary you can learn about interactions via OFAT experimentation. If you don’t believe me, believe Daniel:

Factorial One-Factor-at-a-Time Experiments Cuthbert DanielThe American Statistician, Vol. 48, No. 2 (May, 1994), pp. 132-135doi:10.2307/2684266
In the end though, I guess none of this matters because:

“QualPro’s proprietary Multivariable Testing (MVT®) system uses more complex mathematics than is used in a Polaris Missile.”
Boy, I can’t think of a better reason to adopt a continuous improvement methodology than that.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Andrew Downard]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:01:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: A Fun Exercise YOU Can Use to Aid Facilitation]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/a_fun_exercise_you_can_use_to_aid_facilitation.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I am trying to make Six Sigma meetings at my project in the UK fun and a little ‘different’ than the normal meetings there. 
I am gathering up fun exercises and video clips to play in between facilitation of the DMAIC tools.
I will share with you one GREAT team exercise (I got from my company) which is a team building exercise that will break down barriers in teams especially when the group have just met.
Cane Exercise
All you need is:
1.      A 2 metre bamboo cane. Get from DIY store. 
2.      6 people minimum
You get the bamboo cane and balance it just on your forefingers. (Your forefingers are under the bamboo cane).
You then state “All I want you to do as a group is lower the cane onto the floor”
With that, you lower the cane.
You then state “everybody stand up and get round the cane” In the case of 6 people; stand 3 people either side of the cane. 
Then you raise the cane to chest height and state “Now as a group, lower the cane using only your forefingers.” Each team member must have two forefingers on the cane at the same time. Only the forefingers can be used. For example NO THUMBS.
You also state, if anyone cheats you will take the cane off them and put it back to your chest height.
Outcome
No group I have tried this on can lower the cane straight off. The cane actually rises. It is then the task of the group to work out within the rules how to lower the cane. 
Purpose
One person can lower the cane easily. But, when others have their input, a simple exercise for one can for a team become impossible without planning and teamwork.
I would really appreciate sharing with fellow bloggers and readers any similar exercises or videos you have.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[J P Spencer]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Methodology]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:17:39 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Magazine Six Sigma Project Tracking Software Review]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_magazine_six_sigma_project_tracking_software_review.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Some vendors have recently expressed concerns about the review of project tracking software programs that was published in the November/December 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine. I would like to share with you a statement regarding this article that will be published in the January/February 2007 issue. It was written by magazine editor Erin Ducceschi, and I fully concur with it. Additionally, I have invited all vendors who were reviewed to submit a letter to the editor for publication in the same issue. I also invite our readership to share their thoughts on the article. The letter should be 250 words or less and must be sent to editor (at) isixsigma-magazine (dot) com by Friday, Nov. 10.
Vendors are concerned that the article notes an "overall evaluation" and this constitutes a product endorsement by iSixSigma Magazine. I disagree since iSixSigma has always had a policy against product endorsements. It remains in effect and we continue to work hard to enforce it. But that does not mean we cannot publish product reviews by well-qualified, independent Six Sigma practitioners. We feel such reviews are valuable to our readers.
The specific issue is in the table on the last page page of the article. The table has an "overall evaluation" which is a compilation of all the assessments of each program feature evaluated (e.g., customization, dashboard, etc.) which also are provided in the table. Each feature was given equal weight in importance, so whether we had included an overall evaluation in the table or not, any reasonable reader would have reached the same conclusion by simply adding up the "program features" ratings.
Frankly, I don’t think the overall evaluation is really very important. The needs of individual businesses differ, so as practitioners process the information described in the entire article they will give the appropriate weight to the required features for their Six Sigma deployment. The decision to select a software provider, or not, will be based on their unique needs.
Letter from the Editor of iSixSigma Magazine, Erin Ducceschi
Voice your opinion. Send a letter to the editor or post a comment.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:20:05 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: The TRIZ Journal Joins CTQ Media!]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/the_triz_journal_joins_ctq_media.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The TRIZ Journal (www.triz-journal.com) is now a division of CTQ Media LLC (www.ctqmedia.com) and a channel under www.realinnovation.com (which will launch November 15th). TRIZ - a Russian acronym meaning the theory of inventive problem solving - is, as the full name suggests, a systematic methodology for solving problems that call for creativity and innovation. The methodology was developed in Russia and continues to gain popularity throughout the rest of the world. We strongly feel that TRIZ will grow in reach and power in the coming years as more people learn about its potential. Companies like GE, Samsung, Procter &amp; Gamble, Ford Motor Company, Boeing, Philips Semiconductors and LG Electronics already use TRIZ for innovation.

The TRIZ Journal has published articles and case studies online for 10 years - an impressive length of time for the Internet's short history. It's the number one title on the Internet for TRIZ-related content. Feel free to take a look now, but in early 2007 we will be relaunching the site with a new design.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:57:50 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Choose Your Ideal Speaker for the Six Sigma Summit]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/choose_your_ideal_speaker_for_the_six_sigma_summit.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Who would you like to hear speak at the IQPC 8th Annual Six Sigma Summit in Miami?  Here’s you chance to be heard.  Please take this short --one question-- survey and choose your ideal speaker for the event in January next year.
To participate in the survey follow this link: http://www.isixsigma.com/miamikeynote07]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 03 Aug 2006 13:24:49 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Six Sigma and Information Technology Interview]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/six_sigma_and_information_technology_interview.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[IT Business Edge interviewed me last month regarding the results of the survey “Information Technology and Six Sigma” published in the 2006 May/June issue of iSixSigma Magazine.  The interview was only three questions but that was enough to elaborate on a few key findings in the research.  
For those of you who do not receive iSixSigma Magazine, the interview plus the executive summary of the research provide a good overview of the findings. Below is one of the questions from the interview dealing with the relationship between Six Sigma and IT management:

Question: Your survey found that 86 percent of respondents who "always" use Six Sigma to improve IT processes were companies that see IT as a key part of corporate strategy. What does this tell us about Six Sigma and its relationship to IT management?
Marx: Six Sigma and IT management are closely related. The management principles that define a successful Six Sigma initiative also define a successful IT initiative. Six Sigma is most effective — in terms of results, buy-in, lasting change — when it is linked to a company’s strategic priorities and goals. The same is true with IT. If you are an IT manager in a company for which IT is central to the business strategy, you’ll want to be a champion of Six Sigma. Six Sigma and IT are both means for executing business strategy. IT management can be influential in both the development and the execution of strategy.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Six Sigma Articles &amp; News]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:17:03 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Cox-Box Calendar]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/cox_box_calendar.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
iSixSigma is proud to announce the upcoming release of the Cox-Box Calendar. 
The 2007 wall calendar will feature brand new, never before seen Cox-Box cartoons. This calendar will make a perfect holiday gift for your data-minded friends and co-workers.  
Visit http://www.isixsigma.com/calendar/ to learn more and place your advance order online.
Tell a friend: Get the word out!  Tell your friends, family, co-workers, even your boss.  Maybe someone will send you one for the holidays...  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;The Cox-Box]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:13:43 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: World's Youngest iSixSigma Magazine Reader]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/worlds_youngest_isixsigma_magazine_reader.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Pictured at right: Liam Atwood (8 months old), iSixSigma Magazine’s youngest reader.
Thanks, Jon, for passing along the picture.
I can’t tell you what Mia did with her copy...well, perhaps over drinks ;). See you at the ISSSP Leadership Conference in May.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:29:35 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Third Annual iSixSigma Global Salary Survey]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/third_annual_isixsigma_global_salary_survey.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[For a sneak peak into the third annual iSixSigma Global Six Sigma Salary Survey, published in the March/April 2006 issue of iSixSigma Magazine, read today’s press release: No Change in Six Sigma Salaries Worldwide, Survey Shows; Certification Apparently Not a Factor.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Mar 2006 04:00:00 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Second iSixSigma Magazine Podcast Now Available]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/second_isixsigma_magazine_podcast_now_available.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[We just released the second iSixSigma Magazine podcast.  This episode reveals a few of our findings from the "Knowing the Customer" research in the January/February issue.  Visit http://www.isixsigma-magazine.com/podcast/ to download or subscribe to the iTunes feed for automatic updates.
 
 ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Podcasts&nbsp;,&nbsp;Six Sigma Articles &amp; News]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:26:24 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: Premiere iSixSigma Podcast Released]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/premiere_isixsigma_podcast_released.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
iSixSigma invites you to listen to the first iSixSigma Magazine Podcast, downloadable at http://www.isixsigma-magazine.com/podcast/.  The iSixSigma Magazine podcasts feature notable results from the research study in each issue as well as interviews with Six Sigma practitioners and commentary on Six Sigma.  
For those new to podcasting, a podcast is an audio file published to the internet and usually accessed by an RSS feed.  For those new to RSS, an RSS feed is similar to an email, only you receive it through an RSS reader and you only receive notification when a new podcast is ready for download.  
If you’ve got an iPod, the easiest way to subscribe is through iTunes.  Download the first podcast "Starting-up Six Sigma" and listen to it at your desk, in the car or during your next flight.  Thanks for lending us your ear!  ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General&nbsp;,&nbsp;Podcasts&nbsp;,&nbsp;Six Sigma Articles &amp; News]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:06:57 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma Sponsors Two IQPC Six Sigma Excellence Awards]]></title>
			<link>http://www.sixsigmacompanies.com/archive/isixsigma_sponsors_two_iqpc_six_sigma_excellence_awards.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Later this month, IQPC will host the 7th Annual Six Sigma Summit in Miami.  At the conference will be keynote speaker Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York.  I am excited to attend the event and am looking forward to hearing him teach his lessons on leadership through the worst of times.  Other speakers include Don Linsenmann, Corporate Champion at Dupont and Gianna Clark (our very own iSixSigma blogger!), Managing Director of Six Sigma at Dominion. 
The presentation of the Six Sigma Excellence awards is one of the highlights of the event and iSixSigma is proud to sponsor two awards new to the line-up this year. iSixSigma Magazine will present the award for best Lean Six Sigma project and the iSixSigma Blogosphere will present the award for best Six Sigma Project in Healthcare. We are very pleased to recognize the achievements of business professionals who strive to achieve the best for their organizations.  
The IQPC Six Sigma Summit is the largest gathering of Six Sigma professionals in the United States.  There is no better place to meet new people, share ideas, and enjoy the associations of a respected business community.  To learn more about the conference and register, please visit: http://www.isixsigma.com/sixsigmasummit2006.    ]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Marx]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;Conferences&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2006 07:57:56 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: G.I. Jack - Sigma 6?]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/gi_jack_sigma_6.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I love the iSixSigma discussion forum not just for the knowledge sharing that goes on between experts and those needing advice around the world, but also for the trend spotting. In recent days The Independent, and many subsequent television news shows, have reported how Pope Benedict XVI has created a stir in the Vatican (and in the fashion world) for wearing red Prada shoes. Well, today I’m happy to report that I believe the iSixSigma discussion forum has led to a recent new piece found in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and I’m sure some degree of "buzz" will continue in corporate America.
Today’s (Nov. 19, 2005) WSJ Personal Finance section page B3 reported "The latest iteration of America’s favorite plastic patriot is G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, an ultramodern soldier equipped with the best gear that the military (or parents) can buy."
The story ends saying that the marketing team at Hasbro Inc. didn’t even recognize that the brainstormed name that they chose was a reverse name of Six Sigma, the business management methodology revolutionizing companies for the past 20 years. Billy Lagor, director of marketing for G.I. Joe said, "We brainstormed a lot of names that had a cool tech feel and tested them with kids."
Congratulations to Lee for notifying us of the new toy at 4:52 AM on Nov. 14, 2005.
Did Gene Colter, the author of the WSJ story, hear about the connection of Six Sigma and Sigma 6 from the iSixSigma discussion forum? Only time will tell. Gene, let me know when you read this post.]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press&nbsp;,&nbsp;General]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Sat, 19 Nov 2005 14:42:59 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: iSixSigma in Executive Decision Magazine]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/isixsigma_in_executive_decision_magazine.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If you get Executive Decision magazine, check the recent issue (July/August 2005) on page 35 (article: "Don’t Let Company Growth Stall: Innovation is the key factor in charting a course of long-term sustained growth").]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2005 17:04:30 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

		<item>
			<title><![CDATA[Six Sigma Blogs: &quot;Why CEO's Can't Afford to Ignore Six Sigma&quot;]]></title>
			<link>http://blogs.isixsigma.com/archive/why_ceos_cant_afford_to_ignore_six_sigma.html</link>
			<description><![CDATA[If you get Executive Decision magazine, check the recent issue (May/June 2005) on page 40 (article: "The Missing Link?: Why CEOs Can’t Afford to Ignore Six Sigma").]]></description>
			
			<author><![CDATA[Michael Cyger]]></author>
			
			<category>
			<![CDATA[Buzz/Press]]>
			</category>
			<pubDate>Fri, 06 May 2005 10:22:12 -0800</pubDate>
		</item>

	</channel>
</rss>
