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The tools and concepts of Quality are powerful instruments to make things better--products, processes, and services. This podcast explores those ideas plus concepts of psychology, social and cultural norms, strategy, and business to strengthen the capability of professionals motivated to make things better--the Quality Warriors. The host is Keith Fong who is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Shainin Red X Master, and Robust Engineering Coach. He has over 20 years as a quality and continuous imp ...
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Continuous improvement is predicated on problem solving, you're closing a gap between the current state and an ideal state. However, problem solving, thus continuous improvement, is often not that successful, especially if you are attempting to reach the ideal state. I believe that there are two fundamental reasons that I share in this episode of W…
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Your company is called the Tesla or Apple of your market. You've gotten more investment capital than any other company in your market. The product you sell has a long waiting list of customers. You must be making money hand over fist, right? Actually, you are declared bankrupt. One important element of your company going bankrupt is poor quality in…
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In the previous episode, I proposed that seeing the world through the lens of process is a superpower. However, you have to develop the superpower—it's not like Spiderman getting bitten by a radioactive spider. In this episode, we'll talk in more detail about process and how to develop the skills in analyzing processes in order to see through the l…
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Attending a high school honor society induction ceremony for my niece, I was witness to how a group of students organized and executed a process. Something they had experienced themselves and which they took ownership for the next generation of students. There was nothing remarkable about the ceremony, but I think it gives us a window into process.…
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The Fundamental Defects In Quality Methods Training
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What if the most common training practices in your field actually undermine the topic you're teaching? In Quality, we have exactly that situation in training the tools and methods of Quality. In this episode of the Way of the Quality Warrior podcast, we consider 4 common problems in the deployment of Quality tools and methods: the sink or swim scho…
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Parallels of Addiction Treatment and Continuous Improvement
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The work of a Quality Warrior is much more than the Quality and Continuous Improvement tools like Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, Design of Experiments, process behavior charting, and problem solving, to list a few. The Stages of Change model developed by James Prochaska, John Norcross, and Carlo DiClemente for the treatment of addictions provi…
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In the Quality and Continuous Improvement world, it's common to focus on waste reduction as the enemy to success. However, I don't think that waste is the enemy of the Quality Warrior. Not that waste is good, but the obviousness of waste as a bad thing actually blinds those of us teaching and coaching continuous improvement to the genius of the Toy…
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Quality as a feature or characteristic is fulfilling expectations. In this episode of Way of the Quality Warrior podcast, I share some of the lessons I learned about creating quality in providing services as a product design engineer at the beginning of my career. There is no magic, but there is a need for perceptiveness.…
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In the previous episode, "Managers Can Count Better Than They Can Think," that premise was presented. This episode adds some examples to develop that idea. In a world where too many problems are described and explained more by opinion and emotion rather than by meaningful data and information, this episode provides a couple of examples of how to le…
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Managers can count better than they can think
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There's a premise that I think can help Quality Warriors become more influential in their organization: Managers can count better than they can think. Is this an attack on managers? No, it is not. It is a call for understanding and a challenge. People who are not managers often don't understand what challenges managers are facing. Their expectation…
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The names of Six Sigma certifications were taken from martial arts. Green Belt and Black Belt sound sexy. But there are other things in the martial arts that could be adopted to drive continuous improvement. In particular, the idea of the "yielding art" of Jiu Jitsu where the opponents' energy is used to defeat them. This episode discusses applying…
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Is the Ishikawa Diagram a bad guy sidekick to the 5 Whys?
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The Ishikawa or Fishbone Diagram is often coupled with the 5 Whys tool for root cause analysis. In the previous episode, I argued that the deficiencies of 5 Whys makes it an anti-quality tool. Does that mean that the Ishikawa Diagram is also a poor tool? This episode talks about what the Ishikawa Diagram really is and better practices to leverage i…
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The Anti-Quality Tool: 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis
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The 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis tool is very popular in continuous improvement and quality. The 5 Whys concept is very easy to understand and it's easy to teach. However, that simplicity leads to problems that undermine the quality profession. This episodes dives into the 5 Whys and the issues it creates. It ends with possible ways to improve the si…
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If you are looking to purchase a violin through an online vendor, reading reviews will quickly introduce you to the VSO--the Violin Shaped Object. It looks like a violin, but it doesn't produce the sounds you expect from a violin. In Quality, we have plenty of our own examples of the VSO phenomena—where there is the promise of Quality tools and ini…
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Diet Fads and Quality Initiatives—Two of a Kind
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Diet Fads and Quality Initiatives seem to share a number of traits. This episode discusses those traits and introduces an idea that may explain why so often diets and quality initiatives fail. Go to the Way of the Quality Warrior podcast page for all episodes, extra information, and to contact the host Keith Fong: Way of the Quality Warrior Referen…
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Problem Solving Bankruptcy—Gradually And Then Suddenly
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Big problems and crises happen suddenly after they have been developing gradually. This is a consequence of problem solving bankruptcy. Problem solving bankruptcy is when attempts to solve a problem have been unsuccessful and the team is out of ideas and tools. Then come desperate acts using random ideas. It's a bad place to be. This episode of the…
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In Episode 1, quality for products and services was defined as "Presence of desired features and the degree of excellence of those features." How do we develop the capability of the team so that our company delivers the quality that makes us the first choice of our customers? Key Points in this episode: •Customers have choices and not just between …
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A Quality Warrior is fighting against someone or something--who or what is the enemy? There are a couple of reasons that an organization will launch quality and continuous improvement initiatives. One of those reasons drives most of the focus. What looks like one enemy is actually several. The Quality Warrior doesn't just fight the enemy but also m…
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In this inaugural episode of Way of the Quality Warrior, host Keith Fong introduces himself and then shares the origin story of the podcast which takes us directly to the question: How can we define Quality? The organization you'd expect to offer an authoritative definition of Quality lets us down. While disappointing, we continue our journey. List…
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Does making things better motivate you? The tools and concepts of quality are powerful weapons for improvement, but they require understanding a wide range of topics for effective use. This podcast "Way of the Quality Warrior" will explore those ideas and use lessons from actual situations to gain the understanding we seek as professionals in busin…
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