Today, I’m sharing my version of a popular meme on the interwebs – Mark Graban is not Impressed.
Many of you know Mark – he’s a good friend and the writer of Leanblog.org; in his most recent post, he applies some McGyver-like investigation to expose unethical marketing practices by a conference promotion company. Mark was clearly not impressed.
Several of you are familiar with the meme going around of McKayla Maroney, where her unhappy face is superimposed on – literally – everything. Her face shows her being very unhappy to receive the Silver Medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Now, I’m not saying she wasn’t happy to get the Silver Medal, but her face is on the web for the entire world to see – and use and superimpose onto everything.
So, today I thought I’d do my version, except with Mark Graban. Now, I’ve known Mark for a long time and he’s a fun and very outspoken guy. And, sometimes, when he’s not impressed, he’ll definitely let you know.
Mark is not Impressed with WCBF
Mark is not Impressed with Six Sigma
Mark is not Impressed with Lean Six Sigma
Mark is not Impressed with John Seddon and the Vanguard Method
Mark IS Impressed with Shmula.com
Funny. I’ve been McKayla-ed. Never thought I’d see the day. Maybe McKayla is not impressed with me not being impressed.
I’m not opposed to Six Sigma. I’m all in favor of statistical methods… but I’m opposed to some of the common silliness, like the number of belts being trained being the prime objective and sketchy online only programs that seem like just buying a belt.
And not to suck all the fun out of this… but to clarify:
I’m not opposed to combining Lean and Six Sigma in the same organization. I just don’t think it becomes “Lean Sigma” as in a single methodology.
And, finally, I was (am) a big fan of John Seddon’s book “Freedom from Command and Control.” What I criticized was his tone – attacking “toolheads” and ripping Womack and Jones in an unwarranted way.
Mark is not impressed with the Vanguard Method because he doesn’t understand it.
If he understood he would understand the criticism of Lean and the toolkit(s) being shoveled into organizations. Service gets worse and more expensive. So, I remain unimpressed with the application of Lean in service . . . no matter how well intended. Someone needs to speak out.