I actually prefer this iphone tool to a standard stopwatch for many simple studies because it is just as easy to use (if not easier), and, all the while, it gathers more information. For more complex studies, I usually don’t use a stopwatch, but will use software like UmtPlus on an iPad to get a more complete picture of what’s going on.

I found that iPhone app around the same time you did, and I have found it to be quite useful. Did you know the same company makes a couple of other similar programs that do pareto and some other simple graphical analysis?

I find that their Pareto tool has been useful when observing a process with a number of known defects to help quantify and prioritize the frequency of each defect. That all of this can be done, as you said, at the gemba is extremely helpful at times.

Regards,

– Joe

Yeah, I failed to mention the name of the App. It’s called CTPlot and you can find it here int he Apple App Store:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ctplot/id423722799?mt=8