Before we get into the top process mapping tools we’ll begin with some key questions that help determine which is the best tool for your specific need.

1. Who are the team members or stakeholders?  Who has a voice and can provide input?
2. What does the team consider the most important
3. Uncontrolled Input Variables in the process?
4. How were the Customer Requirements decided?
5. Does this map reflect the current process or the one we want to create?
6. Where are the measurement points in the process?
7. What does your Control Plan include at this time?
8. Where are the areas to be reworked identified?
9. What are the non-value added processes?
10. How many Input Variables did you identify (on average) per step ?
11. What is the next step for the team?

One of the items I highlight when mapping a process  is to find the CTSs (Critical to Satisfactions) which will drive the CTQs (Critical to Quality), which finally, will drive the CTDs (Critical to Delivery)

Takeaways from process mapping:  No matter which process map best suits your needs, shouldn’t they all be visual, graphical, and practical?  Easy to read for everyone from “big animal pictures” for executives to complex inter-relational diagrams (yes Venns are OK sometimes) for rocket engineers.

What is the tool?

-         Graphical illustration of the process to produce the product

When do you apply process mapping?

-         Starting in the “Design” phase and updating throughout

What will the tool identify?

-         All value-added and non-value-added process steps

-         Input Variables (X’s)

-         Output Variables (Y’s)

-         Data Collection Points

What comes out of the Process Map?

-         Output Variables to track

-         Input Variables to put into the C&E Matrix and FMEA

-         Input Variables that will need to be controlled

-         Possible non-value-added process steps

-         Systems needing measurement studies

Here are the Top 10 Six Sigma Process Mapping Tools

1.  Block Diagrams

2.  Conventional Flowchart

3.  Affinity Diagrams

4.  Swimming Lanes

5.  SIPOC – Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer

6.  Value Stream Mapping

7.  Control Plan or Preventive Maintenance Plan

8.  Fishbone – Ishikawa diagram

9.  C&E Matrix

10.  FMEA

1.  Block Diagrams

The most simplified form of process mapping, and often the first breaks down the process into boxes and simply show what goes in and what comes out, also driving the next box.  Block diagrams are often used in IPO (simplified SIPOCs that prepare the process for the C&E matrix).

Process Block Diagram

2.  Conventional Flowchart

Didn’t we all learn this in our first computer classes in high-school?  While we think these are best for describing software algorithms, they are still commonly used to map processes.

Flowcharts are specifically decision-making tools.

Conventional Flowchart

A typical flowchart from older Computer Science textbooks may have the following kinds of symbols:

Start and end symbols

Represented as circles, ovals or rounded rectangles, usually containing the word “Start” or “End”, or another phrase signaling the start or end of a process, such as “submit enquiry” or “receive product”.

Arrows

Show the flow or direction of the algorithm or process. An arrow coming from one symbol and ending at another symbol represents that control passes to the symbol the arrow points to.

Processing steps

Represented as rectangles.  Examples: “Add 1 to X”; “replace identified part”; “save changes” or similar.

Input/Output

Represented as a parallelogram.  Examples: Get X from the user; display X.

Conditional or decision

Represented as a diamond.  These typically contain a Yes/No question or True/False test. This symbol is unique in that it has two arrows coming out of it, usually from the bottom point and right point, one corresponding to Yes or True, and one corresponding to No or False. The arrows should always be labeled. More than two arrows can be used, but this is normally a clear indicator that a complex decision is being taken, in which case it may need to be broken-down further, or replaced with the “pre-defined process” symbol.

3.  Affinity Diagram

An affinity diagram is a fun team process mapping tool where you use different color “post-it” notes and simply paste them on a wall or board.  Post-it notes are great as they don’t adhere permanently, allowing the facilitator to move them around, add some, remove some, in order to see “what if” scenarios and basically keep everyone on the cross-functional team happy.

Affinity Diagram

Affinity diagrams provide a visual grouping of Client/Customer needs and help categorizes customer needs into abstract needs at highest operational levels while the lower levels contain more detailed, operational statements.

Affinity diagram exercises are team activities.  Don’t forget to use different colors to represent different roles, gates, bottlenecks, etc.

How to Prepare and Affinity Diagram With Your Team:

1.  Start with large list of Client/Customer needs

Have each need posted on an adhesive note on a large surface

2.  Working silently and simultaneously, have each team member move needs into logical groupings

3.  After notes are grouped, discuss groups and assign headings

4.  Team may need to take general needs and split it into two or more specific needs

5.  Take less important needs and group those that belong together meaningfully

4.  Swimming Lanes

This is a great serial mapping process where the map is outlined horizontally and different teams or departments lie parallel and represent different swimmers (picture an Olympic swimming competition) of the process.  As soon as the process flow-down goes into another department, then the process changes lanes.

Swimming Lanes

This is a simple process-mapping tool that identifies clear-boundaries with who does what and shows clear hand-off process points to another team or stakeholder.

5.  SIPOC

The SIPOC Identifies

1. Major tasks and activities
2. The boundaries of the process
3. The process outputs
4. Who receives the outputs (the customers)
5. What the customer requires of the outputs
6. The process inputs
7. Who supplies the inputs (suppliers)
8. What the process requires of the inputs
9. The best metrics to measure

Supplier – Know and work with your supplier.  Help your supplier improve.

Input – Strive to continually improve the inputs.  Make it easier to get it right the first time.

Process – Describe the process at a high level, but detailed enough so that an executive or a lay person would understand.  Mistake-proof the process.  Know it inside out.  Know what works.  Eliminate what doesn’t

Output – Strive to continually improve the outputs.  Be the best with metrics!

Customer – Keep the customer’s requirements in sight.  Stay on target.  Remember the Critical to Satisfactions (CTS’).

The great thing about the SIPOC is that it’s an excellent team building tool and I put emphasis on inter-departmental cooperation here.  Mapping processes at a high level is more than just writing ISO instructions or making flashy “Visios”.  I love the sound of crickets in front of eight noisy people in a closed room brought on by their awestrickeness when they see how long it takes to map a SIPOC – and that’s me doing it for them on the white board not really understanding in great detail what their individual tasks are.

SIPOC Steps

1. We need to get a 50,000 ft. view of the process first
2. Identify the process in simple terms
3. Identify External Inputs (raw materials, employees, etc.)
4. Identify the Customer Requirements (Outputs) (required temperatures, lot numbers, etc.)
5. Make sure to include all value-added and non value-added steps
6. Include both process and product output variables

SIPOC Airline Example

Once you have an agreed upon and more importantly, understood, SIPOC – understanding the SIPOC implies that you can easily identify opportunities for improvement – you can proceed to the next step in process mapping.

6.  Value Stream Mapping

A Value Stream Map is a visual tool used to document the flow of products or services through a system. A value stream is all of the actions required to change raw materials into a product delivered to the customer. The VSM differentiates the value-adding activities of a system from the non-value-adding ones. Recording the time taken for each activity shows what percentage of valuable time an object or person spends in a system. Any non-value-adding time indicates an opportunity for possible improvement within the system. The VSM shows the process flow from order to delivery and includes – a) information & material flow, b) product throughput & cycle times, c) resources utilized, d) value added times and e) location of significant waste

How To Value Stream Map

1. Identify the target product, product family, or service.
2. Draw a current state value stream map, which shows the current steps, delays, and information flows required to deliver the target product or service. This may be a production flow (raw materials to consumer) or a design flow (concept to launch). There are ‘standard’ symbols for representing supply chain entities.
3. Assess the current state value stream map in terms of creating flow by eliminating waste
4. Draw a future state value stream map.
5. Implement the future.

Value Stream Map

Where is it used?
Value stream mapping is a helpful method that can be used in Lean environments to identify opportunities for improvement in lead time.

Although value stream mapping is often associated with manufacturing, it is also used in logistics, supply chain, service related industries, healthcare, software development and product development.

In a build to the standard form Shigeo Shingo suggests that the value-adding steps be drawn across the centre of the map and the non-value-adding steps be represented in vertical lines at right angles to the value stream. Thus the activities become easily separated into the value stream which is the focus of one type of attention and the ‘waste’ steps another type. He calls the value stream the process and the non-value streams the operations. The thinking here is that the non-value-adding steps are often preparatory or tidying up to the value-adding step and are closely associated with the person or machine/workstation that executes that value-adding step. Therefore each vertical line is the ‘story’ of a person or workstation whilst the horizontal line represents the ‘story’ of the product being created.
Hand drawn versus tools
The goal is to create a map, with minimum delay, while observing the target process in situation. Thus, value stream maps are usually drawn by hand in pencil to keep the mapping process simple and allow for simple correction.

7.  Control Plan or Preventive Maintenance Plan

Usually begun after the value stream map or other high-level map has been completed (SIPOC) and items such as measurement techniques or operating specifications (min/max, TAKT times, etc.)

Control Plan

8.  Fishbone – Ishikawa

Is a fishbone a process mapping tool?  Sure it is.  Though most people think of the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram like a root cause analysis tool or way of finding out what went wrong when and where, it does get a team consensus as to what went wrong and helps highlight “wrong” ways of doing things that result in defects.

Ishikawa or Fishbone Diagram

People: Anyone involved with the process

Methods: How the process is performed and the specific requirements for doing it, such as policies, procedures, rules, regulations and laws

Machines: Any equipment, computers, tools etc. required to accomplish the job

Materials: Raw materials, parts, pens, paper, etc. used to produce the final product

Measurements: Data generated from the process that are used to evaluate its quality

Environment: The conditions, such as location, time, temperature, and culture in which the process operates

9.  Cause & Effect Matrix (C&E)

The C&E matrix can use the SIPOC or IPO to drive the matrix.  All C&E matrices must link to an existing process.  Why create a Cause & Effect matrix for no existing process?  It’s very important to capture the “as is” picture of things in order to see the “would be” or “should be”.

Cause & Effect Matrix

Having a C&E matrix that doesn’t link to a process simply indicates it was completed by an individual, not a cross-functional team.  For those who feel that team process mapping efforts are a waste of time, ask yourself if you really think you know everything that’s going on in other departments or that you have mastery of every process.  Bringing other stakeholders will ensure that every point of view is considered.

The C&E matrix is actually a simplified Quality Function (QFD) tool used in Design for Six Sigma (again DMADV for the purists out there) that:

• Relates the Key Inputs to the Key Outputs (Customer Requirements) using the process map as the primary information source
• Key Outputs are scored as to importance to the customer
• Key Inputs are scored as to relationship to key outputs

Some common C&E matrix outputs:

• Pareto of Key Inputs to investigate using Designed Experiments
• Pareto of Key Inputs to evaluate in the FMEA
• Input into potential sources of variation for Robust Design
• Input for developing the Process Control Plan

Team steps to completing the Cause & Effect Matrix

1. Identify key customer requirements (Outputs) from SIPOC or Value Stream Map
2. Rank order and assign priority factor to each Output (usually on a 1 to 10 scale)
3. Identify all process steps and materials (Inputs) from the Process Map
4. Evaluate correlation of each input to each output

Low score: changes in the input variable (amount, quality, etc.) have small effect on output variable

High score: changes in the input variable can greatly affect the output variable

1. Cross multiply correlation values with priority factors and sum for each Input

First Pass

-         Place the Outputs across the top of the matrix and rank

-         Place the process steps down the side of the matrix

-         Correlate process step to Outputs

-         Pareto the process steps

Second Pass

-         Start a new C&E Matrix with the Inputs from the top three or four process steps

-         Recommended when first starting a project

-Focuses the efforts and gives the team a feeling that they’re working on the important process steps first

-Gives you a running start at the FMEA and area to focus for Robust Design

10.  Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA)

The FMEA identifies ways that a product or process can fail and helps mitigate actions to remove inherent failure modes before they ever occur.  The FMEA assumes that the process is in control and capable of meeting the process spreads used in the design.

-         It also assumes that material, and components are performing as specified in the design documentation.

-         Failures can be caused by:

Unclear specifications

Inadequate knowledge of environmental conditions

Insufficient Analysis, Modeling and Simulation

Poor Design

Insufficient Testing

Not designing for process requirements

-         Controls are related to the design process:

Prevention – Analysis, Simulation and Modeling

Detection – Prototype Testing, Design Verification Testing, Reliability Testing

Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA)

The FMEA approach:

-         Identifies the ways in which a product can fail

-         Estimates the risk associated with each failure mode

-         Rank orders the failure modes to prioritize the design teams efforts

-         Tracks corrective actions and provides a permanent record for subsequent design and process FMEAs

How to Complete an FMEA

1. Develop a block diagram of the Design Item / Function being analyzed.  This can be a product, system, sub-system, and or component
2. For each Design Item / Function, determine the ways in which it can fail (Failure Modes)
3. For each Failure Mode associated with the item, determine Effects of the failure on the customer

-         Remember the internal customers!

1. Identify potential Causes of each Failure Mode
2. List the Current Design Controls for each Cause or Failure Mode
3. Create Severity, Occurrence, and Detection rating scales
4. Assign Severity, Occurrence and Detection ratings to each Cause
5. Calculate the RPN for each Cause
6. Determine Recommended Actions to reduce high RPNs
7. Take appropriate actions and recalculate RPNs

FMEA Output – The Risk Priority Number (RPN)

The output of an FMEA is the Risk Priority Number

The RPN is a calculated number based on information you provide regarding

-         the potential failure modes,

-         the effects, and

-         the current ability of the design process to detect the design failures before reaching the customer

It is calculated as the product of three quantitative ratings, each one related to the effects, causes, and controls:

RPN = Severity X Occurrence X Detection

Process Mapping Summary

I want to conclude by suggesting that all processes you map, should be able to indicate which key metrics to measure and report.  Here are some pointers for the not so obvious.

• Measure things that matter – to our customer (Critical to Satisfaction)
• Measure consistency reduce and understand variation (Critical to Quality)
• Monitor and evaluate performance (Critical to Delivery)
• Measure conformance to the process
• Identify improvement opportunities
• Make your metrics practical and graphical
• The right metrics drive the right behaviors

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• The FMEA Acronym Redefined Fri 13 Nov 2009
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Shouldn’t the resident Black Belt be called upon to help the accounting and finance teams?  Should the Black Belt be on-hand when an external audit is being done?  Why not?  Here are more concepts below that should be understood.

5 items Never to be included in cost benefit analysis

When dealing with decisions using Cost Benefit Analysis techniques it is very important to follow the proven principles. The health of your company and your reputation depend on it. If these rules are not followed then your decisions could be flawed.

Critical Item #1. Sunk Costs

Irrecoverable cash outlays that occurred prior to the evaluation of the project are excluded, only the present and future costs/benefits are assessed. You cannot go back in time to add in past costs, only deal in the current and the future, as best you can.

2. Arbitrary Accounting Cost/Income Allocations

Depreciation – Depreciation is not a cash item. It relates to cash expended on capital purchases in previous periods. It is intended to show the decreasing value of the asset as time passes and as the asset ages through use or obsolescence.

To include depreciation in Cost Benefit Analysis, would be to double-count the expenditure. The decreasing value of the asset is shown by the difference in the purchase price and the eventual disposal or sales price at the end of its life.

Accruals – Accruals are an accounting method of moving costs and income to different years as compared to when the transaction actually occurred. In Cost Benefit Analysis, we are dealing only in cash transactions in the year they occurred. Accruals have no role here.

3. Book Gains or Losses

Accountants use this method to take account of the fact that the value of the asset at time of disposal is not equal to the depreciated value in the company’s books. This often happens, since it is not always possible to accurately predict the selling price or disposal value at the time of purchase when the life of the asset is longer than a year or two.

However, in Cost Benefit Analysis models the purchase price and the selling price are always clearly stated, so there is no need to adjust.

4. Price Changes Due to Inflation

The Discount Rate used in the model is designed to take account of inflation during the life of the project. The Discount Rate reduces the value of the costs and benefits as time progresses, just as inflation does. If inflation-based price changes were included in the analysis, then they would be double-counted.

5. Loan Repayments

The use of the Discount Rate is designed to take account of the cost of financing the project whether in terms of interest rate (if the funds are borrowed) or return on equity (if the funds are provided by shareholders). The actual cash repayments on the loan have no place in this analysis. Neither does the interest component of the repayments.

Bruce Hokin is an experienced accountant (FCPA). His main interests are in better decision-making and Cost Benefit Analysis training. http://www.thecostbenefitcoach.com

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Top six sigma black belt excuses

1. It depends
2. The data isn’t normal
3. I didn’t complete this FMEA
4. The project charter was unclear
5. I didn’t know you wanted an attribute MSA
6. I forgot to use the Poisson distribution for defects
7. I was looking at the Cpk instead of the Ppk
8. I was running Minitab 14 tied with my Minitab license expired – couldn’t get Minitab 15
9. I can’t put more than 65535 rows in Excel and 255 columns
10. I’m a Six Sigma Black Belt – but not yet certified.

And bonus
11. I’m a DMAIC Six Sigma Black Belt – this is a DFSS project

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2. The new transformational strategies do not make a difference until people think and act differently.

3. It is impossible to implement the change overnight – It takes months and months or even years to drive change throughout a large organization.

4. During the interim there is a significant risk of two things happening:
a. People getting “tired” and
b. People getting “lost”

5. Organizational transformation is fundamentally not about transforming the organization. It is about transforming the people who work in it

6. Certain structural aspects need to be changed: It’s strategy, structure, or systems – Can and often need to be transformed but the individuals in the company need to transform their thinking and behavior

Signs of getting lost

• Change is a long journey; people not only get tired along the way, they can get lost as well
• They lose track of where they started, where they are, and where that places them in relation to where they thought they wanted to be and go
• Pressing ahead is no longer compelling

Individual ROI and getting tired

ROI usually is meant to stand for “Return on Investment” but I like to change acronyms to mean other things (I guess you’d call this sort of acronym changing a sort of Kabbalistic Gematria but I digress). Let’s make ROI mean “Reason is On It”

2. Change requires energy and effort
3. The more substantial the change, the more energy and effort must be expended in targeting change in individuals employees
4. Employees get tired from the effort of walking a new path that seems to provide an inferior ROI to an individual employee
5. They make comparisons between the ratio of effort and reward of the old with the anticipated effort/reward ratio of the new
6. Their willingness to have faith is a function of how much they trust you
7. From their perspective, blind faith is tiring when the concreteness of the past has worked and would continue to work just fine

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I’ve noticed throughout my nineteen years experience and in every office setting or work environment that the notes below regarding the psychology of change and resistance will greatly benefit anyone who takes the time to read, understand and

1. Failure to finish
This happens because employees get tired and lost throughout the hectic year of meeting EBITDA targets. As a result, they do not go fast enough or far enough

Achieving success requires Champions to:
a. Be in place to reinforce and encourage the first few times the seeds of the change are planted
b. Applaud the first few steps in their walk of faith
c. Monitor process and communicating individual and
collective improvement

2. Failure to see
Is a function of entrenched, successful maps. The more successful they are, the more blinding they are. It takes high contrast and confrontation to break through and help employees conceive that the old right way is now wrong and to see the new vision

Heightening contrast and confrontations requires:
• Focusing on the core differences
• Juxtaposing their descriptions
• Repeating the message and putting people in inescapable experiences to force the contrast

3. Failure to move
Occurs because people are not motivated to go from doing the wrong thing well to doing the right thing poorly

It takes:
• Ensuring that the target is clear
• That the capabilities and tools are in place
• And that rewards are provided in order for employees to believe that they can go from doing the right thing poorly to doing it well

4. Failure to change

5. Failure to complete projects – moving onto a new project or priority

6. Failure to listen

7. Not having a plan b, alternate plan, or alternate hypothesis (Null hypothesis vs. Alternate hypothesis, if the p is low, the null must go!). Not recognizing alpha or beta risks in a key project or deliverable

8. Not following through with a lessons learned meeting or follow-up up to six months after an important product release.

9. Problem simplification – either over-simplifying a problem or not simplifying it enough.

10. Not recognizing the human potential of cross-functional teams – not exploiting the talent and getting people to do what they most enjoy doing and what they’re best at.

There are four main ways resistance may appear:
1. Direct and Conscious
Example: A worker says, “I won’t do it that way because….,” and provides a cogent reason for the refusal
2. Direct and Unconscious
Example: When workers oppose a change even though they are unsure of their own motives
3. Indirect and Conscious

Example: This is true about manipulation and back room lobbying, while slowing down on the job
4. Indirect and Unconscious
Example: The genuine lethargy, incompetence, and pessimism that overtake some of us when we don’t believe in what we’re doing but can’t explain why

There are four main types resistance:
1. Technical resistance may occur when:
a. Six Sigma produces feelings of inadequacy or perception of incompetence in the stakeholder
b. The know-how developed is now considered less valuable

2. Political resistance may occur when:
a. Their workplace social arrangement will be shifted negatively
b. The stakeholder sees Six Sigma as a loss to him or her
c. This loss could be real or perceived

3. Organizational resistance may occur when:
a. The stakeholder experiences issues relating to lessening of control or pride in their environment for product
b. An effort to preserve those values, traditions, techniques, and organizational structures that are deemed valuable
c. Old ways are considered preferable to the new ideas, methods, and programs being introduced

4. Individual resistance may occur when:
a. Stakeholders experience fear and emotional paralysis
b. This comes as a result of feeling overwhelmed and high levels
of stress
c. People may feel as though their livelihood is endangered

Reactions to Change

1. Organizations are inherently social systems
2. People have identities, relationships, communities, attitudes , emotions and differentiated powers
3. Culture = stability, routine, predictability
4. Rules of the game are now going to be different
5. Three groups typically involved in a change initiative:
a. Rank and File
b. The Resisters
c. The Change Agents
6. Each has unique characteristics
7. Each requires a different management style

Additional things you should know about change and resistance:

1. Change and resistance go together – like a hand in glove
2. Each is natural, pervasive, and universal
3. Resistance is neither avoidable nor bad
4. It is a fact of organizational life
5. It must be managed, not avoided
6. Resistance is feedback
7. Feedback is information

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1. They are catalysts who get the ball rolling
2. They have one foot in the old world and one in the new
3. They are creators of the bridge for others to travel
4. They articulate the need for change
5. They are accepted by others as trustworthy and competent
6. They see and diagnose problems from the perspective of their audience
7. They motivate people to change
8. They work through others in translating intent into action
9. They stabilize the adoption of innovation
10. They persevere through constant rejection and rebuttals

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• Top 10 Things to Get a Six Sigma Black Belt for Christmas Tue 08 Sep 2009
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1. Identify, enlist, and empower leaders for their Six Sigma effort
2. Develop and communicate a vision linked to business goals so that employees can know themselves what difference they can make.
3. Articulate and communicate the problem or opportunity to employees in a language they can understand
4. Scope and target Six Sigma efforts appropriately and with the right people – Don’t waste time doing complex financial analysis with someone who has no accounting background
5. Engage others by linking Sigma Lean vision to business strategy and company values
6. Ensure that technical, commercial, and human resources processes support the Six Sigma initiative
7. Use effective teaming skills – learn the team’s traits, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT)
8. Apply appropriate technical and statistical tools – don’t use a yard stick to measure a mile, don’t use an odometer to measure the distance between your phone and your LCD monitor
9. Evaluate and communicate realistic progress against benchmarks
10. Create an environment that embraces change – keep everyone smiling

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1. Membership to the ASQ (between $129/year depending on the options and subscriptions you opt for)
2. Paid membership to Linkin – this is better than the regular free membership as it opens up to additional features and makes your profile more “executive” like for those ambitious, career ladder climbing Black Belts (about $30/month)
3. Subscription to Quality Progress Magazine (about $58 – $100/year. Depends on where you live)
4. Featured profile on sixsigmaz.com ($100/month or $200/quarter)
5. A new black belt (yes an actual martial arts black belt) – you can have some special note marked on. Instead of putting stripes to indicate “dans” you could have inscribed “$1,000,000 SAVED” (anywhere from $20 for a cheaper one up to $200 for a personal inscription from Japan or Korea)
6. Toastmaster public speaking courses or a continuous improvement evening course (starting at $20 to sign up, then $27 every six months. The costs may increase depending on other options and your local chapter)
7. An Amazon Kindle ($299)
8. An ebook or audio book to go with the Kindle ($1-$50)
9. The Art of War (either in print or for the Kindle) or The Art of War for Executives (Donald G. Krause, Perigee Books, ISBN 0-399-51902-5)
10. The Six Sigma Memory Jogger II (no black belt is probably without this but why not a new one with a nice congratulatory note on the inside cover

Related Posts

• Top 10 Six Sigma Black Belt Change Agent Qualities Thu 10 Sep 2009
• Top 10 Reasons Not to Become a Six Sigma Black Belt Thu 03 Sep 2009
• The Six Sigma Handbook 3rd Edition Added to Aveta's Curriculum Sat 24 Oct 2009
• Top 10 Six Sigma Black Belt Excuses Thu 15 Oct 2009
• Top 10 Corporate Change Barriers Every Six Sigma Black Belt Must Overcome Wed 16 Sep 2009
• Top 10 Things Every Six Sigma Black Belt Must Know About Transition and Change Mon 14 Sep 2009

1. Purple Cow – Seth Godin
2. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – (Stephen Covey, Free Press)
3. Who Moved My Cheese – (Spencer Johnson, M.D., Putnam Adult)
4. The Art of War – – Shamballah – translation by Thomas Cleary
5. The Tao Te Ching – Shamballah – translation by Thomas Cleary
6. Crossing the Chasm – (Geoffrey Moore, Harper Business Essentials, ISBN 0-06-051712-3)
7. Moneyball – The Art of Winning an Unfair Game – (Michael Lewis, W.W Norton & Company Inc., ISBN 0-393-05765-8)
8. The Six Sigma Handbook – (Thomas Pyzdek, McGraw Hill, ISBN 0-07-141015-5)
9. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad – for when you’re lost in that dark, cold project
10. All the Tea in China – (Jeremy Haft)

Related Posts

• The Six Sigma Handbook 3rd Edition Added to Aveta's Curriculum Sat 24 Oct 2009
• Top 10 Six Sigma Black Belt Change Agent Qualities Thu 10 Sep 2009
• Top 10 Things to Get a Six Sigma Black Belt for Christmas Tue 08 Sep 2009
• Top 10 Reasons Not to Become a Six Sigma Black Belt Thu 03 Sep 2009
• When Executives use Six Sigma to Eliminate Jobs Ruthlessly Tue 01 Sep 2009
• Managing Six Sigma Teams Mon 17 May 2010