Quality and Innovation

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to)

Are you an entry-level Young Quality Professional (YQP) who has participated or led a project that resulted in tangible benefits for your organization or community? Are you a student in high school or college who has worked individually, or with a team, to apply quality tools to solve practical problems in your school, or community, or at home? If so, WE WANT YOU to tell us about it!

On Wednesday, May 23rd, we will be conducting a session at the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement (WCQI) to demonstrate the impact that the newest members of our community – students and entry-level professionals – have had on their organizations, businesses, and communities. This session will consist of vignettes from up to 15 quality or process improvement projects performed by students or entry-level professionals. We’ll be inviting all WCQI attendees to come celebrate the accomplishments of the youngest members of our community, and support them as they progress in their education and in their careers!

HOW TO APPLY: Send an email to Jacob Mayiani Loorimirim (Graduate Assistant, JMU) at loorimjm@dukes.jmu.edu (and cc: simmo2ra@jmu.edu and radziwnm@jmu.edu) with short answers to each of the 6 questions below. Project review started on February 1 and will continue until all slots are filled, or February 29 at the latest.

If your project is selected to be part of the Showcase, we’ll work with you to put together a few slides, audio recordings, and/or video clips that describe the problem you solved, the quality tools and approaches you used, your results, and the impact of your solution on your stakeholders. We plan to spend between 3 and 5 minutes showcasing each project. If you are a student who will be attending the WCQI in person, we would love for you to submit a project that you completed individually or as a team – and talk about it yourself for 2 to 3 minutes during our session!

QUESTIONS:

1. Project completed by: (List your names and ages, and specify whether this was part of a school/university project, for a client, or was done in service to your community; if you had a teacher or faculty advisor, please list them too! Also, let us know if you plan to attend the WCQI in person in Anaheim, CA this May.)

2. Project title:

3. Project start and completion dates:

4. Provide a brief problem statement (1-3 sentences) that summarizes the problem, your stakeholders, and your goals:

5. Provide a brief description of your hands-on performance while completing the project, providing specific examples of the methodologies (e.g. PDSA, DMAIC) and/or tools (e.g. process maps, fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, affinity diagrams, multivoting/nominal group technique) that you used to solve the problem.

6. In one sentence, describe your project’s RESULTS and the impacts on its stakeholders.

Thank you for your interest! Please forward this announcement by email, Facebook, Twitter, or any other mechanism if you know of a Young Quality Professional (YQP) whose work should be noticed and recognized – or where they might be hanging out.

Sincerely,

Nicole Radziwill, College of Integrated Science & Technology, James Madison University
Rebecca Simmons, College of Business, James Madison University

A couple of weeks ago, I got this email:

Comment: I am basker from NJ, and I have a PMP certification, I want to get a six sigma black belt certification — are there other certifications out there other than one from ASQ ? that you would suggest and what is the cheapest and quickest way to pass the black belt certification ?

Kind Regards,

Basker.

Basker would like to know the quickest and cheapest way to get a Black Belt certification. Here are the routes I know about to obtain the certification: 1) you could go to http://sixsigmaonline.org, whose training and certification program costs about $1000, 2) you could attend the 4-week program offered by http://www.6sigma.us which runs about $8000, 3) you could go to Villanova and pay $7000 for their three-course package, or 4) you can study on your own, complete two projects and get a Project Champion to sign an affidavit, become an ASQ member and pay $299 to take the exam, or don’t become an ASQ member and pay $449 to take the exam.

The ASQ option is probably the quickest and cheapest if you’re good at self study, and dedicated to the task of Six Sigma problem solving. However, with the ASQ certification you also get a lot of clout. I don’t think any other organization has more than 10,000 Black Belts supporting the program, working on updates to the new exams, and keeping the curriculum current. I just personally think it’s a much more viable Black Belt designation than the other programs.

I also asked Jeanine Becker, who works at ASQ in Milwaukee and is responsible for the Six Sigma Forum, what she thought. Jeanine says:

ASQ certification is a formal recognition by ASQ that an individual has demonstrated a proficiency within, and comprehension of, a specific body of knowledge. Nearly 150,000 certifications have been issued to dedicated professionals worldwide.

Anyone can give you a “certificate” for simply attending a course, but an ASQ certification is the recognized gold standard for certification for quality professionals.  ASQ is the only third-party provider of certifications for the quality professional.   Those that are ASQ certified have the potential to earn a higher salary than their counterparts.    The majority of positions companies recruit for that require certifications specify an ASQ certification.

I totally agree. And as a result, Basker, I’d say go with the ASQ cert.

Nicole

(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to)

In a previous article, I described the notion of quality consciousness that I’m currently preparing an article about.

To achieve quality consciousness, we ask the very important question (cf. ISO 9000 para 3.1.5, formerly ISO 8402) “What are the totality of characteristics of YOU that bear upon YOUR ABILITY to satisfy the stated and implied needs of your stakeholders?”

The reason we WANT quality consciousness is because we know that the more in tune with the essence of quality that we are, within ourselves, the better we will attune to the needs of our customers and clients – to be able to help them achieve their goals for making things better, more streamlined, and more cost effective.

I summarized quality consciousness as the “3 A’s” – Awareness, Alignment, and Attention:

Quality consciousness implies awareness of yourself and the environment around you (including what constitutes quality and high performance for people, processes and products – most importantly, YOU). It also suggests that you must achieve alignment of your consciousness with the consciousness of the organization, which will aid in full activity and engagement of the senses. Your attention must be selectively focused onto what you can accomplish in the present moment according to that alignment (which implies that you are able to effectively filter the rapid and voluminous streams of information coming at you).

It struck me today how similar this whole notion is to Timothy Leary’s appeal to the counterculture of the late 1960’s, to achieve breakthrough innovation in individual and collective perception of the world to “Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out”! The message, according to the summary on Wikipedia, was intended to “urge people to embrace cultural changes… detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society.”

So if you want to improve a product, a process, or yourself, embrace the breakthrough innovation that is promised by quality consciousness!

• TURN ON = Become aware of quality standards and the true meaning of excellence, for you and for the domain you work in.
• TUNE IN = Align yourself personally and professionally with your goals, and those of your organization!
• DROP OUT! Focus your attention on the essentials… don’t be distracted by the down economy, by social upheaval, or the perils of ever-increasing competition.

Deliver value… to yourself and those around you! Make it a personal imperative and watch the avalanche of breakthrough innovations begin to cascade around you and your inspirational attitude.

(Or more appropriately maybe… how I did it, and what I wish someone had blogged about before I sat for the exam! This is the chronicle of my CSSBB experience.)

I just took my ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) exam… and PASSED! On the FIRST TRY!! (My reaction upon hearing the news was… “I am a statistics NINJA!!!” A very academic friend corrected me, and said no – not quite – the CSSBB is more like a learner’s permit for a PhD in statistics. OK, that’s cool too.)

My intent in this post is to share with you what I believe helped me get through this very daunting 150-question, 4-hour, heavy-on-the-math multiple choice exam. (Relevant superstitions and helpful snacks are described elsewhere.) This was a particular achievement for me, because although I had been doing small scale Six Sigma projects for several years, I originally intended to take the exam in the fall of 2008… and just didn’t get around to it. I had, at that time, recently completed a couple of doctoral level statistics courses and so I felt super powerfully capable at the time. But what inevitably happens is that as the days go by, and you don’t use the knowledge for practical problem solving, you get rusty and you forget.

Fast forward three years, to the fall of 2011.

When I took the plunge and signed up for one of the most recent offerings of the exam, I knew I had a lot of ground to re-cover before sitting to take the test. I knew I’d have to order some books or flashcards and spend a lot of quality time with them. I knew I’d have to refresh my memory on the nooks and crannies of all those statistical tests, especially the ones that are most frequently used in manufacturing situations. So my first step was to search Google to see if anyone had posted their personal experiences studying for – and hopefully succeeding with – the ASQ CSSBB exam.

I wanted to know: What resources helped? What resources didn’t help? What books were the most useful references to you as you were studying? Are the flashcards useful? I searched and searched all over the web, but couldn’t find any useful advice. I used search terms like “cssbb advice,” “how I passed my Six Sigma Black Belt exam,” “best resources for the Six Sigma Black Belt exam” and “best study guides for the Six Sigma Black Belt exam.” No luck. Everything led me back to companies trying to sell their training sessions. I didn’t want a training session… I wanted practical, free advice from someone who had been in my shoes not too much earlier than me.

So here it is! Feel free to post some comments if any of this advice is helpful, or if you want to add information about what you found useful when you were studying. (Remember, personal experiences with CSSBB prep are hard to find on the web, so anything you contribute is bound to be helpful to people who are actively preparing to be certified.)

#1 CSSBB Primer from the Quality Council of Indiana – http://www.qualitycouncil.com/cssbb_p.asp

BEST. Book. Ever. I ordered the CSSBB Primer as well as the CD with the practice exam questions, and although I was daunted by the sheer heft of the book, the large fonts make this reference a pleasure to get to know. It feels like someone is giving you all the essential knowledge you need for the exam, along with a cookie, a glass of milk, a hug, and a heartfelt “you can do it!!”

I read through the entire book, underlined definitions or phrases that I thought were important, and used post-it notes to tab topics that I thought I’d want easy access to during the exam.

Do ALL the questions in the blue part of the CSSBB Primer. It will take time… for me, it took about 3 weeks, working on about 10 to 20 questions a day. Understand not only what the right answer is for each question, but also WHY THE OTHER OPTIONS ARE WRONG. You won’t be able to take any of the blue pages into the exam with you, so make sure you take notes about the key facts, formulas, or techniques when you have “a-ha” moments doing the practice problems. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

The real ASQ CSSBB exam is actually EASIER than the questions in the CSSBB Primer, but the question styles and formats are very similar. The reason that the real exam is easier is that there are a lot of questions in the Primer where at least two of the multiple choice options will tempt you into believing that they are both correct. The multiple choice options on the real exam seem to be much more distinct – that is, you’ll have an easier time distinguishing why the wrong ones are wrong.

I think the number one reason that I passed the exam was because of the time I spent on the practice exam questions in the CSSBB Primer. The practice questions on the CD were useful too, but I think the ones in the book were the most useful.

#2  The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook, Second Edition by Kubiak & Benbow

This is the second book I took with me into the CSSBB exam.

This book has mixed reviews on Amazon because apparently the book made it into print with a bunch of calculation errors in it. I didn’t lean on the calculations in this book, though, because I had the CSSBB Primer for that – and as a result, I thought this book was a great reference. Some of the concepts aren’t covered in enough depth, e.g. TPM, but there were several problems on the real exam that I wanted to double check in the references before I shaded that scantron circle with my #2… and this was the book that helped out the most in that regard.

#3  An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis by Ott & Longnecker

This was the third book I took with me into the CSSBB exam, and I think I needed it for 3 questions, 2 of which had to do with arcane aspects of DOE. However, it’s also the book that helped me get all my hypothesis testing straight, AND understand the assumptions for all of those tests.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE this book, and think it should be a required book on the bookshelf of every Six Sigma aficionado out there.  I was first introduced to this awesome, awesome book as a student in STAT 451 at Penn State… an upper level applied stats class (which I believe is now STAT 460). In addition to providing great explanations of the concepts, Ott presents every statistical test as a recipe… what assumptions to check, how to set up the null and alternative hypotheses, how to calculate the test statistic, and how to interpret the calculated and critical values of the test statistic depending upon what alternative hypothesis you selected.

I have a hard time trying to remember whether your calculated test statistic has to be greater than or less than the critical value that you look up in a table… and this is the reference that helped me keep all those important details straight.

This book is expensive, but it’s worth it. If you can find an earlier version, these are usually much more affordable and JUST AS GOOD. Thank you, R. Lyman Ott, for making me love statistics, want to use statistical tests all the time, and want to teach college students how to do it too. You have been one of the most influential people in my life.

#4 Six Sigma for the Next Millennium: A CSSBB Guidebook by Kim Pries

I really tried to like this book, but it’s big, heavy, and there is a lot of whitespace on many of the pages (very unlike the CSSBB Primer). The amount of information per pound is relatively low. HOWEVER, I like the way it consolidates notes by topic with one topic per page. For example, there is one page with Deming’s 14 points. There’s one great page on Project Scope and another great page on Scope Containment Ideas. I’m definitely going to use some of the one-sheeters for teaching my statistics and quality classes.

Unfortunately, the book just didn’t help me as I was studying for the certification exam.

#5 The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition by Pyzdek & Keller

Great book but HARD TO FIND STUFF QUICKLY. I’d say read this before your exam instead of bedtime stories, take it with you when you lay on the beach, bring it to the coffee shop while you’re gently relaxing over synthesizing your Six Sigma knowledge into your blood and muscles. This is an excellent book for getting a deeper, more thoughtful understanding of Six Sigma related topics, but was not one I chose to bring into the exam with me.

#6 Statistics for Six Sigma Made Easy by Warren Brussee

This was the LEAST useful book to me for my exam prep (but it might just be as result of how my brain is wired). I find that whenever an author writes very conversationally, trying to simplify the concepts by writing long explanations of the topics (as if he or she were sitting there with you trying to explain them to you), it just confuses me. I need recipes, like what Ott provides in his book.

I can definitely see how this book might help you if you’re totally new to statistics, or if you’re starting off on the path to becoming a Six Sigma Green Belt, or if you just need someone to explain to you what in the world the meaning is behind these statistical tests.

However, IF YOU’RE CLOSE TO BECOMING A BLACK BELT, you should have a lot of this material under yours already. As a studying resource, Brussee’s book won’t be as useful to you.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions, please post them as comments below, and I will try to respond to all.

For the past few months, I’ve been working on an article to describe and define quality consciousness. Someone recently told me that there have been a lot of people asking about this concept lately (which I find really cool because as far as I know, I’m the only one actively studying it under this banner), and that I should blog about what quality consciousness is ahead of the publication. (That said, if you’re also researching quality consciousness, let me know in the comments section below! Let’s play with this idea together.)

So here’s a synopsis of the story of quality consciousness:

• The existential question that motivated this line of inquiry: If ISO 8402:1994 says that quality is the “totality of characteristics of an entity that bear upon its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs,” then what if that entity is YOU? What are the totality of characteristics of YOU that bear upon YOUR ABILITY to satisfy the stated and implied needs of your stakeholders?
• The term “quality consciousness” was first used, from what I can find, in a 1947 keynote by C.R. Sheaffer to the first convention of the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC), the predecessor to ASQ. To answer the question “what does top management expect from quality control [people and organizations]” he notes that a change in quality consciousness is expected. Attitudes must shift from an acceptance of what’s good enough to the constant pursuit of making things better. People must be able to take pride in their high-quality work. (from Borawski, 2006)
• Consciousness, according to the Random House dictionary, is 1) awareness of one’s own thoughts feelings, and surroundings, 2) the full activity and engagement of the senses, and 3) the thoughts and feelings of individuals and groups.
• Based on this definition, I believe that quality consciousness can be summed up by the “3 A’s” – Awareness, Alignment, and Attention. Quality consciousness implies awareness of yourself and the environment around you (including what constitutes quality and high performance for people, processes and products – most importantly, YOU). It also suggests that you must achieve alignment of your consciousness with the consciousness of the organization, which will aid in full activity and engagement of the senses. Your attention must be selectively focused onto what you can accomplish in the present moment according to that alignment (which implies that you are able to effectively filter the rapid and voluminous streams of information coming at you).
• From reviewing the literature, I find that there are four elements that contribute to developing awareness, finding alignment, and focusing attention. These are Action, Reflection, Interaction, and Education. I’ll go into more detail in the article on how these are all related.
• I think that quality consciousness is exactly what Deming was after… and that it’s the moral of the story of his 14 points. But whereas the unit of analysis for his 14 points was the organizational level, we need to internalize those points within ourselves. What if Deming’s 14 points were geared towards YOU developing your quality consciousness… what do you think he would have said differently?
• The absence of focus on developing a quality consciousness is, I believe, the distinguishing factor between companies that have implemented the Toyota Production System successfully (ie. Toyota) and companies that have implemented the Toyota Production System with limited results (e.g. pretty much everyone else).
• A personal path for developing quality consciousness might include asking yourself the following questions: What do YOU need to expand your awareness? To enhance your mood and affect so that you’re aware of the vast landscape of innovative potentials available to you (e.g. http://qualityandinnovation.com/2011/09/29/why-positive-psychology-is-essential-for-quality/)? What do YOU need to align yourself with your organization? What do YOU need to be able to focus your attention on the most productive thing you can do at any given moment – resulting in effortless action, optimal flow and productivity, and positive affect that will cycle back to expanding your awareness even more?

Borawski, P. (2006). The state of quality: 1947 and 2006. Journal for Quality and Participation, Winter 2006, p 19-24.

I’m happy to announce that I’m one of ASQ’s New Voices of Quality! All of us are listed in the 40 New Voices article in the November 2011 issue of Quality Progress.

Although the article only includes a little sound bite that describes my role in the quality profession, there was actually a much longer interview behind the scenes. I’m posting it here so you can get a better sense of what motivates and excites me about the field of quality, and where I think quality is headed over the next 25 years. Let me know what you think by posting comments or questions below – I’ll try to respond to all of them.

,

Nicole

* * * * * * * * * * *

Summarize your professional achievements and accomplishments. How do you use quality tools and concepts to make a difference?

After working as a software quality manager at a national lab for nearly a decade, I yearned to apply quality tools and methodologies to a wider variety of problems. I realized, by supervising many quality-focused summer student projects, how much I enjoyed sharing my enthusiasm for quality and continuous improvement with young people. So I decided to become a professor of quality! I returned to school for a Ph.D. in Technology Management from Indiana State (with a Quality Systems specialization).

I’m now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University, where I teach statistics, industrial simulation, intelligent systems, and technology management. I introduce students who will work in many different fields to quality concepts, and get them excited about helping organizations solve real, practical improvement problems in their semester projects and thesis projects. We apply DMAIC to structure our problem-solving and storytelling, test hypotheses, use discrete-event simulation and system dynamics, and apply machine learning algorithms to solve quality problems.

I also help my students use quality tools to solve problems outside the classroom. For example, did you know that “5 Whys” can be used to troubleshoot – and fix – many relationship problems in college?

What do you see as your contributions to the community and your commitment to quality?

Since childhood I’ve instinctively and critically examined processes, products, relationships, and myself to find and act on opportunities for improvement. Like many ASQ members, I can’t help but be committed to quality – it’s in my blood!

As a result, I regularly contribute to my student community, local community, and ASQ. In addition to supervising student projects and theses, a colleague and I are working to launch a quality and process improvement minor/certificate at our university. It will prepare students for entry-level ASQ certifications and increase their marketability upon graduation. Locally, we’ve started a “quality without borders” program to broker service learning experiences that link organizations that have quality issues to students with a desire to help out. I started volunteering for ASQ in 2005. I served as a Regional Councilor (2006-2008) and Chair (2009-2011) of the Software Division, and have recently started to support university outreach for the Young Quality Professionals interest group.

I’ve also served as a Baldrige Examiner (2009 and 2010), for the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a quality management specialist (making funding recommendations for technology development and research infrastructure from $2M to $120M), and on the TAG for the ISO 26000 Standard for Social Responsibility.

How will quality evolve over the next 25 years?

I think the two major forces impacting quality will be the rapid pace of change (and accompanying expansion of information), and the changing nature of the workforce. First, as the volume of information about our customers, products and processes expands, advanced techniques for extracting insights from large amounts of data will become necessary territory for quality professionals. My term for this kind of data-intensive improvement is quality informatics. Second, the demarcation between higher education and the workforce will become less distinct over the next 25 years in response to pressures on higher education to deliver more value, strongly influencing the composition of the workforce. As a result, we will have to position our profession to support more hybridized learning opportunities. We will also have to learn how to be better learners as we make individual and collective learning a more integral part of the workplace, and cultivate a quality consciousness to help us adapt to the rapid pace of change in an agile way, both as individuals and organizations.

All the research and educational activities I’m involved in target these areas, especially the “quality without borders” initiative which will get students involved in quality improvement efforts as community service.

During that time, where will you fit in the quality professional and make a contribution?

My role is to educate and inspire as the workforce of the future evolves. I’ll continue teaching my students how to structure and solve quality-related problems for their companies and communities, and connecting them with opportunities to do quality-related community service. I want to inspire students from all different majors to understand and promote the value of quality in their fields, and spread the message of improvement!

I’m also doing research in quality consciousness and quality informatics. By adopting quality as a personal imperative (e.g. through mindfulness and agility), I’m exploring how a quality culture can emerge in organizations and in the classroom. As my contribution to quality informatics, I want to help make machine learning techniques more readily accessible to quality improvement professionals.

My most exciting goal, though, is to inspire the world beyond ASQ about the value of what we do through storytelling and fiction! My first book, Disconnected, covered how social media addiction can negatively impact quality of life (and what you can do to fix it). I’ve started a new statistics-related novel, called The Gypsy of Sigma, which will be published in late 2012.

And of course, I will stay involved with ASQ and continue volunteering!

I was waiting for a session to begin at the Agile 2011 conference a couple weeks ago when the guy next to me struck up a conversation. What’s your name? What do you do? (You know, typical questions one conferencegoer will ask another to more comfortably pass the in-between time.) When he found out I was a college professor with a specialization in quality and quality management he said “Hey! I have a quality question that’s been on my mind for ages. Maybe you can answer it.”

Side Note: At first I thought he asked whether I liked kickball. I have some nerve damage in one of my ears, which means I have a hearing problem, especially in a large conference room where there’s a lot of crowd chatter. I told him I LOVED kickball. After he contorted his face and gave me the furrowed eye of confusion, I asked him to repeat the question, got a clarification of the question (OOPS), explained my auditory predicament, and we quickly got back on track.

“So here’s my question,” he said. “Some people use PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) to structure continuous improvement, but then other people use PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act). Are they different? Should you use one instead of the other under different circumstances? Or are some people just getting it wrong?”

I was really intrigued by this question, because my assumption had always been that they were both valid methodologies – only that PDCA was to be used for more straightforward improvement scenarios, and PDSA was to be applied in more complex scenarios – when the metrics that you were CHECK-ing and the environmental conditions surrounding those metrics required more extensive REFLECTION. I hadn’t thought that the distinction would not be intuitively obvious.

CHECK implies that you’re asking the question “How does the state of the system compare to what you were expecting?” STUDY, in contrast, requires you to ask the question “What can we learn from how the state of the system compares to what we were expecting?” The STUDY aspect of PDSA also suggests, albeit a little subtly, that you take what you learned about the system and use that new information to better achieve the goals of the product or process in question. (Dan Strongin seems to agree, in “PDCA… PDSA, is it as simple as a C or an S?”)

But this question also made me realize that I had no idea which came first, PDCA or PDSA? Which was the chicken and which was the egg? I quickly found the answers I was looking for in Moen & Norman’s November 2010 Quality Progress article entitled “Circling Back.” PDCA emerged from a lecture given by Deming in Japan in 1950. In that presentation, he described his interpretation of the continuous improvement cycle proposed by Shewhart in the 1939 book, “Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control,” which was based on the scientific method that had emerged much earlier in the 1600’s. As described by Moen & Norman, the characterization of this approach as PDCA was a further interpretation of the lecture by the Japanese attendees.

In 1986, Deming amended his description of PDCA to emphasize the importance of reflecting on the meaning of whatever metrics you’re checking, and thus PDSA emerged. Deming was emphatic about the importance of not just checking, but using that knowledge to better understand the product or process being improved – hence his recommendation to use PDSA as a natural evolution of PDCA.

Also check out John Hunter’s comments on PDCA, PDSA, and friends.