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Continue reading →: What is a Quality System?
See also The US Constitution is a Quality System (11/26/2019) A “Quality System” is your organization’s blueprint: it identifies your business model and processes, provides details about how your people will work together to get things done, and establishes specifications for performance — so you can tell if you’re on…
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Continue reading →: RIP Six Sigma: Management Fads and the Apocalypse
On December 21, 2012, the Sun aligns with the Galactic Center precisely – for the first time in 26,000 years. At the same time, the 5,000 year Mayan calendar resets to the year zero. Apocalyptic fears are running higher as a result (those Mayans must have known *something*, right?), and…
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Continue reading →: What’s the Best Quality System?
In the September 2008 issue of Quality Progress, a group of collaborators and I published “Starting from Scratch” to help people figure out how to approach the often-nebulous problem of how to launch a new quality system. Making sense out of the acronym soup of quality systems can be daunting,…
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Continue reading →: Extreme Measurement and the Trash Guy
“You can only manage what you measure.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard this statement so often that I’m not sure whether it’s a valuable heuristic or just a cliché. What I do know is that I (personally) tend to like measuring for two reasons: 1) I’m not good at remembering…
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Continue reading →: Shocks to the System: Financial Meltdown and a Fragile Supply Chain
Just-In-Time (JIT) practices are a cornerstone of the fast-paced, 21st century globalized economy. But as the October 2008 financial meltdown has so starkly indicated, when just a few of the assumptions on which a critical system is based change, all hell can break loose. What effect could the economic crisis…
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Continue reading →: How do I do a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Project?
First, you should familiarize yourself with what a Lean Six Sigma project is all about. The Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects I’ve done in the past have all used the Lean Six Sigma Quality Transformation Toolkit (LSSQTT), a structured problem-solving system that’s currently packaged as an Excel workbook (but has…
Hello,
I’m Nicole
Since 2008, I’ve been sharing insights and expertise on Digital Transformation & Data Science for Performance Excellence here. As a CxO, I’ve helped orgs build empowered teams, robust programs, and elegant strategies bridging data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)… while building models in R and Python on the side. In 2025, I help leaders drive Quality-Driven Data & AI Strategies and navigate the complex market of data/AI vendors & professional services. Need help sifting through it all? Reach out to inquire – check out my new book that reveal the one thing EVERY organization has been neglecting – Data, Strategy, Culture & Power.
Quality and Innovation 