How by Reading the Book 8 Steps to Problem Solving is helping me enhance my skillset in Six Sigma

There was a need for me of a practical guide book that wouldl be of use to update my knowledge about the Six Sigma Black Belt Course. Additionally, it should also serve as a handy reference while doing a Black Belt project. I was convinced that this was the book I was looking for after reading Ankur Tyagi’s review. Thus far, I have read and practiced the concepts from the first four chapters of the book, namely up until the chapter on Define the Project.

Listed below are some of the strengths of the book as I have observed them

• This book, despite being written on a topic as complex as Six Sigma Black Belt, is written in an easy and understandable language.
• The book provides an explanation of each concept through a series of examples and case studies. Therefore, it will be possible for you to relate the examples to the material presented. I found this aspect of the book to be the most appealing.
• Each chapter concludes with a series of questions posed by the author to the reader. Before moving on to the next chapter, I distilled my key learnings from the chapter by answering those questions. This helped me retain the knowledge.
• The author outlines various do’s and don’ts that Black Belts should follow while executing projects. By following these tips, you will be able to complete the project steps effectively and efficiently

As a result of reading the chapters so far, I have learned or gained some insights as follows

• The customer will always present you with a practical problem; convert it into a statistical statement and thus it becomes a quality improvement or six sigma project.
• As a Black Belt (BB), it is their responsibility to help the customer reach his or her objectives but not necessarily to follow the instructions of the customer. There is a need for BB’s to look at the problem differently, and that is what adds quality.
• For a project, the metric selected should be the smallest unit of the process since when the smallest unit is set correctly, the entire process will be correct as well. Make sure that you are working on direct metrics rather than derived metrics.
• One of the most important concepts of Six Sigma is to understand the relationship between Project Y and X, impacting the Y. If we refer to equation Y=F(X), Y is a dependent variable and X is an independent variable. If we change X, Y will be impacted.
• Although there is no set rule on how deep Black Belts can drill down into a drill-down tree to reach specific, actionable, measurable project metrics, it is generally advisable to drill down to at most five levels.
• The COPIS acronym stands for Customer, Output, Process, Input, and Supplier. Previously, it was known as SIPOC.

With my continued reading of the book, I will share more insights and key takeaways as I progress with my project.