Sh*t Said on LinkedIn About #Lean, or "Professors Aren't Always Right"

Maybe I need to start a site called ShitLinkedInSays.com. There's a lot of misinformation spread around by people in LinkedIn groups about Lean and Six Sigma. It's really frustrating.

Here's one of the recently laughable things I read in a discussion that started with the false "Lean = Speed" and "Six Sigma = Accuracy" dichotomy that I mentioned before.

That ugly PowerPoint slide is wrong. Factually incorrect, as I've said before - just look at Toyota's own Toyota Production System website and you'll see that Lean is about flow AND quality at the source.

Here's the comment.... from a professor... that really kills me:

Six Sigma is a tool used to implement Lean? That's a new one...

Misinformation Floating Around on LinkedIn

No matter how many times you repeat or share something like this, it's still a false dichotomy. From LinkedIn:

My comment:

A diagram like this is factually incorrect. It's incorrect to imply that Lean is not focused on reducing variation or improving quality. Look at Toyota's own web page on the Toyota Production System (aka Lean) to see how it's about BOTH flow and quality. You can improve quality without Six Sigma. I'm not saying Six Sigma doesn't help, but don't diminish or misrepresent Lean.