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. 

A Lean Sigma Book Says You Need Six Sigma to Address Defects

A book on Lean Six Sigma for healthcare talks about the eight types of waste. So far, so good.

Until the author talks about the "waste of defects" and claims that Lean addresses everything BUT defects and that you need Six Sigma to address defects.

That's hogwash.

From the book.

He talks about right sizing machines and reducing changeovers... those are core Lean concepts.

Another Healthcare Article Gets it Wrong

This article gets it really wrong: "Lean Six Sigma: Eliminating Wasteful Practices For Improved Efficiency"

It says:

"Lean Management is a style which focuses on “waste” reduction: lowering the incidence of unnecessary spending through ongoing oversight. Meanwhile, Six Sigma works by eliminating defects in processes using disciplined and data-driven techniques."

It's terribly incorrect to say that Lean focuses on reduced spending.

It's also wrong to imply that Six Sigma is the only methodology that focuses on reducing defects.

Lean works to reduce defects. Lean is disciplined and data-driven.

Yet another "Lean Six Sigma" article that really botches it.

Some Product Development Books Get it Wrong Too

Here is a series of books on product development that gets it really wrong too:

It's, again, just dead wrong to say Lean is only about cycle time (or speed). 

Lean is All About Efficiency and Not About the Customer?

Here is the usual claptrap about Lean being all about speed and efficiency.

A Lean Sigma presenter claims the following in a webinar:

He thinks Lean contributes nothing to meeting the needs of our customers? That Lean has nothing to do with product development, the Lean Startup, or quality?

The presenter then says that Lean and Six Sigma are just a bunch of tools to combine. That shows further misunderstanding of Lean.

Toyota people would say Lean is:

1. Tools
2. Philosophy
3. Management System

It's an integrated system.

The presenter THEN contradicts himself a few slides later and is correct in saying that Lean is about understanding customer needs and value. Do people even listen to themselves talk and hear how what they're saying is inconsistent?

It's amazing how consistently wrong the Lean Sigma crowd is about Lean. It does everybody a disservice.

The Bigger The Firm Is, the Less They Know?

Even a really large, name brand consulting firm sometimes spreads "sh!t" about Lean. It's just a bunch of tools to pick and choose from?

Ugh. Buyer beware.

"We are pragmatic in our use of Lean Six Sigma. We use only the tools that make the most sense for each situation. ________ has developed an up-front diagnostic X-ray that enables companies to identify and focus on only the process changes that will quickly make the biggest differences, ensuring faster results with smaller initial investment."

Lean Doesn't Have Methods for Finding a Root Cause?

From a really bad article written by a Six Sigma Black Belt: 

If you use the Lean methodology to improve a process that is plagued with frequent defects, errors, mishaps, failures, etc., that have eluded managers and engineers to the point where they just accept that there is no solution, you end up with a less desirable product because you cut corners and features to avoid the defects rather than fix them.

Six Sigma is ideal for solving hard process problems that result in defects in the process output; e.g., broken windshields on cars coming off an assembly line, customer bills calculated incorrectly, data missing off a mainframe server, food getting spoiled long before its expiration date, etc..

Lean tools and methodologies lack the rigor to determine the root cause of elusive defect problems; Six Sigma tools and methodologies are too time consuming and costly to just to improve business efficiency.

I don't know where people get this stuff. Who ever said in Lean or the Toyota Production System that you cut corners to "avoid defects" rather than fixing them?

Who said Lean doesn't help you find a root cause?

The reality is: fishbone diagrams, the "5 Whys," going to the gemba, andon cords, mistake proofing... these are all great examples of how we find and prevent defects in the Lean methodology.

Black Belts should really stick to writing about Six Sigma. There's a reason I stick to writing about Lean...