If you can’t say it simply, you don't know it well enough (#43)

If you can’t say it simply, you do not know it well enough.

What is Six Sigma? There’s probably a reader or two who just read that statement and said to themselves, “what the …?” Six Sigma is a methodology. Though it may seem scary at first hand, Six Sigma is so simple to understand. Read this story to figure out just how easy it is.

For all of my football fans, we are going to talk about the kickers. Check in with the coach; who is assessing five different field goal kickers to determine who will play in Friday night’s game.

What does the kicker do in the game? He tries to kick the ball between the field goal posts. You think that if he makes it in between the two posts he succeeds? Generally speaking, yes. But how do you pick between a group of kickers?

So, the coach puts a GPS tracker on every football. This way he can see exactly where every ball passes through the field goal. He has each of the five players kick the ball 100 times from center field, at the 35-yard line.

Each player steps up and kicks the ball 100 times. Every single player succeeds in making the football go through the goal posts. For four of the kickers, their results (where the ball crossed the goal) were crazy sporadic. None of these four could kick the ball through field goal in the same spot. They were very inconsistent.

The last player succeeded in kicking every football through the goal posts as well. But his results were very consistent. When reviewing his results, every single one of his footballs went through the goal posts, right down the middle. He was very consistent.

So now you ask the coach, who is going to play in Friday Night’s game? Let me ask you, who would you choose?

You’ll probably choose the last player. Why would you choose him? He is the most consistent! He is the most predictable and reliable because he has greater control over his kicking style (Critical Inputs) when he kicks the football.

If you create a scatter plot of all the footballs each player kicks, you will see player 5’s footballs consistently split the uprights, which is directly in the middle. His “dots” would have a very small variation. The first four players would have a high level of variation because their kicks were not consistent.

When talking about Normality and Capability, this is a perfect example. Watch this video for a demonstration.

YouTube: Explaining Six Sigma, the “Kicking Coach” Story


Let us know your cool stories for understanding Six Sigma!


About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.
We are Certified as an Accredited Training Organization with the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
“The IASSC Accredited Training Organization (ATO) designation validates Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. has demonstrated adequate management systems, courseware with a high degree of correlation to the subject matter contained in the IASSC Bodies of Knowledge, delivery schema consistent with such content and highly qualified instructors.”
We Provide Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training Courses in 34 Cities across the globe.
Our Training Centers are located in: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

We Provide Onsite Lean Six Sigma Certification Training. Some of the training's we provide are: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Lean Six Sigma Champions Training and Lean Certifications for Healthcare, Finance, I.T, Manufacturing, Processing, Logistics, Retail Sales and Government.
SSDSI will come to your site to train for your choice of the Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels. Onsite training is more cost effective than open enrollment training when training larger groups of team members.
Benefits of Onsite Training:
The Training is focused on Your Opportunities
SSDSI uses your opportunities in class (vs. generic examples)
You will get the experience of a seasoned Lean and Six Sigma Master Black Belt who will help mentor you while completing your Lean and Six Sigma Project
You can train up to 20 employees for one fixed cost (this cost includes course ware and the instructors travel & lodging)
Our courses are full of games, simulations, and active learning to help the adult learner
SSDSI can customize the training to meet your company’s particular training needs
Call Kevin Clay at 214-731-3176 or email at kclay@sixsigmadsi.com for more information

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