Insights from the Field

Practical wisdom from 35 years across oil platforms, clinical settings, and manufacturing floors. Real patterns, tested approaches, and lessons that textbooks miss.

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Leadership Reflections
Industry Insights
From the Field
Core Insights
Master's Toolkit
Master's Toolkit
A long empty bench in a dim corridor with one folder waiting under a single lamp, an impasto painting on the 8 wastes of Lean and waiting

The Waiting Is the Process

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11

  min read

Ask how long the work takes and you get minutes. Ask how long the customer waits and you get weeks. The 8 wastes of Lean, and why the biggest one has no owner....

Core Insights
The DMAIC phases as one arc: five stepping stones crossed one question at a time, Field Notes No.10 by Maria Milo

One Question at a Time: The Whole DMAIC Arc

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8

  min read

Every improvement project that finishes answers five questions, in order. The DMAIC arc in plain words, and why the order is the method....

Master's Toolkit
Two bowls of grain on a worn counter, one barely fuller, an impasto painting on hypothesis testing

Seen Is Not Proven

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9

  min read

A first good month is not an improvement. Hypothesis testing in plain words: how much does the process move on its own, and is this gap bigger than that?...

From the Field
The Week After the Training

The Week After the Training

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8

  min read

A trained team is not a capable one. The gap opens on the first Tuesday back at the desk, and it is closed by a person, not a course....

From the Field
Stakeholder analysis: four pairs of hands on a rope, one not pulling

Nobody Opposed It: What Stakeholder Analysis Actually Prevents

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10

  min read

Most improvement projects do not fail because somebody objects. They fail because the change lands on a team measured on something it makes worse. What a stakeholder analysis actually prevents, and the one question that...

Master's Toolkit
Prioritize improvement projects: impasto painting of a hand choosing three keys from a crowded iron ring, headline 'You can't fix everything.'

You Can't Fix Everything: How to Prioritize Improvement Projects

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11

  min read

Every improvement list I have seen is honest. Almost none of them are decisions. A field note on the difference between ranking your problems and actually choosing between them....

Master's Toolkit
Cause and effect analysis field note: impasto painting of a fishing net spread wide on a dock at dawn

Cast the Net Wide: Why the Cause You Miss Is the One You Never Listed

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8

  min read

Most cause analysis fails in the first ten minutes, when a plausible answer arrives early and the list of possible causes never gets made. A field note on casting the net wide before you narrow....

Master's Toolkit
Impasto painting of a hand pulling a weed with a long taproot from dark soil, headline 'Pull the whole root.'

Root Cause, Not Symptom: Why the Problem You Keep Solving Keeps Coming Back

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7

  min read

The problem you keep solving keeps coming back because you have been treating the symptom, not the cause. A field note on root cause analysis and the Five Whys....

Master's Toolkit
Impasto painting of a brass and steel vernier caliper on a workbench, headline 'Check the ruler first.'

Trust the Ruler: Why You Should Check the Measurement Before You Trust the Number

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6

  min read

Every measurement is the thing you want to see plus the error in how you saw it. A field note on trusting the ruler before you trust the number....

Master's Toolkit
The Baseline: Why You Can't Prove a Fix You Never Measured

The Baseline: Why You Can't Prove a Fix You Never Measured

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6

  min read

"We fixed it" is the easiest win to claim and the hardest to prove. A field note on the baseline: the before-photo every improvement needs, and how to take one....

From the Field
Iceberg showing the hidden cost of poor quality below the waterline

The Cost of Poor Quality: The Iceberg Underneath Your Scrap Report

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8

  min read

The defect you can see is the cheapest one you have. A field guide to the hidden costs of poor quality, the four cost-of-quality categories, and how to total the real number before you decide...

Master's Toolkit
Data Before Opinion: How a Data Collection Plan Keeps You From Measuring the Wrong Thing

Data Before Opinion: How a Data Collection Plan Keeps You From Measuring the Wrong Thing

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6

  min read

A one-page Data Collection Plan decides whether your improvement data is proof or opinion. Here is what goes in it, and why teams that skip it measure the wrong thing....

Core Insights
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Master's Toolkit
Abstract impasto painting of sixteen vertical brushstroke columns over a horizontal DMAIC current, representing the 16 Questions DMAIC framework

The 16 Questions DMAIC Framework: A Field-Tested Reframe of Lean Six Sigma

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13

  min read

Walk into any Green Belt classroom and the same artifacts appear on the wall: SIPOC diagrams, fishbones, FMEAs, control plans. Six months after project close, the metrics drift back to baseline and nobody can explain...

Industry Insights
Healthcare Process Excellence: From OR to ER

Healthcare Process Excellence: From OR to ER

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9

  min read

Healthcare quality improvement transforms patient safety through systematic process improvement, reducing errors 30-40% across OR, ICU, and ER departments....

Industry Insights
Statistical Process Control: From Semiconductor Manufacturing to Any Factory Floor

Statistical Process Control: From Semiconductor Manufacturing to Any Factory Floor

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9

  min read

Statistical process control from semiconductor assembly operations transfers to any manufacturing environment with proper process parameter adjustments and proven methodologies....

Leadership Reflections
Six Sigma Green Belt: Why It's the Sweet Spot for Career Growth

Six Sigma Green Belt: Why It's the Sweet Spot for Career Growth

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10

  min read

Six Sigma Green Belt certification delivers 73% of Black Belt benefits at 30% investment, with 47% promotion rates and $15,000 average salary increases....

Core Insights
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Leadership Reflections
Operational Excellence: The Pattern I Missed for 15 Years

Operational Excellence: The Pattern I Missed for 15 Years

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7

  min read

After 15 years of operational excellence implementation, three industries revealed why 70% of lean six sigma improvements fail to sustain....

Core Insights
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Industry Insights
impasto-cross-pollination

Cross-Pollination: How Oil Rig Safety Protocols Save Lives in Hospitals

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23

  min read

Oil rig safety protocols transformed the deadliest industry into one of the safest. These same systems can revolutionize hospital patient safety, reducing errors by 30% through proven cross-industry methods....

Core Insights
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From the Field
why-improvement-projects-fail

Implementation Reality: Why 80% of Improvement Projects Fail (And How to Be in the 20%)

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20

  min read

Learn the real reasons improvement projects fail and the field-tested framework that separates the successful 20% from the failing 80%....

Core Insights
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Master's Toolkit
Visual representation of the Lean Six Sigma belt system showing the progression through White Belt, Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt certifications.

Complete Guide to Lean Six Sigma Belts: Your Path from White to Master Black Belt

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14

  min read

Navigate the complete Lean Six Sigma belt hierarchy with insights from actual implementations worth $4.4 billion across three industries....

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The Dirty Dozen of Process Improvement

Resistance almost never looks like resistance. It looks like agreement in the room, followed by nothing happening. This 22-page report covers the twelve struggles that quietly end improvement work, the tell that gives each one away early, and one move to try on each. It arrives as soon as you subscribe.

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