NibuThomas

This reminds me of the ad (that I'm going to mutilate a bit) = There are something things in life that can't be measured. For everything else, Drucker is probably right. So don't measure everything that can be measured. Rather, measure what makes sense to measure. From multiple perspectives. Very often, we see that people put measures around, just for the sake of measuring. Not everything can be measured. Many measures that I've seen measure activity, instead of results. They are also very discouraging at times. Especially when metrics measure how often the ball was dropped, but never how long the contestant ran, before dropping the ball! My view on measurements is that there must be a balance. In our desperate attempt to show progress, we introduce metrics that might actually slow us down and make us lose focus from more impact full stuff. Both Drucker and Deming were right. Let us never forget to measure for impact. And at the same time, learn to value what can't (be measured).

Personal excellence is about being exceptional at what you do - whatever it is. This is not restricted to professional areas. It's not just doing things to the best of your ability. It's about first finding out what you can do well, and then doing it better than anyone else can do it. Business excellence is about maximizing profit, by returning outstanding value. All this without breaking any laws! Operational excellence is in the execution of a process. It's all about efficiency and effectiveness. Process excellence is about consistency and repeatability in results. Faster, better, cheaper.

Interesting article I came across - https://community.kinaxis.com/people/JimFulcher/blog/2013/04/12/demand-for-lean-and-six-sigma-talent-remains-high Feel free to comment.

No one has an answer to this?

In the Measure phase book of the Black Belt six sigma, there's a statement that says that 2 defects per billion (yes Billion with a "B") opportunities constitute six sigma level in the long term. However, we also know that six sigma level for short term is 3.4 defects per Million opportunities. How do you explain this? How can the defects allowed for the same sigma level decrease even though the opportunites increase 1000 fold? So if there are 3.4 defects in million opportunities (short term), shouldn't there be 3.4 multiplied by 1000 defects (340 defects) in a billion opportunities (same short term). Why is it NOT so?