Disqus - Latest Comments for psabilla

Re: Fat Protocols

shmula — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:32:05 -0000

Question: why wasn't TCP/IP or SMTP or other early protocols investible? Do you know what I mean? Why weren't they structured such that were assets one could invest in - it seems like they were almost free for use and apps were built on top of them.

Re: For the Sales Manager: Learn How to Grow Sales like a Scientist

shmula — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 22:11:30 -0000

this is totally a test

Re: Why You Should Automate Parts of Your Job to Save It

shmula — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:36:57 -0000

Your article describes many aspects of Lean Manufacturing, especially the concept of Kaizen and Standard Work, but you do not explicitly say "Kaizen" or "Standard Work". Was that an act of omission or commission?

Re: Pareto in the Wild: Money Spent on Hamburgers

shmula — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:30:41 -0000

A reader wrote me and made many great observations:

"Interesting, BUT there are some problems with the numbers:

- 12 million tons of Ketchup consumed at a rate of 71 pounds per person --> population = 338 million
- 14 million tons of tomatoes consumed at a rate to 20.3 pounds per person --> population = 1.4 billion !!!!
- 7.4 billion pounds of onions consumed at 20.0 pounds per person --> population = 370 million
- 9 billion pounds of lettuce consumed at a rate of 28.0 pounds per person --> population = 321 million
- 26.9 billion pounds of beef consumed at a rate of 61.2 pounds per person --> population = 440 million
- 10.1 billion pounds of cheese consumed at 32.4 pounds per person --> population = 312 million

It would be interesting to know just what the source of this data thinks the population of the USA is...

Having recently read "Stat-Spotting - A Field Guide To Identifying Dubious Data" by Joel Best, I have found lots of such data being published that just does not add up."

Re: Pareto in the Wild: Money Spent on Hamburgers

shmula — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:24:35 -0000

Yes, good point.

I just wanted to point out the vital few from the trivial many - not necessarily a strict 80/20.

And, yes, the UK Rocks!

Re: Pareto in the Wild: Money Spent on Hamburgers

shmula — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:23:28 -0000

Maybe a "Flateto", instead of a Pareto?

Re: Statistical Process Control — Why You Should Care

shmula — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:55:46 -0000

I appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

Re: Statistical Process Control — Why You Should Care

shmula — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:55:31 -0000

I haven't read Walter Shewhart's work - I'll take feedback; thanks for stopping by and am always open to learning. Again, thank you.

Re: 5 Whys for Entrepreneurs

shmula — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:45:51 -0000

Hi Ali - the 5 Whys is called "Five", but that doesn't mean there only has to be 5 "Why" questions. It can be 1, 5, or more - just whatever will get us closer to the root cause.

You might want to re-visit Taiichi Ohno.

Thanks for your comment.

Re: About

shmula — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:22:30 -0000

Yes, moolah, mula - I opted for "shmula" because it was shorter and I liked it better. But, yes.

Re: About

shmula — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:48:30 -0000

In early 2006, I was interested in buying "mula dot com". Of course it was taken and the domain owner wanted a lot of cash money for it. In frustration, I said "mula shmula" and that's how www.shmula.com was born.

Re: Portfolio of Initiatives: A Lean Six Sigma Strategic Approach

shmula — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:07:13 -0000

I'd be happy to do so, but it might be better for you to download the template and do the following:

1) For your organization or client organization, list all the major initiatives.
2) Then, consider their impact (size of bubble) based on your criteria - whatever those are.
3) Then, place those bubble-ized initiatives in the right place on the chart.
4) Adjust.

If you do this as a group, maybe in a sticky note type of exercise it will help to get everybody on the same page and provide insights maybe you wouldn't have arrived at on your own.

For example:

Initiative: Acquire X Company in 2011
Familiar, Create medium term growth, 2-3 years
Bubble size: BIG

-----

Deploy Lean throughout organization
Unfamiliar, long-term growth 3+ years
Bubble size: MEDIUM

Try it - this exercise will help to organize and rationalize all the initiatives an organization has.

Re: Perceptual Maps: GMC Yukon XL or Chevy Suburban

shmula — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:07:38 -0000

Yes, totally agree. This was just a fun exercise on comparison of 2 cars against a bunch of variables. Not serious analysis at all; just fun.

Re: Perceptual Maps: GMC Yukon XL or Chevy Suburban

shmula — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:06:17 -0000

Hi Picasso,

Thanks for stopping by.

This perceptual map isn't based on any data - just my thoughts really. It's all opinion.

Re: Perceptual Maps: GMC Yukon XL or Chevy Suburban

shmula — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:02:35 -0000

Hi Picasso,

Thanks for stopping by.

This perceptual map isn't based on any data - just my thoughts really. It's all opinion.

Re: Perceptual Maps: GMC Yukon XL or Chevy Suburban

shmula — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:01:14 -0000

Hi Picasso,

Thanks for stopping by.

This perceptual map isn't based on any data - just my thoughts really. It's all opinion.

Re: Bloomberg Government Kanban Board

shmula — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:42:41 -0000

You're right.

Obeya, "the big room", aims to reduce coordination time by having all the right people in the same room, looking at the same object. Obeya shortens the PDCA cycle by having several PDCA cycles per day, but quicker and shorter ones - in other words, Obeya can bring a product or service to market much faster.

A good example of this is how the Toyota Sienna was developed and how the Obeya played a large part in the development.

Thanks for your comment and for reminding of that connection.

Re: Part 1: What Lean Manufacturing at Starbucks Has in Common with Barack Obama

shmula — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:27:49 -0000

Yes, Mark, I agree with you about Starbucks being closer to healthcare than formal manufacturing.

During my time at Kaiser Permanente, some of the work I was involved in on the patient care side was all about increasing value-add time, which in the case of patient care means spending more time with patients on what patients care about than on waste.

In other words, less time coordinating, paperwork, walking, reaching, finding, searching - but more time with actually *caring* for the patient in ways the patient appreciates.

Also, in addition to timeliness, patient safety is of utmost importance. Analogue to patient safety in healthcare, beverage quality is key within the Starbucks context.

I see a similar analogue with Starbucks.

Thanks for your comment.

Re: Part 1: What Lean Manufacturing at Starbucks Has in Common with Barack Obama

shmula — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:08:00 -0000

I know - this was all my light-hearted attempt at humor; an obvious massive fail it seems.

The service aspect of Starbucks is germane - does an assembly line associate interface with the end-customer? No. Their immediate customer the the proceeding process step.

At Starbucks, however, and in service generally, though there are manufacturing-like properties, the key aspect is the direct, 1:1, interface with the end-customer. That changes the dynamic.

Back to the metaphor - yes, massive fail on my part.

Re: Part 1: What Lean Manufacturing at Starbucks Has in Common with Barack Obama

shmula — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:29:17 -0000

I completely agree with you.

Re: Averages Do Not Describe Individual Experience

shmula — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:27:13 -0000

Hi Daoud - yes you're right. I'm thinking of the most base case and the case that is most relevant to most consumers of products or services.

For most people, they don't think about the math behind the instances of experience; instead, they think and remember how they felt during the experience and that's what I was trying to convey.

Thanks for your comment and for taking the time to read.

Hey, how about writing a guest post on word sense disambiguation? - with examples and applications to everyday-plain-vanilla life? For example, word sense disambiguation plays an under-appreciated role in relationships, such as marriages and team relationships.

Re: Stop lying on stage

shmula — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:51:56 -0000

The spirit of your message is fully aligned with with the principles of lean thinking. A maxim in lean is "no problem is a problem"; in other words, we should not aim to "look good", but rather learn, adjust, measure, and learn again.

The goal of Hansei (Reflection in English) is to brutally look at the facts, not in a congratulatory manner but in the spirit of truth and of learning.

Re: Looking for suggestions - family ski trip out west

shmula — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:25:05 -0000

I suggest Park City - beautiful and Utah has what many claim as the best snow on earth. And, if you come here, let me know - I have connections at Backcountry.com (based in Park City) and we can hook you up.

Re: Healthcare and Hospital Time and Motion Study: How Do Nurses Spend Their Time

shmula — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:12:29 -0000

Thanks, Jason.

I originally included the link in the post toward the end for attribution, but it was probably hard to see and easy to miss. But thank you.

Re: Cigarette Sin Tax and Lean Six Sigma Deployments

shmula — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:31:44 -0000

You're right - thanks for the clarification.