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How to Save Escalations from the Spam Train
A practical look at escalation noise, ownership clarity and how crowded threads swallow decisions.
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Six Sigma, but make it pop culture.
A practical essay series that takes familiar Six Sigma tools out of the training room and back into the messy, human work of customer service, escalation, quality and operational improvement.
Understand the work
SIPOC and the Lost Discipline of Understanding the Work
A step back into the discipline of understanding the work before racing towards solutions.
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Root cause lens
5 Whys Is Not a Guessing Game
A reminder that root cause work should follow evidence, not the neatest theory in the room.
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Diagnosis lens
Everybody Has a Diagnosis
A companion on competing problem theories and why every function sees a different piece of the patient.
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Focus lens
Pareto Is a Focus Tool, Not a Permission Slip
A focus piece on choosing where to aim first without pretending the rest of the system no longer matters.
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Variation lens
Not Every Wobble Is a Crisis
A calmer view of variation, dashboard panic and the difference between noise and meaningful movement.
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Voice lens
The Customer Is the Melody, Not the Whole Score
A wider look at customer, employee, process and business voices inside the same organisational score.
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Quality lens
The Decoder Ring Between Customer Pain and Real Quality
A translation piece on turning customer pain into CTQs and usable quality language.
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Risk lens
Failure Has a Blueprint Too
A service-friendly FMEA lens for seeing how failure enters before the alarm rings.
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Process design
The Process Should Not Need a Hero
A design piece on building processes that do not depend on rescue energy and heroic memory.
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Standard work
The Best-Known Way Still Needs to Prove Itself
A standard work piece about making the best-known way visible, usable and open to proof.
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Control lens
“We Fixed It” Is Not the Same as Holding the Wall
A Control phase piece on holding the gains after the fix has left the room.
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Measurement lens
The Multiverse of Customer Service Metrics
A measurement reality check for service environments where every dashboard tells a different story.
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Systems lens
Do Not Blame the Pilot for a Rocket That Cannot Reach Orbit
A systems-thinking piece on promise design, capability and unfair performance blame.
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Closing note
I Did Not Learn Six Sigma from a Distance
A personal closing note on learning Six Sigma from inside customer conversations, not from an ivory tower.
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