Every Monday I get on the scale and there it is, staring me in the face: my weight.\u00a0I am overweight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve done the research.\u00a0I know what causes\u00a0me to be overweight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I know how much I should eat each day,\u00a0and how much I\u00a0actually\u00a0do.\u00a0I know how much I should exercise each day,\u00a0and how much I\u00a0actually\u00a0do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If I know what it takes to lose weight,\u00a0why have\u00a0I\u00a0not\u00a0made\u00a0any\u00a0progress?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a process improvement\u00a0<\/b>expert,<\/b>\u00a0I turned to what I know best<\/b>\u00a0to solve my issue<\/b>:<\/b>\u00a0I\u00a0<\/b>looked<\/b>\u00a0at my\u00a0<\/b>process and\u00a0<\/b>approach<\/b>.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For years, I\u2019ve been trying to lose weight, focusing on the scale\u00a0as\u00a0my metric,\u00a0while trying to improve the gaps \u2013 how much I eat and exercise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s\u00a0<\/b>the type of thinking a<\/b>\u00a0Six Sigma professional<\/b>\u00a0would apply to<\/b>\u00a0process improvement efforts.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As an example, take the work I did for a few years as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt at a major high-tech company, where we trained hundreds of folks to become Green Belts and Black Belts and set them off to run process improvement efforts across the company.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Each\u00a0person\u00a0had a goal: To make things better for our customers.\u00a0So\u00a0they tackled end-to-end processes and singled out pain points. They used models to measure maturity, industry standards to evaluate the business, and much more to determine gaps\u00a0in the processes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For the next step, they did what a typical\u00a0Six Sigma\u00a0professional\u00a0would do:\u00a0They analyzed\u00a0the effort it would take to fix each gap against the improvement it would make. And they started working down the list, tackling the quickest improvements first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If I apply the same thinking to the issue with my weight, it\u2019s no wonder I\u2019m not seeing any progress.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Just like some process improvement efforts, losing weight is hard to do! My gaps are just too big to tackle, and my metric is slowing down my progress.<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Six Sigma is not the right approach for weight loss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So\u00a0what\u2019s the right approach? The focus must be on the long-term goal \u2013 living a healthy lifestyle. Not\u00a0on\u00a0the fastest improvement \u2013 dropping numbers on the scale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That kind of thinking lies at the heart of<\/b>\u00a0Agile<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>methodolog<\/b>y<\/b>.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Looking back at my\u00a0business example,\u00a0Six Sigma gets it wrong because\u00a0it doesn\u2019t have a leader at the helm of the end-to-end process. And,\u00a0deciding what processes to improve should be a business decision\u00a0because leaders may decide\u00a0the super-hard-to-fix gap provides a very important business capability\u00a0that\u2019s more important in the long-term,\u00a0so it\u00a0should be fixed\u00a0first.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But, as is typically the case, it\u2019s unlikely\u00a0there is a single executive\u00a0responsible for the\u00a0entire\u00a0process, meaning each step of the process may have a different\u00a0business owner\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and they likely don\u2019t\u00a0agree on what is important.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Agile, there\u2019s\u00a0a Product Owner\u00a0or\u00a0Squad Leader responsible for the end-to-end process.\u00a0This person\u00a0must\u00a0work with all those executive stakeholders and bring clear, crisp stories to the squad to work on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All those big gaps get broken into initiatives, sub-initiative, epics, stories, and tasks.\u00a0Each piece of work\u00a0features\u00a0a specific component\u00a0that needs\u00a0improvement.\u00a0Everything is\u00a0transparent\u00a0and\u00a0the team works\u00a0toward a shared goal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With this style of planning, there isn\u2019t an issue that\u2019s too big to tackle upfront.\u00a0In Lean Six\u00a0Sigma,\u00a0we\u00a0dreamed\u00a0of\u00a0an approach like this.\u00a0Agile for Business (as I like to call it) has this built into the foundation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the last few years, I have been working as an Agile Coach or Scrum Master. And, I strongly believe that, if I could, I would go back in time and run every one of my process improvement projects using Agile.\u00a0Every one<\/b>!<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now that I know what my issue with losing weight is, and the approach I need to take to make progress, let\u2019s look at how I can improve my own process using this knowledge.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Rather than overanalyzing the gaps and getting stuck on the metrics, I\u2019m going to\u00a0start\u00a0by\u00a0rephrasing my issue from \u201cLose Weight\u201d to \u201cLive a Healthy Lifestyle.\u201d That way I\u2019m focused on the end goal, rather than\u00a0one\u00a0metric that\u2019s\u00a0so hard to improve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how I applied Agile to fix my process:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Did you notice that I did not use the word weight even once\u00a0in my plan?\u00a0I address the components that\u00a0make up\u00a0the reason for the issue.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n A Six Sigma Approach to Losing Weight<\/h2>\n
An Agile Approach to Losing Weight<\/h2>\n
Agile to Improve My Process and Make Progress<\/h2>\n
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