As long as you haven’t been living under a rock you have heard of Six Sigma. We’ll I have taken the plunge and figured this couldn’t hurt a customer experience / usability expert like myself. Clearly I cannot share the nitty gritty details of the coursework, but can share a simple technique that is used when looking at process improvement and could really be applied to anything in life. The method is called the 5 S’s and is used for creating, maintaining an organized and safe high performance workplace.

Sort
Clearly distinguish needed items from unneeded items and eliminate the latter
Set In Order (also known as Simplify)
Keep needed items in the correct place to allow for easy and immediate retrieval
Shine
Keep the work space orderly and clean
Standardize
Standardized cleanup. This is the condition we support when we maintain the first three pillars
Sustain (also known as Self-Discipline)
Make a habit of maintaining established procedures

Copyright 2006 by George Group Consulting