Six Sigma Simplified

A Qi Story
There once was a wise King and Queen who ruled over a vast Kingdom, but they
were troubled. Every year they worked diligently to improve the lives of their people and
0 every year, very little progress was made. Often, the biggest improvements came not from
1 their efforts to guide the organization, but from the heroic, and occasionally random,
individual efforts of a few people around the kingdom. Great celebrations were held to honor
these few, but try as they might, the good ideas foundered the next year and everything
returned to normal.

The King and Queen were worried, for theirs was not the only kingdom in the world.
Tales reached them from far lands of improvements and innovations so profound that they
often despaired at being able to keep their kingdom abreast of world changes. So they
decided to analyze their problem.

Candle wax perfumed the air as they entered their chambers. The King and Queen
wore robes of black and white that matched the dark and snowy chill of winter. The King
wore a lattice-like crown that held many fine gems. His hair was sable in color. His left hand
grasped a scepter of fine gold. The Queen wore a more simple gold crown that peaked in the
middle over her forehead and swept back around her fine auburn hair. Her face was relaxed
and a hint of a smile played at the edge of her mouth.

The Queen began, her voice melodious like a nightingale singing, "Each year, we try
our best to improve the lot of our people and each year little progress seems to be made.
Travelers tell us tales of other lands and possibilities of which we can only dream. What can
we do to advance more rapidly?"

"We track all things," said the King, his voice rumbling across the room like an
0 avalanche. "Every year we measure the harvest, the herds, and the flocks. We count the
1 exports and what we import. We tack all things, but everything seems to increase only in
relationship to the size of the population."

"Status quo," proclaimed the Queen. "The arch enemy of advancement." She smiled
wryly and continued: "Let us begin by simple means. You have developed great skills in the
course of your life. I was wondering, how did you first learn these skills?"

The King twisted his scepter as he thought. "From my earliest memories, I was
always guided by the greatest minds, schooled by the greatest hunters and seamen."

The Queen nodded and shifted her weight to the other foot as he spoke: "Excellent!
The easiest way to learn is to observe someone already successful."

"But is there any point of the compass, any place in the kingdom where continuous
improvements and innovations are common place?" the King asked.

"Perhaps," said the Queen and then, seeing the King's brow darken, she said "I
believe Sir Robin of Loxley continually performs better than the rest."

The King growled, but nodded in agreement. "The infamous Robin Hood."

The Queen nodded, "Only older and wiser. Perhaps we would be wise to journey to
0 his castle to discover what we can learn." She watched as the King shrugged his shoulders
2 and began tapping his ring against the scepter in an audible flutter. It had long been her
observation that people miss the best opportunities for learning because they would not
remain open long enough to notice the gifts laid before them. "We will rest tonight and
begin in the morning. We can be there, can we not, by midday."

Robin, dressed in simple garments of forest green, greeted the royal carriage when it
0 arrived. "To what do we owe this honor?" he asked as he helped the Queen step down. "Why
2 do I think that this is not just a social visit?" he paused and glanced at the King who nodded
his head. "Let us get indoors out of the cold and you can tell me how I can be of service." He
offered the Queen his arm and led them quickly inside.

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 Soon they were seated by a warming fire cradled in a smoke-smudged hearth and
servants entered carrying hot mugs of aromatic tea. Marion joined them in a cozy room off
the kitchen. Her oaken brown hair cascaded over her shoulders. She too wore a simple
green tunic cinched at the waist and a woolen robe to repel the cold. The Queen glanced
over at the King and seeing him tap the arm of the chair impatiently, she began. "We have
noticed that your lands and people consistently outperform the others in the kingdom. Not
only that, but every year they show significant improvement. We have come to learn how
you accomplish this and how we can adapt it to fit the needs of the kingdom."

Robin's eyes sparkled as he glanced at Marion. He nodded his head imperceptibly. "I
am honored! How I wish it were spring or summer and I could take you out into the fields
and the towns to let you visit with the people at work."

"That would have been interesting," said the Queen. "First, however, there must be
some way that you work with the people to ensure that each year will be better than the
last; is there not?"

"Why of course," said Robin, taking a sip of his tea and allowing the mug to warm his
hands. "We have found that to focus, improve, and sustain our improvements, the desire for
improvement must be as unceasing as the changing of the seasons. In fact, the changing
seasons give us guidance about how to your focus?"

"Gathering the information can be as simple as listening to everyday conversation or

gathering up all of the complaints. I seek the most common requests and complaints."

Marion smiled and said: "Let me ask the King about his practice with the bow." The
King leaned forward and nodded. "If we set up targets in a circle around you at a distance of
forty paces, would you know which one to shoot at first?"

"Of course not," replied the King.

"But how often do you give the kingdom forty different things to accomplish?" she
asked. She heard the Queen suck in her breath and hold it. The King's brow furrowed, but he
nodded. "In your effort to improve everything simultaneously, nothing ever seems to
improve, does it?"

A rumble sounded in the King's throat, but he shook his head and reached for his
mug.

"Can you show us how to think about these things?" asked the Queen quickly.

Robin took a large handful of birch wood arrows from a leather quiver slung nearby
and dropped them on the floor. They scattered, pointing in all directions. "My father found
that when he tried to get the people to work on too many things, that they focused on none
and little was accomplished.

"He then began to eliminate goals that worked against each other." So saying, Robin
began to pick up the arrows which pointed away from the King and Queen. In moments
there were seven remaining arrows pointing generally in their direction. "He then found that
although there were fewer arrows and they were more aligned, he still wasn't getting the
progress he wanted. The people were still confused about which goals to work on first and
how much effort to devote to each."

Robin then bent and picked up all but three of the arrows. These he aligned pointing
toward the King and Queen; a space remained between each arrow. "My father found that
0 by narrowing his focus to three key targets a year, that his people could clearly understand
3 where to aim and excellent progress was made. Then the next year, he would set new
targets and new directions. In a few years, all of the targets would be peppered with the
arrows of success."

Then Robin picked up one of the arrows and broke it over his knee. "I found that even
when aligned, there would be gaps between our goals, making each one vulnerable. When
problems arose, as they always do, we would occasionally sacrifice our goals." Robin then
picked up the two remaining arrows and added a third to the three. Holding them in a

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 bundle, he tried to break them over his knee, but they remained firm. "I found that three
closely aligned and integrated goals would withstand the pressures of daily life. When
aligned and bundled to support each other, tremendous progress could be made."

"There are so many things that need improvement. Couldn't we do more?"

demanded the King.

"Of course," said Robin, picking up one arrow at a time, adding it to the bundle. At
seven arrows Robin handed them to the King who could scarcely hold them in his grasp.
"But there is a limit. I have found that it is better to do three things well than five things
poorly."

"Fascinating," sang the Queen. The King nodded slowly, his brow relaxing as he
understood the simplicity of the wisdom inherent in the demonstration. Servants entered
carrying trays of cheese and warm, scented loaves of bread. Mugs were refilled and then
they were gone.

When he was sure the essence of his message had sunk in, Robin continued. "We
have found that all improvement objectives fall into one of two categories: 1) either we need
0 to increase harvests, stock, crafted goods, and services, or 2) we need to decrease the
3 waste of people or resources, the rework of goods or services, and the associated costs of
waste and rework.

"My father taught me how to think about creating a clear, strong focus for each
0 year's improvements. He believed it was essential to making sure that we do the right work.
5 He carried most of these objectives around in his mind. Unfortunately, spoken objectives are
hard to communicate. One day, while standing in the forest, I noticed that the planning
process and a tree had much in common. But I thought of it more like a tree laying on its
side instead standing upright. Here let me draw if for you."

“First, like my father before me, I have a vision of what this earldom will become. To
move toward the vision, I believe three things must occur. We must: grow our markets and
products, improve our products and services, and reduce the cost producing them. These
are the long-term issues necessary to achieve the vision.”

“But they are so high level,” exclaimed the Queen.

“I agree. Like a ship, we are on a journey. So I learned that, like branches on a tree,
we have to find even more specific activities to move in each direction. These yearly
objectives involve improvement projects targeted at specific areas of importance and
interest to my people.”

“So!” exclaimed the Queen. “It is so simple. One begins with the end in mind – the
vision of the future reality. Then you delve deeper to identify what long-term issues will lead
you to the end result, and then you delve even deeper to discover what yearly objectives
will lead toward the long-term ones, each time getting clearer, more detailed and more
focused.”

Robin nodded in agreement. “Correct! Then I discovered that there had to be a way
0 of measuring the accomplishment of each yearly objective and the overall long-term
5 direction. I developed a simple system of measurements and targets that would let me know
instantly we were on the way to missing, making, or exceeding our objectives.”

"This is all very well and good, but how did you get the people to commit to
accomplishing these objectives?" growled the King. "We often offer such directions and even
fund specific projects, but little happens."

Robin smiled. "In my father's and grandfather's day, this was pretty much an issue of
0 luck. The difficulty lies not in setting the goal, but in identifying the means necessary to
6 achieve it. Once the means are identified and time set aside for people to pursue the
targets, participation is assured..

"It seems like we've been doing that all along." said the King, the skepticism thinly
veiled in his voice. "Is that all it takes?"

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 "No, unfortunately, it's only the beginning; I found that there had to be a way of
negotiating the targets and the means to achieve them. Otherwise, no one shares in the
objective. It's my goal, no theirs.
"Then I stumbled on an effective way to align what I wanted with the realities of what was
possible; I call it catch-ball. I was in a village one afternoon and happened on some young
children throwing a leather ball back and forth. If the ball was thrown too high, the boy could
not catch it. If it was thrown too low, the girl would wait for the ball to roll up to her before
she picked it up, but when the ball was thrown just right, each one could keep up a
consistent rhythm of throwing the ball. I realized that sometimes I threw my people targets
that were too high. They knew they couldn't reach them so they didn't try. Other times, I
aimed too low. They simply weren't motivated to catch an objective that small. I realized
that what I needed to do was set up a practice field where we could throw objectives around
and they could tell me what was too high, too low and what they could catch easily and what
was also a stretch."

"Ah ha," exclaimed the Queen. "You involve the village leaders in achieving the
objectives."

"Absolutely," replied Robin. "And I have had to work very hard to then get each
leader to do the same with the people they lead. A township may set up improvement
initiatives that will have their own targets and means. These need to be evaluated with all of
0 the villages in the township. At first, I thought because I played catch-ball with the village
6 elders that they were playing catch-ball with their people. A few did, but most did not. I had
0 to teach them how to play and then help them practice. Otherwise, like soldiers in war, they
7 just followed orders and pronounced our agreements. The townspeople were almost ready
to adjourn to Sherwood Forest before I found out which was wrong and rectified it."

"Once you have set up these targets," said the King, "how do you ensure that they
are met?"

"I used to wear myself out riding around the lands, dealing with problems; I call it the
tyranny of the urgent. Once I established the targets and measures, however, I set up a
monitoring system of flags: green means all measures are on target, yellow means one or
more indicators are in trouble and the people are working it, and red means that a target is
in danger and that I have to get involved with the team or village.

Through the use of flags, I can focus my attention where it will do the most good. I
0 found that once everyone understood the measures, targets, means, and flags that the
6 people would handle most of the problems. It became a matter of pride."
0
7 "But you seem to make dramatic strides in improvement," said the Queen, "not just
incremental ones. What are you doing to take leaps toward excellence, not just steps?"

"Ah," said Robin. "It's so simple, I didn't even believe it until I tried it." Robin leaned
forward and with a conspiratorial grin whispered: "I changed the measurements!" He sat
back and clapped his hands.

The King and Queen both looked startled. "You cook the books?" asked the King, his
forehead furrowed.

"No," said Robin. "I simply changed the level of detail we measure. Up until a few
years ago, if two or three seeds out of every hundred planted failed to grow, it was
considered good enough. If two or three out of every 100 lambs died in infancy, it was
considered good enough."

Robin leaned forward again, "All I did was change our focus to look at how many
0
seeds per million failed to sprout; how many lambs per million failed to live to maturity. Do
7
you know how many that is?"

Robin watched as the King and Queen did the calculations. "20-30,000?" asked the
Queen.

"Exactly," said Robin.

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 "That seems like a lot," said the King.

"And it seemed like a lot to our people," replied Robin. "Where 2-3 per 100 seemed
good enough, 20-30,000 per million seemed unacceptable. So, when I set radical goals of
cutting these numbers in half and then in half again, everyone seemed to understand the
need for dramatic, not just incremental improvement."

"So simple," said the Queen, nodding her head in graceful agreement.

"But where do you stop?" asked the King.

Robin smirked, "I'd like to see us get down to 2-3 per million!"

"Impossible!" said the King.

"Perhaps," said Marion, "but we've already gone over half the distance. Problems in
parts per million are down to 6,000 per million."

"Astounding!" said the Queen. "Just by changing the details of your measurements.”

"That, and some outrageous goal setting and highly focused improvement activities,"
agreed Robin.

"So," continued the Queen as she settled into her chair, "first you focus your
energies. Then what do
you do?"

"Well," replied Robin, "as we begin to work on the processes, we often find problems
to be solved and waste to be eliminated. Root cause teams identify the areas for greatest
improvement and make changes."

"Can you give us an example?" asked the King, tearing a hunk of bread.

"Yes! Yes!" exclaimed the Queen. "An example would be most useful."

"Very well," said Robin, as he finished carving slices of the pheasant. He turned to
one of the castle staff and wrote on one hand with another. The manservant nodded and
hurried away." If you remember, my lords, that almost ten years ago the crops failed on the
mainland." Robin watched as they nodded. "At that time I began to notice a disturbing trend.
Our main export is flour made from maize. Beginning in that year, our maize harvest began
to fall. In just two years, we began to experience shortages at home with little left to export.
I commissioned a team to discover the root cause of the decline."

"When you speak of the root cause," growled the King, motioning a server to refill his
goblet with wine, "what do you mean?"

Marion jumped in: "Let me ask you: When there is a weed in the garden, what do you
do?"

"Pull it up, of course," said the King.

"What happens if you only succeed in snapping off the top?"

"The weed returns."

"Of course," exclaimed the Queen, "whether a weed in the garden or an issue in the
kingdom, we must get at the root cause of the problem."

"Precisely, my Queen," said Robin. "Far too often, people only succeed in treating the
0 symptom— the visible portion of the problem. This is much like cutting off the top of the
8 weed. This leads to rework because we must periodically cut the top off the weed. Then we
build this weed cutting activity into our process and, over time, our processes get slower

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 and slower, burdened by these additional steps. This knee- jerk reaction to the symptom
deludes everyone into the belief that the problem is solved. To get to the root of the
problem requires more time and careful analysis, but it can prevent the problem forever."
Robin let the word hang in the air.

Robin nodded as one of the servants returned with a feather quill, ink, and a large
sheet of tanned hide. Together they hung the hide on a nearby wall. "There were two
indicators, harvests and exports, that let me know we had a problem. Here is how they
looked in the two years following the mainland crop failure."

"Not good," said the Queen.

"But without these indicators . .," said the Queen.

"I would never have known until it was too late," said Robin. "I would not have
worried so much except that I often do even further analysis to make sure I'm working on
the most important issue. As you can see from this next diagram, maize accounts for almost
half our agricultural export revenue. It was clearly the place to devote our resources."

"In this step, I had defined the problem to a point that it could be analyzed. The next
step is to begin to ask why the problem occurred, to begin the search for a root cause."

"The crop failure on the mainland was the root cause?" asked the King tentatively.

"I suspected that the crop failure on the mainland had somehow triggered the
0 decline, but in following years the mainland harvests recovered. Our problems continued, so
8 this one crop failure could not be the root cause. I gathered together a team of growers,
millers, and exporters to complete the analysis. In less than two days we were able to
determine the root cause. As we began to ask why the problem occurred, it had to have
something to do with our flour export process. We began by analyzing each step of the
process:"

"As you can see," Robin said, "like killing the goose that laid the golden egg, the
demand for high quality flour created an opportunity for obscene profits. Exporters wanted
the best flour, millers wanted the best seed, and growers tried hard to provide. In the quest
for immediate earnings, they almost destroyed the chance for future ones."

Robin looked around and saw that the King and Queen were clearly struck by the
immensity of the problem. "So how did you solve it?" they asked in unison.

"You can imagine what would have happened if I had tried to just work with one
group or the other. They would have pointed fingers in each other's direction, but never
addressed the core issue. As a team, however, they recognized how much they depended
on each other. Together they identified two countermeasures to prevent the root cause from
recurring. First, they agreed to always set aside the best seed for future planting.
Fortunately, some of our people, perhaps through chance or wisdom, had foreseen these
events. Various villages and growers had hoarded enough high quality seed to help us
restore our harvest in a single year.

"Second, the team recognized the importance of seed in the resulting harvest. Good
seed is one of the root causes of a good harvest. They created an experimental farm to
begin cultivating, comparing, and improving different seeds. We show all of these
countermeasures in a matrix." So saying, Robin continued to draw on the hide.

"That must have eaten into your revenues!" shouted the King.

"It did for a couple of years. Then it began to repay itself. In the next five years we
increased our harvest by 50 % and doubled our exports." So saying, Robin continued
drawing the story of the improvement. "
As we began to notice the success of these two countermeasures, we began to use
0 them with other crops. The experimental farm has grown to include virtually all existing
8 crops. We've begun to extend our experiments to livestock. I expect profound results in the

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 coming years."

"This all seems well and good when you can realistically move toward your targets,
but what about the times when the old way just isn't good enough?" asked the Queen,
leaning forward. "What do you do then?"

"We often find that when a process hasn't been examined in five years or more, that
it has become out of date, inflexible, and slow. Sometimes this is not a big problem and we
can deal with it through incremental improvements. Sometimes it requires totally new
approaches to achieve the objective. At one time, women ground the grain into flour on
large flat rocks. In my father's day, horses turned the wheels to grind the grain; now water is
harnessed to turn the wheels. Similarly, mariners once navigated by the stars, which
required clear skies—a rarity in these waters; now they use a lodestone floating on a chip of
wood. A compass I believe it's called.

"When these processes are unearthed and standing in the way of achieving our
objectives, there are two ways of changing them: 1)we find out if other people within our
lands or elsewhere have already identified a way to dramatically improve the process. If so,
we borrow that idea and adapt it to fit our needs. We call this benchmarking. 2) I gather
together the brightest minds on the issue and we work together to dream up a new way
using scientific advances to dramatically improve the old process. We call this
reengineering.

"I have found that quantum improvement requires a balance of improvement and
innovation. Some of our teams focus on breakthrough improvements while others focus on
achieving revolutionary ones."

"Why not revolutionize everything?" demanded the King.

Robin caught the Queen shaking her head and stifled the laughter that welled in his
throat. "When I was young I asked the same question. Now I have learned that revolution
may not be possible or even useful. The people can only deal with so much change in their
lives." Robin stopped and looked at the King. "Have you ever been to a banquet where you
ate and drank too much?" The King nodded. "Evolutionary changes are the most easily
digested. Speaking of which, I believe it's time for some dinner."

Robin and Marion rose and beckoned the King and Queen to follow. They led them
through a large dining room into a smaller room that was warm from the kitchen fires. The
table held fine china and silver for the small party. Wine goblets and a decanter of ruby red
wine stood on silver tray. A roasted pheasant and a shank of ham steamed on the table. A
hogshead of cheese rested on a table made of thick oak planks and the smell of freshly
baked bread filled the room. Baked potatoes lay wrapped in a towel.

1 "So, does everyone have to be involved in the improvement effort?" asked the
2 Queen.

"Mainly those involved in achieving the annual objectives."

"So," said the Queen. "You must start a variety of teams to accomplish these goals
each year."

"Yes," Robin replied, "each village may start teams to improve a specific aspect of
their daily work. Still other teams are formed across the region to accomplish even greater
aims. Everyone else, however, will be involved in maintaining the gains from prior years."

"And how do you accomplish all of these objectives and maintain the gains?" snarled
the King.

Again, Robin smiled. "I have found that being able to be successful year in and year
out depends on the ability to do a task consistently and repeatedly. For many of my best
farmers, millers, and crafts people, this ability comes from years of experience. They have
become masters in their field, but they don't know how they do it. They just know that they

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 are. To be able to pass on this wisdom more easily, we began to capture and understand the
process that each master follows to accomplish their tasks. Then we learned that each
individual task was too narrow. We had to learn how each task feeds into the next so that
we could continuously improve the collective processes of our whole community."

"Processes, processes," huffed the King. "It all sounds quite boring."

Robin smirked and glanced at Marion, whose eyes were sparkling; the King had fallen
into the same trap everyone else had. "To someone unfamiliar with the power of
improvement, each process might seem too boring, constraining their thinking and
possibilities. To someone engaged in mastery, however, understanding their processes, how
to improve them, and how to pass them on generates a great deal of excitement. Are you
not, my King, always interested in improvements in weaponry, music, or the arts. Are you
not here to learn more about how to lead more effectively?" The King shrugged and nodded.
"I believe we are all engaged in the quest for mastery," Robin continued. "The true question
is whether we continue to do so haphazardly or whether we apply some structure or
systematic approach to achieving it.

"In my father's day, the people worked on each independent aspect of the overall
process. Unfortunately, when one step of the process improves dramatically, the next step
may stumble."

"Can you give us an example?" asked the queen.

Robin nodded at Marion and rose. He used a poker to turn one of the logs in the
fireplace. Firefly embers swirled up the chimney. After adding another small log, he returned
to his chair and waited for Marion to begin.

"One of our overall processes involves the delivery of milled flour," she said as she
smoothed her cloak. "This involves planning how much to plant and when to plant, preparing
the soil, planting the seed, tending the crops, harvesting the grain, storing the grain, milling
the grain, and delivering the milled flour. If we plant too much, there isn't enough storage
space or milling capacity; the grain goes to waste on the stalk. If we increase storage and
milling, but not the harvest or delivery capacity, then we have idle resources, which is
wasteful. This happened many times until we learned to look at the entire process of
creating milled grain."

1 "So," said the Queen, "each individual process is part of a larger process. Looked at
3 collectively, improvements require the connection of all of these elements, not just an
isolated few."

"And that's why focus is so important," said Marion. "We focus our efforts on a few
'core' processes. We found that there are three types of core processes: I) management and
leadership processes which guide all efforts, 2) development and delivery processes for
products and services, and 3) support processes that aid the development and delivery of
products and services."

"Most processes have grown and evolved as a reaction to problems," Marion

continued. "Where once our processes were fast and easy, they became increasingly slow
and tedious. One spring, a late snow kills a young crop and then everyone begins to wait
until after the latest possible snow date to plant anything, reducing the crop. The more we
looked the more we discovered that our processes were filled with laborious activities to
deal with waste and rework. We were paying the high price of not doing it right the first
time."

"We found," she said, "that by diagramming these processes, we could often find
obvious ways to simplify and streamline them. Furthermore, we found a simple way to track
how each process behaved so that we would know if it was working properly or needed
improvement. Like a river that flows through a series of channels and lakes, work also flows
through various processes. Like a message carried by arrow from tree to tree, we can
diagram the flow with boxes and arrows.

"Then, within each overall process, there are other sub-processes:"

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 After a sufficient pause, Robin joined in: "We also discovered that there is always
1 some natural variation in these processes."
4 The Queen perked up. "What do you mean, variation?"

"What I mean," he said, "is that no matter how consistently we do things, it will
always take a little longer or shorter to grow a crop from one year to the next; there will
always be some variation in the amount of rain or pests or whatever. To explain variation,
let me ask the King: Remember when you first learned to shoot the bow." Robin watched as
the King went back in time. "Can you describe the target?"

"It was circular and had three rings of equal width."

"When you first learned to shoot, what did you aim for?"

"I seem to recall being so concerned with notching the arrow and the mechanics of
the pull that I don't remember aiming. I just remember how excited I was when I first hit the
target."

"Precisely," said Robin. "Were you then able to repeat your success?"

"With time and practice" said the King.

"And when you could hit the target consistently, where did your arrows land?"

"All over the target," said the King, "almost at random. Occasionally I would still miss
the target, sending the arrow into the heather behind it."

"Precisely," said Robin. "That's natural variation. No matter how consistently you
notch the arrow and pull the bow, there are differences in the arrow and the wind and the
release and the aim that will change the result, even though all will strike the target. Now let
me ask the King: What where you aiming at when you first learned to shoot?"

"I aimed at the target. What do you mean?"

"Did you aim at the whole target, or a specific point upon it?"

"Ah," sighed the King. "I see what you mean. I tried just to get my arrow to land
anywhere on the target, not anywhere in particular. It was not until I began to aim for the
center circle that my results began to improve."

"This is why having a specific target is so important to reducing variation. We found

that when we set limits that were too broad, the people would deliver: some at the high end,
others at the low end, and everyone else in between. When we pick a specific target,
however, everyone began to take closer aim. Soon they learned how to hit them easily and
most were closer to the bull's-eye."

"And what have you learned from your study of variation?" asked the Queen.

1 "Simply this," said Robin. "That performance—measured in time, defects, or cost—

5 varies like arrows striking the three rings of a target. As long as we hit the target
consistently, our processes are behaving normally. If we miss the target, we need to
investigate why we missed: Was our aim wrong? Were our tools out of alignment? What
caused the miss. Similarly, if all of our arrows strike the outer ring or the inner bull's- eye,
we need to understand what's causing it. Or if our arrows are moving from the bull's-eye out
or the edges in, we need to understand the trend."

"And you have found ways to understand this variation in your processes?" asked the
King.
"Yes," said Robin. "A simple set of mathematical calculations used on as few as 20 data
points can tell us a great deal about how stable our processes are and how capable they are
of meeting the needs of our people."

"Can you give us an example?" asked the Queen.

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 "I'd like to show you an example from our fields, but please remember that everyone
from shoemakers to innkeepers use these as ways to measure the daily variation in their
processes. It takes, on average, 90 days to grow a maize crop from seeding to harvest.
Depending on the weather, rainfall, soil conditions, and so on, it can take as little as 75 days
or as long as 105 to bring in a crop. The chart we use begins with a plot of the growing time
for each harvest and then connects the dots like this:"

"As you can see, the last 20 harvests have consistently arrived within these limits."

"With this information in hand, we can often get two harvests a year from the same
land that only produced one a few years ago. To be able to consistently get two harvests a
year from our lands (one of our targets), we will need to be able to consistently reap a
harvest in 75 days or less."

1 "These are limits that you've set?" asked the Queen.

6
"A good question, my Queen," said Robin. "But no, these limits are set by the
harvests themselves. The process tells me what the limits are. I cannot legislate them. What
I can legislate, however, is finding ways to change the process that will improve our results."

"Like your seed farm?" said the King.

"Exactly," said Robin. "The seed farm is narrowing in on the overall process
improvements we need to achieve a 75 day upper limit and a 60 day lower limit. I call this
the capability of the process. To show this, I use a type of bar chart that I call a histogram."

"From these you can see that we are narrowing in on the capability we need to
achieve a two crop harvest."

"Won't that also require a doubling of storage and milling capacity?" asked the King.

"I should hope not!" exclaimed Robin. "We can use the existing facilities that are only
in use for a small portion of the year. There will be some increase, however. We've also been
improving our milling process, so we will only need a few more mills, not twice as many. We
already have the sites picked out and the materials being gathered. As we roll out the two
crop process, we will expand our total ability to produce milled flour."

"Do you think you can sell all of this production?" asked the King.

"With our faster process, our flour will be less expensive and of higher quality. I have
little doubt that I can find markets for our produce," said Robin proudly.

"Fascinating!" exclaimed the Queen.

"Yes," said the King. "Extraordinary."

"So," said the Queen, "you established a plan for improvement; you used the
measurements to monitor your results and trigger improvement efforts; and you
documented your core processes and measured them ."

"Correct," said Robin. "Every year I learn a little more and understand how to use the
system better. I doubt that I shall ever know it all, but I am training my son to carry on this
tradition and I am training all of my people. I've established a curriculum for everyone so
that it is not just my job, but everyone's job to continuously improve—to create a world to
which everyone wants to belong."

"Here, here!" said the King, raising his goblet. They all drank to the success of Robin,
Marion, and their people. Servants, smiling now that the tension had finally eased in the
room, brought in sparkling flagons of wine.

1 "But how can we begin to use all of this wisdom to help the entire kingdom?" asked
6 the Queen.

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 "Many of our improvements can be transferred immediately to the rest of the
1 kingdom because we have documented the processes for achieving them. This will require
8 clear and careful support from your majesties, because the other lords and ladies will have
to be educated to understand the origin of these improvements. Otherwise they will seem
like just another knee-jerk reaction.

"Then, I can work with you to develop a focus for improvement. With a draft
established, we can begin to play catch-ball with the many fiefdoms to establish objectives
for improvement. In the winter, my people can teach these methods to receptive champions.
It may take a few years, but with time, we can weave this system of quantum improvement
into the very fabric of the kingdom."

"This is a legacy you would wish to leave for all of the people, is it not?" asked the
Queen. She watched as the King nodded in agreement.

Darkness had crept into the castle and the once raging fire had settled to mere
embers. "It's late," said Robin. "Perhaps you would like to sleep on what you have learned
and as you sleep it will become even clearer and more understandable. Tomorrow morning,
after a good breakfast, we will begin creating the plan for a bright and exciting future."

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