six – Solving Citizen

Defining the Truth

We hear many phrases today like “alternative facts” “bias media” or “false flag” and the more we hear that kind of noise the more it seems the truth is slipping from our grasp. The truth is tricky to define because it is literally different from person to person. So where do we look to define it? You compare it to a known standard.

History reveals that governments do a poor job of defining the truth for us. Laws are a great comfort zone for many people to define what is right and wrong, but just because something is legal doesn’t make it right. Oscar Schindler was somebody who frequently broke the law to do what we all know is right, but his society deemed wrong. That does not necessarily mean that laws are bad, there is a standard dictated by Natural Law. Natural Law was used by the founding fathers of the United States to shape the constitution. In fact Thomas Jefferson helped define the nonaggression principle.

The nonaggression principle or NAP was started by John Locke during the Age of Enlightenment. The NAP can essentially be defined as: don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff. Even the United States constitution uses the NAP as a Standard to define the truth in their laws and morals.

Now let’s get the most value out of the truth and move from what we should do with it to what we can do with it. While running a business, there are many different universally excepted standards such as ISO or ASME.

Probably one of the most valuable tools you can use to analyze data and look at the facts is statistics. With statistics you use tools like Lean and Six Sigma. Six sigma was first used by Edward Deming. Collecting data and using facts to operate business quickly got him notice because it reshaped manufacturing. we moved from the industrial age to the information age.

Deming’s 14 points are used today in the most successful organizations around the world. The truth is a powerful tool that cannot be ignored when it is used properly. Whether you use it for politics or for business knowing the truth will separate you from your competitors and make you very successful in your ambitions. No matter what people think the truth is, we all know what the truth is we see it.

-Brandon

ISO

Using 5S

5S can be a powerful tool to help you identify when something is out of place. The idea is to maintain order by having a place for everything and for everything to have a place. Knowing when something is out of order will help you to quickly identify and address problems. This tool is also useful because it implements preventative maintenance by utilizing check sheets and encourages all employees who are affected by a process to have a say in changing and maintaining that process.

5S is as follows:

Sort (Seiri)
Set in Order (Seiton)
Shine (Seiso)
Standardize (Seiketsu)
Sustain (Shitsuke)

Sort: Go through the work place and red tag everything that is not being used.

Set in Order: Put everything in a logical order and place. Keep things ergonomically correct.

Shine: Things must be clean and ready for white glove inspection.

Standardize: Document a process and keep check lists to maintain order.

Sustain: Perform audits and involve workers in continuous improvement to controle this cycle.

Eliminating waste

Waste can come in many forms and from a variety of places in your organization. By the time you are trying to cut costs by reducing the amount you spend on paper towels just to make ends meet, it is too late. It is time to hang up that paper towel.

Entrepreneurs spend most of their day putting out fires and when the rest of us get to go home, they start to do the real work. The best way out of this is to eliminate your biggest problem using a Pareto chart. Then when the bulk of your time is freed up, elaminate your next biggest problem, and then your next biggest problem until you maximize your time.

Another great visual tool to help you see wasted steps in a process is a Process flow diagram. Seeing a process layed out in front of you will often help you see the obvious waste you can immediately cut out. This tool will also help you define what you are doing. If you cannot define what you are doing, then you don’t know what you are doing.

Use these steps to move from putting out fires, to obtaining more of the most valuable resource you have. Your time.

-Brandon