Principle of war #5 – Intelligence

Intelligence: Use every method possible to gather and accurately interpret information that will enable you to prepare and be successful.

Lean Six Sigma professionals operate under the ready-aim-aim-fire mentality, not the ready-fire-aim methods so commonly used. We spend time understanding the situation, determining root causes and analyzing data before implementing solutions. Data gathering and analysis is a big part of Lean Six Sigma with none more important than the “Gemba”. Gemba is a Japanese word meaning the place of actual work. Before solutions are adopted, Kaizen teams go into the Gemba and see what is happening in real time. Going to the Gemba is our foundational intelligence gathering strategy.

In addition we literally have dozens of statistical and non-statistical tools to understand the situation. Some of the more common ones are control charts, check sheets, histograms, and scatter plots.

Understand the situation before making decisions