And Finally...

Two Six Sigma Black Belts (SSBB's) walk into a board room...

They've been asked by company management to review customer feedback data that's been collected over the past year. Based on a scale of 1 thru 10 (10 is highest), each item scored an average of about 7.5, with the exception of one category: "On-Time Delivery".

The SSBB's reviewed this data, and reported their findings at a follow-up meeting. The first Black Belt explained that, based on statistical testing, he "could not reject the null hypothesis". The second Black Belt chimed in "based on the data, this issue is statistically insignificant".

The company went bankrupt six months later. Their dissatisfied customers had all taken their business to another supplier.

This point of this story isn't about whether "On-Time Delivery" was significant or not. The SSBB's where so absorbed by their methodology that they missed the obvious - the customers were unhappy. The actual issue was that the company averaged only a mere 7.5 out of 10 overall.

Bah-dum-bum.


No actual company was harmed in the writing of this example.


Mark
http://www.masquality.com