Lean Six Sigma For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 12

Thinking Differently and Generating Solutions

IN THIS CHAPTER

Generating ideas and solutions using a range of tools and techniques

Giving your creativity a boost

Testing or piloting the ideas

When the root causes of problems have been identified, we can consider how to address them. In this chapter, we focus on “different thinking” and explore a range of tools and techniques for creativity and ideation. As the adage goes, “If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got.” So by thinking differently, we can drive innovation and boost the performance of our processes beyond their current levels. Let’s start with a shower… .

Getting Immersed in Ideas

It has been reported that the majority of people have their best ideas in the shower, and we know that Archimedes was in the bath when he had his Eureka moment. But instead of taking a chance and hoping for inspiration to strike, it’s beneficial to build time for solution generation into your process-improvement plan. You might have identified some “obvious” improvements during process mapping or going to Gemba (see Chapter 5). But you can still benefit from thinking differently and applying creativity to ...