Wisdom on the Green: Smarter Six Sigma Business Solutions

Wisdom on the Green: Smarter Six Sigma Business Solutions, Forrest W. Breyfogle III, et al., Smarter Solutions Inc, 2001

Four friends who first met during their MBA days get together for their monthly round of golf. Now working at different companies, each has their own challenges and problems at work to fix. Using the metaphor of golf as something where there is no such thing as total perfection (like in business), the authors show how business problems can be solved using a business strategy called Six Sigma.

It's a methodology for pursuing continuous improvement in profit and customer satisfaction applicable to any sort of business, not just manufacturing. If the problem is to be found at Point X in the process, it would be easy to say Fix Point X and the problem is solved. What if fixing Point X creates a new problem at Point Y? Six Sigma looks at improving the entire strategic plan instead of focusing just on the trouble spot. It can be applied to everyday, real-world problems like increasing sales, cost reduction and inventory control.

This is a very specialized and very technical book (much of which was over my head), but it is much better than the average dry business textbook. For most people, this book can be skipped. But, for those in middle or upper management, or those for whom defect reduction is a daily concern (shouldn't that be everyone in management?), this book is very much worth checking out.