I am a Six Sigma Trained Efficient Home Maker

I was fortunate for having worked in a corporate where six sigma principles were a way of life. Very early on in the company, both the company policy and my bosses made it mandatory for me to get trained in lean & six sigma principles, and to clear my exams for the same. And from then on, for every project and initiative, these became so much a part of approach, that I no longer needed a conscious effort to apply them.

It has been some time since I bid adieu to this great culture and the organization, to focus more on my family and personal life. But as they say, old habits die hard. And I continued to apply these wonderful principles to my small & daily challenges, till one day it struck me – oh, I am actually doing it. And when I looked around, I realized some of my colleagues (I mean other women I know of, who manage their houses) were also doing it. Just that they were only following one or two principles, but not naming it. And there was a lot of scope for learning & adopting more efficient practices.

And so I decided to pen down some of these. But before that a couple of statutory warnings:

First, this is not some kind of marketing gimmick, trying to push me ahead in the “best home-maker” race. I find it useful, and hence assumed that you may too.

Secondly, the way I am looking at the word home-maker is slightly simple, and slightly different from the more common usage of it. For example, even when I was spending 8-10 hours on my office desk, and was drawing a handsome salary for it, I was a home-maker. Because even then I was responsible for the production & consumption of 3 daily meals. I had to ensure timely payments to all the suppliers – milk, newspaper, groceries and domestic help. And I was responsible for maintenance and running of all material and machinery at home.

And last, but not the least, on the contrary most importantly – don’t blame me for trying to fool you with fancy names of simple things. Six sigma concepts are in fact so simple that one can adopt and practice them without realizing. The only difference is that when you do it consciously, you do it consistently.

Kanban – this approach has a Japanese name, but in a factory environment, it’s nothing but a billboard or a signboard. Translate it for your home, and these are the sticky notes we put up on the fridge, or on a board, reminding us of the pending tasks and things to be bought. Thanks to the smart-phone technology, I have mine on my phone. So I don’t need to remember to look at the list before I move out of home, I carry it with me. I edit my lists on the go, sometimes even in the shopping mall, soon after completing the purchase. To make things easier for myself, there is a different sticky for a different need – like personal work is separate from home-needs, and so are the ones for my husband & child.

Remove Waste – much similar to the daily garbage disposal, it is important to eliminate waste from your day. Sort, categorize and prioritize your needs, and remove whatever is not required. For example, I categorized tv watching, reading, browsing internet or FB in the same category as entertainment. Further, as per my prioritization, tv turned out to be a waste, and hence removed from my list. It doesn’t mean that the poor little television has been thrown out of the window. It only means that when the family gathers to catch up on daily news and soap operas, I sit with them with my phone or iPad, connected to the world-wide-web.

Prioritize – this is actually a step before waste management. But this is not a training program, hence I am free to choose my order. Coming back to the example, I figured that my daughter’s daily visit to the kid’s play area was more important for me than any other house-work. And thus I used to dedicatedly take her with me every evening. I know this is not a big deal, but I have seen mothers missing this ritual time & again as they have some pending house work, or they need to go grocery shopping or something else has come up. But once I decided on my priorities, I realized, I was able to manage all my pending work in the time available. No, I am not patting my back for being quicker than my friends, I am only saying that prioritization helped me learn how to manage my work. Because I decided I had limited time available, I had not much choice, but to learn to manage my work accordingly.

DMAIC – this is the most commonly used approach in six sigma projects. Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control. Let me again help with an example. After my daughter was born, the physical and mental stress of managing my work, home & a baby started taking a toll on my health. There were no serious concerns, but some weight increase, some muscular pain, a general sense of lethargy and a clogged & irritable mind. Getting myself back on track was nothing less than a project, and an important one too. As I started working for it, the six sigma approach again came to my rescue.  

The first step was to clearly define my goals & objective. I wanted to shed those extra pounds, and get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Secondly, I wanted to build my stamina. Or more simply put, at the end of each day, when I hit the bed, none of my body parts should be shouting from pain, needing an oil massage or a muscle relaxing spray. And the third goal was to reach a more peaceful state of mind. Three clearly defined, measurable goals for a broad objective of a better “Me”.

At the measure stage I decided to regularly monitoring my performance on three parameters. First and the simplest was the movement on the weighing scale. Second was the use of a pain-relief aid in a given time period, say a week. And third, and most difficult to keep record of, was the number of times I was on the verge of or actually lost my temper say in day or in a week.

The third or the analyze stage required looking at various available options of working out, and then deciding the best one for me. In this case I decided to get trained in yoga, primarily because of ease of access and its proven effects on both physical and mental health.

The next stage – improve, implied improving my performance on each of the selected parameters. Regularly monitoring my performance, helped me keep a tab on my progress, and also worked as a motivating tool.

The last stage – the stage I am currently in – thankfully due to all the hard work of past few months. In this stage I try to ensure that I continue my training classes. I also monitor how I am faring on the three parameters (though now more as a pat on my back, rather than a need of monitoring).

 

In a nut-shell, six sigma principles have helped me improve my life. I am not comparing it with any other person. Maybe there are women, who are managing their responsibilities more efficiently than I am. But my only benchmark is my life and conditions.

Coming back to six sigma, these are not the only things which form part of this approach. These are also not the only ones I have adopted. I am only sharing these because I presume that even a lay man will be able to identify with them. What professional trainers take 3 full working days to explain, I can’t attempt to explain in 3 pages of a blog. Further, I used these technique, partly consciously, partly out of habit. Some of you might already be using these, or more such techniques. The only difference is that because of my training, I can attach a name to it.

If this article interests you enough, you can read up the vast literature available on Six Sigma tools & techniques. Or as an alternative, with little effort, you can even get yourself trained in the principles of six sigma. And the good piece of news here is that you needn't work with a large corporation, thanks to the presence of institutions like SigmaWay.

SigmaWay, a boutique consultancy firm, also provides lean and six sigma training for individuals from all walks of life. They have experienced and certified trainers, who have spent years practicing & sharing the benefits of these principles. Further, to make matters even more simpler, they are soon coming up with online training modules, making it easier for anyone to access these trainings from the comfort of their home or office, at the convenience of their time. For further details, you can visit the website www.gosigmaway.com

Today, when life is a race against time, a little efficiency in our day-to-day tasks, helps in adding more life to the already constrained time. A little time spent today on learning six sigma tools & techniques can prove to be an investment, saving multiple hours everyday in future. And in my opinion, getting trained is an important step. As I have already mentioned earlier, when you do it consciously, you do it consistently.