I want to thank Mark Babbit (@YouTernMark on Twitter) for bringing this interesting post by Andrew Smart to my attention. (http://switchandshift.com/six-sigma-is-draining-employees-creativity)
Smart quotes from Elon Musk on an occasion in which Musk say, "I don't believe in process" because it stifles creativity and critical, out of the box thinking. I could only shake head and think, "Huh ?"
The 'villain' in this post is Six Sigma. Now, I am not a huge fan of Six Sigma (and don't get me started on ITIL), but Six Sigma is simply a way to define, and then refine a given work process using statistical analysis of each step and input. Going through a Six Sigma project is a painful exercise for anyone, but once the project is over, there is a new, improved business process in place for whatever the exercise was about.
Smart quotes Musk saying, "The problem is that at a lot of big companies, process becomes a substitute for thinking...." . Now I'll concede that perhaps at a macro level Musk doesn't believe in process, but at a micro level, process and defined methodologies are critical to gaining consistent results, improved efficiency, and ultimatly lower process costs.
When I say 'at a macro level', I mean that Musk is a disrupter, an outlier, who wouldn't be where he is now by coloring inside the lines all the time and sticking to process, the status quo. We need these big thinking types to look at things in new ways - absent from process - in order to create this brave new world we're in now. He also needs recruit others like him to help build these companies.
However, at a micro level - in the day to day running of a business and creating this new world, process is critical - as long as it's not sacrosanct. A well defined methodology is to a business process as JIT inventory management is to a taut supply chain. The leaner the process, the more efficient the steps, and the fewer wasted motions are involved.
However, processes - even good processes - can usually be improved and that's where creativity and critical thinking will always have a place in a good company. With the precise engineering requirements and (literally) mission-critical tolerances needed by Tesla and Space-X , there is no way he could run either one of these two amazing ventures without well defined, specific, rigorous processes in place.
However, once any process becomes an end to itself, and process managers refuse to entertain critical thinking by team members in a position to provide input to potential improvements to that process, that's when everyone suffers and this is what I believe Musk means when he says he doesn't believe in process.
Six Sigma isn't draining anyone's creativity. Only narrow minded managers can do that.
