The Improve Phase: How to Test a Change Without Betting the Process on It
In DMAIC's Improve phase, the temptation is to roll out the big fix. A safer path pilots the change, proves it with data, and protects the process if it fails.
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XNM Blog
Practical guidance on capital projects, governance, financing, and delivery for Indigenous and public-sector leaders.
Articles
Make Backlog Refinement a Habit, Not a Marathon Meeting
Refinement isn't a ceremony you cram in before sprint planning. Here is how to keep your Product Backlog ready, sized, and ordered without burning out a hybrid team.
Read more →Finding the Critical Path — and Guarding It Like It Matters
A practical how-to for locating the chain of tasks that actually decides your finish date, and protecting it when supply and staffing are anything but reliable.
Read more →When the Forecast Lied: A Demand-Planning Post-Mortem
A composite story of a forecast built on hope rather than evidence — and the practical fixes that turn demand planning into something you can actually trust.
Read more →Chasing the Wrong Cause: A Lesson from the Analyze Phase
A team blamed the obvious culprit for late orders. The Analyze phase proved them wrong — and saved them from fixing the wrong thing.
Read more →The Retrospective That Finally Stuck: One Team's Turnaround
A hybrid team's retrospectives were polite and pointless until they changed how they ran them. Here is what shifted, and what you can borrow.
Read more →What a Failing Renovation Taught One Team About the Work Breakdown Structure
A community centre upgrade went sideways not because of a bad plan, but because of a vague one. The fix was an honest work breakdown structure.
Read more →Sales & Operations Planning, Explained for People Who Don't Live in Supply Chain
S&OP is the monthly meeting where demand, supply, and finance finally agree on one plan. Here is what it is, why it matters, and how to start.
Read more →The Measure Phase: Collect What You'll Actually Use
A beginner's guide to the Measure phase of DMAIC — how to baseline a process and check your data without drowning in spreadsheets.
Read more →Making the Sprint Review Worth Everyone's Time
A plain explainer of the Sprint Review: what it is, who comes, and how to run one that pulls real feedback out of busy stakeholders.
Read more →The RACI Matrix, Explained: A Beginner's Guide to Clear Accountability
What a RACI matrix actually is, what each letter means, and how to build one that ends the 'I thought you had it' problem on a project.
Read more →Supplier Risk Scoring: What Strong Programs Get Right (and Weak Ones Miss)
A practical look at supplier risk scoring through a good-versus-bad lens, so you can tell a defensible program from a checkbox exercise.
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