Define Done Right: Why Most Six Sigma Projects Fail Before They Start
The Define phase is where DMAIC projects quietly succeed or fail. Here is the difference between a sharp project charter and a vague one.
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XNM Blog
Practical guidance on capital projects, governance, financing, and delivery for Indigenous and public-sector leaders.
Articles
Your Daily Scrum Is a Status Meeting — Here's How to Tell, and How to Fix It
If your Daily Scrum is three round-the-room status updates for the Scrum Master, it has drifted. Here is what good and bad actually look like.
Read more →Stakeholder Mapping That Works — and the Version That Doesn't
Side-by-side: what disciplined stakeholder mapping and influence management look like in practice, versus the lazy habits that quietly sink projects.
Read more →Right-Sizing Safety Stock, One Item at a Time: A Field Checklist
A practical, item-by-item checklist for setting safety stock that matches each part's demand swing, lead-time risk, and the cost of running out.
Read more →Running DMAIC End to End: A Checklist for Your Next Improvement Project
DMAIC fails when teams jump to solutions before defining the problem. This phase-by-phase checklist keeps a Lean Six Sigma project honest from Define to Control.
Read more →A Sprint Planning Checklist for Teams That Want to Finish on Time
Sprint Planning runs long and Sprints overrun when the Backlog is murky and capacity is guessed. Here is a practical checklist to plan a Sprint you can actually finish.
Read more →A Risk Register That Earns Its Place: A Checklist for This Week
Most risk registers are graveyards of unowned line items. Use this field checklist to turn yours into something that actually changes what the team does next.
Read more →Dual-Sourcing Without the Disappointment: Where Resilience Plans Go Wrong
Adding a second supplier feels like insurance, but most resilience plans fail quietly. Here are the common mistakes and how to build sourcing that actually holds.
Read more →Scope Before You Solve: Avoiding the SIPOC Mistakes That Derail DMAIC
A SIPOC drawn well keeps a Lean Six Sigma project from boiling the ocean. Drawn badly, it sets you up to fix the wrong thing. Here are the traps to dodge.
Read more →Why So Many Sprint Goals Are Worthless — and How to Write One That Isn't
A Sprint Goal is meant to give the team something worth committing to. Most are vague or just a backlog summary. Here is how to fix the usual mistakes.
Read more →The RAID Log Nobody Updates: Common Failures and How to Avoid Them
A RAID log is only as good as the habit of keeping it current. Here are the mistakes that turn it into dead weight, and how to make it a living tool the team trusts.
Read more →Seeing Past Your Suppliers: Where Tier-2 Risk Mapping Goes Wrong
Most disruption in 2021 came not from the supplier you know but from the one behind them. Here are the mistakes teams make mapping tier-2 risk, and how to fix them.
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