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• 13402
  

  This is another buzz word that means great increased contract work for contractors as mentioned in the article. However, government is not a six sigma organization. If the government is doing anything worthwhile in a business sense, it is not doing what government should do! Government only should do those things that private companies would not do! Government does not even know how to develop the real costs to use to make decisions - look at the BRAC process! Government, particularly the DoD, has no clue what accrual accounting is and the costs they will use will include depreciation and amortization that really are not costs. For example, the DoD comptroller believes that expenses are when things are paid for not when they are delivered.

  Government has a lot larger issues to worry about before they try to use the 6 sigma techniques. However, everyone will latch onto the buzz word so they sound intelligent even if the information they use is the incorrect information for the decision. Government is driven by politics - not profits or minimum cost operations. By the way, that is not corrupt, it is inefficient.

  taxpayer Posted November 14, 2005 7:54 AM
• 13283
  

  Government is so corrupt they are required to keep putting out these acronym programs to make you think they are trying to do the right thing.

  I only did 28 years in government and cannot find one program that worked past the first so called "leader" getting mad because things were not going his/her way.

  The end of the program.

  rds Posted November 5, 2005 7:05 PM
• 13248
  

  Unlike the TQM, Quality Circles, and ISO-9000 central principle of empowering people, Six Sigma and Lean centers around the principle of waste elimination. The "waste" could be an error, as in ideally realizing no defects, or the "waste" could be people, as in the downsizing an agency. Fad or no fad, we all want to educate ourselves on this topic since NSPS will provide the "flexibility" of hiring and firing with ease.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 3, 2005 11:18 AM
• 13229
  

  I remember "TQM," then "Quality Circles," then "ISO-9000," and now we in the FAA are in the middle of "QMS ISO 9000 registration." All were a waste of money when management did not engage and empower employees.

  Six Sigma may be different, if that is responsible for the improvements at the FAA's logistics center. As a 12-year FAA employee, I was used to three month delivery times, orders getting lost, etc.

  My most recent experiences have been 180 degrees different. The FAA logistics center is now delivering to my door in two days what used to take 60 to 90 days. And the order is correct!

  If Six Sigma is what did it- wow.

  Maybe worth looking into folks.

  Jim Posted November 2, 2005 7:05 PM
• 13227
  

  What'd he say: "Jump to a solution and then try to implement it"? Yeah, that sounds exactly like inept government managers, just the type that would grasp at this kind of straw.

  Even a drunk has a plan on how to get home from the bar - too bad we can't produce leaders (General's or SES'ers) capable of that much strategic thought. That is what is killing us, none of the morons in charge can think beyond their next dayplanner appointment. Very organized but absolutely no ability to think ahead, incorporating past experiences into new events. I believe it is known as business acumen. Our quivering leaders can barely focus on whose butt they need to kiss next.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2005 5:14 PM
• 13225
  

  Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2005 3:29 PM
• 13222
  

  BOHICA (Bend Over, Here It Comes Again) - How many times in nearly 40 years of government service have we heard "this is not just a new fad," when we know it is just a new fad. So now we package TQM with an eastern flair.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2005 12:17 PM
• 13218
  

  Goody, goody, gum-drops.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2005 11:34 AM
• 13207
  

  Here we go again. The new thing. TQM, Quality Circles and now the latest hot item. I hate to be negative, I was very active on TQM, but these things come and go. Senior managers will never let go of power.

  GovExec.com reader Posted November 2, 2005 8:35 AM