Video Transcript

One of my favorite ways to describe the DMAIC methodology for Lean Six Sigma is using a bizarre example of when my 5 year old daughter Hannah had arthritis.  One day she complained about a pain she felt in her leg. Her leg looked fine and she said she didn't fall or bump it, so we thought she was just being a typical 5 year old hypochondriac.  But as the day progressed, she kept complaining about it, and at one point, I watched her limping down the stairs when she didn't even know I was watching her. Then later that evening she began crying in pain saying she couldn't bend her leg.  

Naturally we were very concerned because we had no idea what was causing this pain.  So we took her to the doctor to get her examined. The doctor asked about her medical history and if there was any incident that led to her feeling this pain. Finally the doctor concluded that the pain she was feeling was from having arthritis.  

Arthritis?!  In a 5 year old?!  We thought that was crazy.  But the doctor actually suspected something else was the root cause for the arthritis.  

Do you know what it was?  It wasn't growing pains.  And there was no injury or any kind of medical history causing it. Can you guess what it is?  

Again, it's a great example of how the root cause of something can be very different from the symptoms being felt.  To find out what it was, check out part 2 and I'll further explain how this story applies to the DMAIC methodology for Lean Six Sigma.