I'm writing this a bit late today because I wanted to wait and see what I'd have
to report.
The day started off well; Rudder came home from his
marathon (at which he and She-Hulk not only won their race but set a new course
record for mixed doubles!) not even too late. We finished off the weekend in
appropriate style and then, joy of joys, slept in ALL THW WAY UNTIL 6 AM because
he is taking a week OFF!!!!! Well, not really "off", per se; we'll still go to the
gym tomorrow and Thursday but we get to sleep until 4:45 on those days and there's
not the chill factor that makes going out to the lake require such strength of
mind. Not that I'm at a point in my training where time off from rowing makes any
sense, but no way would I miss this opportunity to sleep in.
So we
slept and then I came in to work and basically studied and jittered around my
office until 10 AM when I met with my examiners and passed the technical portion
of my Six Sigma Black Belt certification! Yay!
For an idea of the
magnitude of this, in difficulty it's somewhere between getting my pilot's license
and my master's degree -- a year of study, teaching, mentoring, and project work.
Here's a quick definition of what it means - it's from a different company but Six
Sigma is more or less a standardized thing:
Six
Sigma project leaders are referred to as Black Belts because these individuals
must have some of the same attributes that distinguish dedicated practitioners of
certain martial arts. They must possess mastery with the tools and skill in their
application, discipline in application of the method, and even a sense of humility
based on the knowledge that project success comes from the work and expertise of
many others. Six Sigma Black Belts master statistics and quantitative methods,
and, most importantly, have the interpersonal skills, leadership, energy,
enthusiasm, and a determination to follow an assignment to success.A
basic Six Sigma premise is to challenge assumptions!
If
you want more detail (which you probasby don't unless you're a corporate type)
here are a few articles:
After that a bunch of us went out to lunch to
celebrate; I was going to treat but one of the senior guys wouldn't let me. Then I
came back to meet with the boss about the business end of it.
My boss
hasn't signed off on the organizational impact part of it yet; she wants us to
idiot-proof our process a little better, to make sure it really is followed
correctly. She's good at he big-picture stuff, and of course this is something we
need to do anyway, so I should be able to complete the whole thing shortly, I
hope.
One less thing to worry about.
Posted by dichroic at November 10, 2003 04:59 PM