19 terms

Process Improvement Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the core process improvement terms — Lean, Six Sigma, DMAIC, PDCA, SIPOC, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, Gemba Walk, and more — each linked to the chapters that explain them in depth.

Business Case

A cost-benefit analysis that justifies whether to invest in a course of action, assessing the need, defining outcomes, analyzing alternatives, quantifying value, and making a recommendation.

Control Plan

A document that defines how to maintain an improved process, specifying the process owner, key metrics and targets, monitoring routines, and a response plan with escalation triggers.

Discovery

The qualitative phase of process work that observes and researches what actually exists in a process, cataloging its nouns and verbs before any quantitative measurement begins.

DMAIC

The signature Six Sigma framework of five phases (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) that provides rigorous structure for solving recurring problems and sustaining the gains.

Five Whys

A root-cause analysis technique that asks why a problem occurs repeatedly, typically about five times, following the chain of causation until the underlying cause rather than the surface symptom is reached.

Gemba Walk

A Lean continuous-improvement practice in which leaders go to where work actually happens to observe conditions, talk with frontline workers, and understand challenges without solving on the spot.

Kaizen

A Lean and continuous-improvement philosophy, Japanese for change for better, in which small incremental improvements are made constantly and compound over time.

Kanban

A Lean and Agile method that visualizes work on a board and limits work-in-progress to manage flow, making policies explicit and improving collaboratively.

Lean

An improvement methodology originating from Toyota that focuses on eliminating the eight wastes and streamlining flow through the principles of value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection.

OODA Loop

A decision-making cycle originally developed for the military (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) suited to fast-moving, competitive, or crisis situations where speed of decision matters.

PDCA

A continuous-improvement cycle, also called the Deming or Shewhart Cycle, with four steps (Plan, Do, Check, Act) for testing changes on a small scale and standardizing what works.

Process Improvement

The systematic practice of making work better by eliminating waste, reducing errors, increasing speed, cutting costs, and improving quality so that processes deliver more value consistently.

Process Mapping

A discovery output that visually represents the flow of a process, showing its steps, decisions, and handoffs as a diagram to support analysis and communication.

RACI Analysis

A responsibility-assignment technique that clarifies, for each activity, who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, with exactly one Accountable owner per activity.

SIPOC

A high-level discovery framework that maps a process by its Suppliers, Inputs, Process steps, Outputs, and Customers to frame how inputs are transformed into outputs.

Six Sigma

A data-driven improvement methodology that reduces variation and prevents defects using statistical methods, aiming for as few as 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

Stakeholder Analysis

A method for identifying everyone involved in or affected by a process and assessing their influence and interest, using tools like stakeholder lists, influence-interest matrices, onion diagrams, and personas.

Value Stream Mapping

A Lean tool that visualizes all the steps in a process flow to expose where time is lost and waste accumulates, distinguishing value-creating work from waiting and queues.

Verification and Validation

A paired testing concept where verification confirms a solution was built right according to the design and validation confirms the right thing was built to solve the actual problem.

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