“Six Sigma is a methodology applicable across industries and also applicable to our day to day life ”  this is one thing most of us say and we always have a question in mind how.

I was giving it a thought and I did not strive to apply any of the methodologies of six sigma consciously, but when I think about it in retrospect, a lot of my way of doing things today make complete sense and link to concepts of continuous improvement. Today I would like to share one such experience where we use or can use Six Sigma in something as simple as preparing a Consistent Tasting Tea.

Six Sigma mainly follows a disciplined methodology of DMAIC which is basically the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control phase. We will see how these phases help in a consistent tea-making process.

Problem Statement: The tea I prepare is not of the right consistency some time the taste differs some time the quantity and quality differ.

Define: Usually defines a project charter (Learning to make tea with the right consistency each time). I prepared a SIPOC and flowchart as well which we will discuss later.

Measure: Collect information about tea to water and milk ratios, temperatures, and sugar quantity. I conducted the repeatability test using the measurement scales for each ingredient to make sure that there is no issue with the scales.

Analyze: Find out what are the direct and indirect causal relations and analyze data to monitor the preparation of tea (I narrowed it down to the root cause: proportion of tea to proportion of water and milk added with the amount of time taken to boil the tealeaf)

Improve: I concluded that for each 1 cup of tea the right proportion was 1 spoon of tea for a half cup of water and a half cup of milk along with 2 teaspoons of sugar and boil for 15 mins. I arrived at this after multiple experimenting and piloting.

Control: Made an SOP and Check sheet pasted it near the stove so that I constantly follow the same proportion and ensuring that whoever in the family prepares tea for me makes can follow the steps and measurements according to the chart. I monitored it for a few days to check the consistency and it was a success.

Since Six Sigma is a Continuous Improvement process I was planning how to improve the taste as my next project.

Never made a conscious choice to actually follow these steps, however, when did a conscious effort I got myself a perfect cup of tea. The Analyze phase was basically me googling “well-prepared tea” and bang, there was the article that perfectly defined how one can make a perfect cup of tea of the right preferred consistency. I followed this up with a few experiments of my own till I got the Cup of tea to Cheer.

I conclude by saying mankind needs to strive for perfection and less variation leading to excellence and continuous improvement in every walk of life and I feel Six Sigma needs to be a habit more than just a methodology to achieve that.