We weren’t trying to “do Lean Six Sigma.”

We weren’t using swimlanes or drawing fishbone diagrams.

But we had a problem—and it was slowing everyone down.

Our analysts were spending way too much time on repetitive, manual steps—

Copying case details. Formatting narratives. Toggling between systems.

Quality varied. Productivity plateaued.

And worst of all—clients were feeling the impact:

Looming SLAs. Rework. Inconsistencies across write-ups.

The frustration was real.

Analysts felt it. Quality felt it. So did leadership.

Not because people weren’t working hard—but because the process wasn’t helping them succeed.

So we asked the simplest Lean question there is:

“Where is the waste?”

We pulled together analysts, team leads, and ops support.

Mapped the workflow.

Listened.

And instead of a six-month overhaul, we found one high-leverage fix:

A macro.

A simple Excel macro that auto-pulled case data into a clean narrative template.

It didn’t replace analysts. It equipped them.

Saved time. Improved consistency. Reduced cognitive load.

And gave Quality teams cleaner starting points—every single time.

It didn’t require a new system or a budget request.

It required a mindset:

Look closer. Ask better questions. Trust the people doing the work.

Looking back, this was Lean in action:

We eliminated non-value-add activity

We built quality into the process—not after it

We reduced turnaround time for our client

We tapped the people closest to the work

And we reinforced a culture that says: improvement doesn’t need permission

The Insight:

Lean Six Sigma is still relevant—because waste, variation, and inefficiency still exist.

Not just in factories.

In every shared inbox, every Excel tab, every disjointed workflow we touch.

Whether you call it Lean, process thinking, or just good leadership—

The principles hold:

✔ Value starts with the client

✔ Simplicity scales

✔ Small changes matter

You don’t need to wear a belt to make something better.

You just need to believe that every process is improvable—and that improvement is everyone’s job.

Your Turn:

Where have you seen Lean thinking show up in unexpected places?

What small process fix delivered bigger value than expected?