Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An overview, a briefing, and a primer , 13 April 2009
There are four volumes in the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) series. In this paperbound edition, Forrest Breyfogle III provides an introduction to the IEE system and overview on three hardbound volumes, all of which he also wrote:
EEI, Volume I, The Basics: Golfing Buddies Go Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard
EEI, Volume II: Business Deployment: A Leaders' Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard
EEI, Volume III, Improvement Project Execution: A Management and Black Belt Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard
In two earlier works that I read and then reviewed, Implementing Six Sigma, Second Edition: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods (2003) and Managing Six Sigma: A Practical Guide to Understanding, Assessing, and Implementing the Strategy That Yields Bottom-Line Success (2000) co-authored with James Cupello and Becki Meadows, Breyfogle indicates that he is a pragmatic optimist in that he is determined to know what does and does not work (also why and why not) but he also believes that all human initiatives can be improved. He seems driven to share everything he has learned with as many people as possible. In my opinion, that is why his explanations are so specific and so thorough as well as anchored in real-world situations. This book offers an excellent case in point.
In it, Breyfogle rigorously examines the Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) system as set of management techniques that can, when effectively implemented, improve an organization's measurement and improvement initiatives so that there is an increase in predictable and sustainable bottom-line benefits. The IEE system embeds a set of best practices derived from the strengths of past systems--applying structured metrics and a no nonsense roadmap to initiate process improvement and achieve substantial benefits. IEE takes Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard to the next level in the pursuit of enterprise excellence.
I strongly recommend that, if possible, this volume be purchased and read first before proceeding to any/all of the other volumes because, in it, Breyfogle brilliantly reviews the specific subjects covered in each volume. That is, he focuses on a number of possible initiatives after Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard, presented in a progression of increasing complexity from informal conversations while playing golf to a remarkably comprehensive management and Black Belt guide. Breyfogle also examines the connections between and among the core concepts in each of the three volumes. He makes it crystal clear that IEE is best viewed as a breakthrough governance system that integrates analytics with innovation and execution. As he explains, it suggests strategies and tactics that will enable leaders to determine what is most important in a given process, how and when to measure and then report progress of improvement initiatives, how to use the data to modify goals or set new ones, and meanwhile throughout a rigorous process of discovery and response, how to sharpen organizational focus while extending and enhancing success.
For those executives with little (if any) prior experience with enterprise initiatives, this is a "must read." C-level executives now involved in such initiatives will also derive substantial benefit from the material because it will enable them to make appropriate modifications of whatever has not been as yet effective. Moreover, the value of this book will increase significantly if read with appropriate care in combination with one or preferably all of the other three volumes.
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by Forrest W., III Breyfogle
by Forrest W., III Breyfogle
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