1.3. Making Data Analysis Lean

Discovery is largely supported by the generation of hypotheses—conjectures about relationships and causality. Today's Six Sigma teams, and data analysts in the business world in general, are often trained with a heavy emphasis on hypothesis testing, with comparatively little emphasis given to hypothesis generation and discovery. They are often hampered in their problem solving and improvement efforts by the inability to exploit exploratory methods, which could enable them to make more rapid progress, often with less effort.

In recent times, we have seen incredible advances in visualization methods, supported by phenomenal increases in computing power. We strongly believe that the approaches now allowed by these methods are underutilized in current Six Sigma practice. It is this conviction that motivated us to write this book. We hope you find it useful as you shape and build your own real-world Six Sigma experience.