Lean Six Sigma - can it be applied to music?

[arkjack]

Yo Felonius!Man whats the big idea starting a great thread like this when I'm at the peak of busy season? Huh? I've been involved with Q science and 6 sigma since 92'. Got the greenbelt. I would say that there are a lot of tools in the 6s box that can be used to improve the processes involved with music making. Whether or not it produces hit songs and forwards is another matter. There is also the element the discipline has in making your available resources go as far as possible, whether it be time, skill, gear, or marketing. There is also the part of making music as an esoteric product, versus what we are doing in Taxi as it being a competitive product. So much to discuss, so little time. Another science that I've been trained in and have applied in music making is TRIZ and Systematic Innovation. TRIZ is the Russian acronym for the Theory for Solving Inventive Problems. Again a very deep topic in applying these tools to music creation and production. As rayzer pointed out, these sciences are extremely useful in efficiently allocating scarce resources.ArkJack

[feloniuspunk]

I didn't expect quite this much dialogue but I am pleased. There are obviously lots of people who do know something about LSS (Lean Six Sigma). RLC Music said: "Many would argue that there's actually a struggle going on between creativity and efficiency in companies because creativity/invention/innovation are very disorderly processes by their very nature."I agree, and furthermore, I am reminded of the story of The Little Prince:http://www.spiritual.com.au/articles/pr ... nts.htmThe little prince learns an important lesson from the fox after having tamed him:"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. "You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world." And the roses were very much embarrassed. "You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you, the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.And he went back to meet the fox. "Goodbye," he said."Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.""What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember."It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.""It is the time I have wasted for my rose..." said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember."Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose...""I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.===================The lines above are from chapter 21.===================And thus I think it is with music, at least the inspirational, writing part of it all. For me what I think makes my songs good is the time I have wasted in creating them. By definition that was not an efficient process. But because I spend enough time caring for each song, like the little prince spent caring for his rose, my songs become special and unique.===================I agree that some parts of the music "business" could easily profit from lean Six Sigma thinking but overall, the end product, our songs we write, sort of defies that type of thinking. If we applied LSS to the act of song writing the music would most likely be no more than computer generated sounds a computer makes, like background for some video games that loops endlessly supplying white noise for the act of joy stick manipulation.I'm glad to see though that there are many members of Taxi who are right out there on the cutting edge of what's happening with the concept of LSS. LSS is at least the flavor of the month for managers to wrestle with. I recall several years ago when it was TQM (total quality management). At any rate, thanks for those many very thoughtful responses.