Unlocking Lean Six Sigma: A Competency-Based Approach to Applying Continuous Process Improvement Principles and Best Practices (Competency Based Books for Structured Learning)

Pennsylvania author Wesley E. Donahue, PhD is a professor of Management Development and Education at Penn State University and President of Centrestar, an organization that aids professionals in assessing and improving their leadership skills. His books to date are BUILDING LEADERSHIP COMPETENCE and UNLOCKING LEAN SIX SIGMA.For those unfamiliar with Lean Six Sigma, it is a tool that is an outgrowth of TQM (Total Quality Management) used to identify areas of excessive production, inefficient methods, and regions of undue activity. In other words, it is used to ferret out and correct ‘waste’ in the workplace, whether in business offices or in large corporations.What Dr. Donahue provides in this excellent book is a workbook that offers the reader a practical approach to deciphering the areas in inefficiency and gives instructions on how to manage each factor that is not operating or functioning correctly with directions on how to improve (resolve) each issue.The format is such that even ‘early learners’ will find his guidance not only accessible, but also easy to follow and to continue to correct deficiencies. The questions he places at appropriate positions in the book’s content reinforce the messages delivered. The first reading of this book allows the reader to discover and understand inefficiencies: subsequent readings offer a solid guide to correcting those flaws. Grady Harp, April 21

Unlocking Lean Six Sigma: A Competency-Based Approach to Applying Continuous Process Improvement Principles and Best Practices by Dr. Wesley E. Donahue is a great guide that makes a huge impact. The book is intended for those who work in project management to find solutions to various problems. This guide has plenty of illustrations, guides, and quizzes that will help you learn. You will find that the activities help keep you engaged and learning as you read. The author has clearly laid out a program that will improve results. If you are looking for a concise and highly usable book about project management, this is the perfect book. This is one of the most helpful guides out there and the author has done a great job of disseminating his knowledge on the subject. Highly recommend.

Great stuff for sure if you are interested in the world of Six Sigma/Lean. Just make sure you are not getting a detailed explanation of the subject. This is more like a workbook: blank spaces to fill with you answers, graphics to fill, questions to answers, etc. Good stuff, really good stuff. Just don't expect a lot of theory, just practice.

Unlocking Lean Six Sigma: A Competency-Based Approach to Applying Continuous Process Improvement Principles and Best Practices by Dr. Wesley E. Donahue is a fantastic book for anyone who is looking to find new and innovative solutions when working on project-based assignments. The book includes lots of visuals to help the reader to understand the ideas that the author is presenting and also has quizzes that the reader can take to be able to learn more about themselves and their style for approaching this sort of management. The author's plan moves smoothly from one aspect to the next, and it is clear that he has put lots of time and energy into becoming an expert in this field of understanding. It is a fairly quick read and does a good job of cutting through jargon and presenting at a level that many will be able to quickly find what they need and be able to put it into action.

This is not just a great book on individual and project management teams, but perhaps the best one on overall project management I have ever read.Dr. Wesley Donahue did an excellent job breaking down the challenges that face any organization at any level. He writes not from a theoretical perspective, but directly from being a sublime educator who dedicated his entire life to teaching leadership.This masterpiece is extremely well written and practical. The suggestions and advice can be immediately implemented regardless of the industry.It proved to be a very quick read and loaded with excellent insights. The author takes lots of examples to facilitate understanding and I found myself learning so many things about this particular field that I’m grateful to him.I absolutely recommend this piece of work. This is a good book to read and re-read.

This was a well outlined book that ended up teaching me a lot, it also includes links to videos that reinforce what you're reading. It feels like the author did care about sending the message through and share part of his knowledge in this book. I can say that I learned different things.

As soon as I read the title “Unlocking Lean Six Sigma”, I felt my eyebrows frowning, and the voice inside my head saying “What?!”. Fortunately, something inside me also told me to give this book a chance so I decided to buy it.I could not imagine what I was about to read, and I did not imagine how much I was going to learn. I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Wesley E. Donahue, the mind, heart and hand behind these pages. The author shares a methodology for managing work processes that have revolutionarily changed my days at work.As the writer suggests, the methodology he simply and accurately describes can be adjusted to most working environments. For this reason, I recommend this book for those who are intrigued as I was or for those who need a change at work.