For #futurefridays let’s talk about RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and what will happen to it in 2020.

With all the rage about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the Future of Work, people have been saying that RPA seems to have taken a back seat from all the action.

To the uninitiated, I’ll talk about the difference between RPA and AI.

So back to what will happen to RPA, in the recent past, people have been so afraid about RPA and that people would lose jobs because of it.

That was only for RPA. What more for AI? I guess people are, and were, just afraid of what they don’t know.

But now that people have become accustomed to having a “Digital Workforce” or software robots working alongside them, people’s thoughts have changed from fearing about job security, to scrutinizing where RPA falls short!

In my opinion, that’s a good thing, because we can now start doing innovations!

Here are some of the things I’ve heard people say about RPA lately:

• It’s becoming a band aid solution
• It can only do so much
• With AI coming in, let’s just set our sights on that

With that, I’d like to talk about each of those bullet points in detail.

I will share my thoughts based on my own experience, as well as where I think RPA will be going to next.

RPA is becoming a Band Aid Solution

Based on my experience, my short answer is Yes, and No. Let me explain.

RPA is considered a band aid solution because ideally the long term solution is for you to fix the systems and applications that RPA interacts with.

That is true IF the development of those tools and applications is within your control, meaning you have access to the source code, you have tech developers available, and you can customize it to suit your needs.

Usually if it’s a third-party application, if it’s not open source, there’s Intellectual Property involved so they will not give access to the source code for you to make changes to it.

In such scenarios, they can provide an API for you connect other systems and applications to their proprietary software.

If you can’t customize the source code, and there is no API available, you have no choice but to go through the User Interface, which is how human users do it.

And if everything you do on the User Interface is rules-based, with no human judgment required, that’s where RPA will shine, especially if the process involves touching more than one system or application for you to complete each task.

If you really want to do away with having BOTs, you might want to look at replacing your existing systems and applications with something that will suit your needs (and costs) better than having several applications and BOTs running at the same time.

RPA can only do so much

Ah, this is where I would have to agree, to a certain extent.

RPA, in its simplest form, is like an independent human user. Meaning it has its own computer (a server) and it can work independently on its own. So to be efficient at it, BOTs have typically been designed to operate in a “batch processing” fashion. Which means it cannot cater to the individual needs of every other human in your workforce.

So in 2020, it’s about time for people to embrace the innovations being done in RPA. And it’s not just AI.

Enter “Farm BOTs” and “Side BOTs.”

These things aren’t necessarily new innovations, but I don’t think companies have been taking advantage of them as much.

Farm BOTs: You know when there are seasonalities in your business, like volumes go up during Christmas season, or during summer, and you tend to hire temporary employees to help you manage the volume?

That’s the same concept behind Farm BOTs, but instead of for humans, it’s for your digital workforce.

That way, you save on costs, as you don’t need to have idle servers sitting around when volumes are low.

Side BOTs: You know how Iron Man talks to Jarvis and asks him to do certain computations to help Iron Man decide action to take do next?

That’s how Side BOTs operate, only they aren’t AI. They are still Robotic Process Automations that work on simple rules-based and calculations, but instead of sitting on a server, where you have to wait for the “batch processing,” they sit in your desktop, and you can call on them real time.

That way, you can simultaneously do rules-based tasks via the BOT, whole you do some thinking and/or work on human judgment based tasks.

With AI coming in, let’s just set our sights on that

If you’ve read this far, I guess you pretty much have an idea how RPA works, and how it will be improved further.

If you want my personal thoughts on this, I believe that RPA will not die. If anything, RPA and AI will actually compliment each other,where RPA will be foundational in automating routinary rules-based tasks, while AI will be used to manage some of the more complex work that are still being done by humans today, or even help humans achieve greater things that haven’t been done before.

Ending note

This post has been inspired by this article from Forbes.

If you want to read other articles I’ve shared about Automation, RPA, and AI, click here.

If you want to learn more about how to find automation opportunities, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

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For #wisdomwendesdays I’ve been asked by someone trying to learn Data Science what the difference is between Variance and Standard Deviation in terms of purpose.

For the sake of the uninitiated, I’ll share an article that shows the simplest explanation of what Variance and Standard Deviation are.

Now back to the purpose of each, the easiest analogy I can give you is like how the Red and Blue Pills work in the movie – The Matrix.

Let me explain.

Standard Deviation = Blue Pill

Standard Deviation is easier to visualize in the real world because it is in the same unit of measure as the Mean or Average, the Median, the Minimum and Maximum values, and so forth.

So if your purpose is on how you’re going to visualize your data and plot it on a graph for you to make decisions based on what you see, then it would be better to use Standard Deviation.

Variance = Red Pill

Now if you want to do some higher-level analysis, only then will you appreciate the benefits of utilizing Variance, which is essentially Standard Deviation, squared.

An example I can give you is when you would want to combine algorithms or mathematical models to form a new one, you can easily combine Means, but not with Standard Deviation.

What you can do is square the Standard Deviations to get the Variances, and then combine the models.

After which if you would want to get the Standard Deviation of the resulting model in order for you to create a visual representation via a graph or chart, simply take the Square Root of the Variance.

Ending note

So what do you think? Do you agree? Can you think of any other situations where Standard Deviation or Variance is better to use than the other?

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For #motivationmondays, do you know how much better you’ll be in a year, if you improve yourself by just 1% each day?

It’s going to look like this:

• Day 0: 100% status quo
• Day 1: 101%
• Day 7: 107.2%
• Day 30: 135%
• Day 90: 244%
• Day 365: 3778% of whopping exponential improvement!

What does this mean?

Sometimes, you don’t have to immediately strive for that 3778% end goal.

Break it down into smaller milestones, and set your sights on daily improvement goals.

That way, all you have to focus on is that 1% improvement each and every day.

That’s a way simple goal to strive for compared to looking at an overwhelming 3778% improvement in a year, don’t you think?

Like for me, my 1% daily goal is to produce 1 piece of content for you each and every working day. And I hope it’s something you find value in. If you do, then subscribe for updates, and as a gift, you’ll get a free (for a limited time only) copy of my book – The Business Optimization Blueprint, so you can start working on improving your processes by 1% every day.

How about you, what’s the 1% improvement you’re looking to do everyday?

Reply with a comment. I would love to hear from you.

The post If You Improve Yourself by just 1% Every Day, How Much Better will You Be in a Year? appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #futurefridays I was asked a question: “Does the Future of Work still need Lean Six Sigma?”

Well, based on my own personal experience, it’s a big YES.

You see, Lean Six Sigma is simply a structured problem-solving approach.

So if you have a problem that requires root-cause-analysis before you find the appropriate solution, then Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC approach is what you need.

You can’t just implement some sort of software automation or that snazzy new technological tool just for the sake of it.

To put it bluntly, Automations and such Technologies are part of the Solutions. But to uncover the root causes of the problems that require these solutions, that’s where you would need Lean Six Sigma.

So if anything, Lean Six Sigma is actually becoming a foundational skill that continuous process improvement and innovation experts of today must master.

Let me give you an example.

Jay Arthur, author of 2 books on Lean Six Sigma, seems to agree. Based on this article that he’s written, he says that he has observed companies taking a more Agile approach to problem solving, and Lean Six Sigma is part of it all.

In the article, he shares the phases based on his observations:

• Prework (to me, this looks like the Define and Measure phases)
• 1 or 2 day training (this is where they undergo Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training)
• Post-work (this looks like where the Analyze, Improve, and Control phases happen)
• Side benefits (apart from quantifying the benefits of each project, they are also able to identify participants who can potentially become the next Green or Black Belt candidates).

In case you haven’t noticed, Hackathons that are meant to solve problems loosely follow this approach as well.

But having the various Lean Six Sigma tools in your arsenal will ensure you are solving for the right root causes, and not implementing complex technological innovations just for the technical difficulty points and impressiveness factors.

So there you have it. I hope you learned something from this.

If you want to learn more, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

The post Does the Future of Work need Lean Six Sigma? appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to Brandon Foltz.

You know when there’s a skill that you haven’t practiced for some time and you feel rusty so you want some sort of refresher to enable you to get a hang of it again?

Well I was in that exact situation a few years ago, specific to Logistic Regression, when I had to create a predictive model to address one of the business pain points I was working on.

Thankfully, I found this tutorial by Brandon that was even better than when I first learned all about Logistic Regression.

And I’d like to share it with you so that you can benefit from it as well.

I hope you learned something from this.

If you want to learn more, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

The post DEMYSTIFIED: How and When to apply Logistic Regression appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

Some people use the terms Customer and Stakeholder interchangeably. But I would like to argue that they are different.

So for today’s #wisdomwednesdays I will simply draw the line and differentiate the 2.

Customer

A Customer is simply the recipient of the output of your process, whether that’s a product, or a service.

Stakeholder

A Stakeholder, on the other hand, does not necessarily have to be a recipient of your goods or services.

However, a Stakeholder does have a vested interest in how well your process performs.

A Stakeholder, as the name implies, holds a stake in your process.

Let me give you some specific examples.

Examples of Customers

There are 2 types:

1. Internal Customers
2. External Customers

Internal Customers are your process partners. They are usually in the same company or line of business as you, but are your downstream processes or department.

You yourself are an Internal Customer of the process or department upstream of yours.

External Customers are the clients who purchase your company’s products or services.

Examples of Stakeholders

As with Customers, there are also 2 types of Stakeholders:

1. Internal Stakeholders
2. External Stakeholders

Examples of Internal Stakeholders are your Employees, the Management and Leadership Team, and the Owners of the Business.

Examples of External Stakeholders are the Government, Regulators, Investors and Shareholders, Suppliers and Vendors.

What about those who are both Customer and Stakeholder?

There are some instances wherein the lines are blurred. Still, it’s important to make a distinction between a Customer and a Stakeholder.

For example, Internal Customers are also Employees. Therefore they are both Stakeholder and Customer at the same time. However, as an Internal Customer, their concern is the accuracy and timeliness of the output of your process. But as an Internal Stakeholder, their stake in your business is their job security and safety.

Same line of thinking goes for Suppliers and Vendors, like if you outsource work to them.

Another example would be employees, management, and leadership who also own stocks of the company. In this scenario, you can be an Internal Customer (I need the output of my upstream process to match my process’ input requirements), Internal Stakeholder (stake in job security and safety), and External Stakeholder (stake in the company performing well such that I’ll be getting return on investment) at the same time. It’s worth noting that your mindset is different for each.

Ending note

Customers, specifically External Customers, are more powerful than Stakeholders.

This is because these Customers have the power to fire you, your boss, and everyone in your company, including the CEO and all Stakeholders, simply by taking their business elsewhere.

So take good care of your employees, because they will, in return, take good care of your customers.

Once you take care of your customers and your employees, your business process will thrive, so long as you keep improving and innovating, and your stakeholders will be happy.

I hope you learned something today.

If you want to learn more, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

The post I Bet You Didn’t Know the Difference between a Customer and a Stakeholder appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #transformationtuesdays and today we’ll talk about a Use Case of Lean Six Sigma being implemented successfully in the Technology industry.

Usually, Tech firms would default to the Agile approach and talk about how they can make further improvements during their Scrum rituals.

And non-Technology companies take best practices from Tech firms implementing Agile and Scrum, to see how they can work in a non-Technology setting.

But here you’ll see the opposite happening.

Lean Six Sigma, a methodology widely used in non-Technology settings, being implemented in the Software and Technology industry.

Today I’ll be showing you the entire Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Project Storyboard by Eduardo Torres, where he was able to reduce Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days.

This not only improved Customer Perception in a good way, this has also increased Team Member Morale as they were able to free up some of their capacity for them to work on features, moving them in the right direction to become Best in Class.

Continue on to see the full project storyboard.

Click here to get the full project Storyboard on Reducing Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days.

I hope you learned a lot today.

If you want to be like Eduardo, you’re in luck. I’ll be hosting a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Flipped Classroom Training that’s coming up. Limited slots!

Click here for details. Enroll now, before slots run out: Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Flipped Classroom Training.

The post How Eduardo reduced Software Bug Fix Lead Time from 25 to 15 days (LSS Green Belt Use Case) appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #motivationmondays!

Remember when you were a child? The world seemed so huge! And every time you laid eyes on something new, curiosity got the best of you.

You want to touch everything, feel the texture, put things on your mouth, find out what it tastes like, and when you grew a little older you start trying to stand up and walk instead of just crawl.

Did you learn all that the first time around? Of course not. You had to experiment until you got it right, and you kept experimenting until you were able to run, until you could ride a bike, until you could drive a car.

You learned all these new skill through a lot of experiments, and you got good at it because you kept learning something new.

But why is it that now that you’re older, you are afraid of failure? Why are you afraid of rejection? Why are you afraid of losing?

Remember, Every Experiment is a Success IF You Learn from it!

So if you’ve been holding back from learning that new skill, what are you so afraid of?

It’s time to become a better version of you.

And if you’ve been wanting to get that Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification, now is the time.

In a few days, we’ll be kicking off the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Flipped Classroom Training. You wouldn’t want to miss this.

Click here for details.

The post Every Experiment is a Success IF You Learn from it! appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to the people who have taken me under their wing.

These people have paved the way to me becoming the Business Optimization Expert I am today.

To my first boss in this field – Kalyan, who hired me because he saw something in me through my Robinson Crusoe story, thank you for investing in me and ensuring I have everything I need to become successful in my role, including my learning towards becoming a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

To my former colleagues – Remi, Aubrey, and Mel, thank you for teaching me what you know. Your generosity in sharing knowledge nuggets, and patience in me for constantly bugging you for questions.

If not for these people, I would not have been able to win my first Hall of Fame Award for generating over $1 Million Dollars.

And lastly, to the person who succeeded Kalyan – Marian, thank you for making me feel empowered. I have learned so much from your meticulous level of detail, as well as your coaching and mentoring techniques.

I would like to pay it forward by teaching what I learned from these mentors to others. I will do this by:

There’s an upcoming GoLeanSixSigma.com Green Belt Flipped Classroom session to be facilitated by me.

20% discount applies to early bird enrollees.

Click here for details on how a Flipped Classroom works, and to enroll and get a slot.

The post With Respect to This Thing is Concerned appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #wisdomwednesdays so it’s time to share things I learned.

Here are 10 Process Improvement Mistakes you Don’t Want to Make.

I was actually going to create a list myself, but my friends Karlo and Tracy at GoLeanSixSigma.com have already put this together, and I agree 100% to all of what they said!

So I thought I would just share it with you!

My personal favorites are:

1. The Glory Hoarder

An example of is when Project Leads take all the recognition, and the team members are not given any credit whatsoever.

Sometimes, Project Leads tend to do this unknowingly too. Like when it’s time to present and demonstrate the project results, the Leads feel they should always be the one to take stage, while somehow leaving the rest of the team out of the spotlight.

How about letting the team members who actually developed the solutions take center stage?

2. The Pet Solution

This is where people already have a preferred solution to the problem.

In my experience, what happens here is that people tend to reverse-engineer their Pet Solution into the DMAIC approach just for them to be able to complete a Lean Six Sigma project.

That’s just wrong!

3. Passing the Buck

This happens when you try to eliminate steps within the process you’re looking to improve, only for another department upstream or downstream to end up taking on that piece of work.

Continue on to see the rest of the mistakes you don’t want to make, along with some great examples.

Here’s the full video webinar.

Click here if you want access to the transcription, as well as the slides used in the webinar.

I hope you learned something new today.

If you want to learn Lean Six Sigma and become Green Belt Certified, click here for the upcoming flipped classroom session, before slots run out!

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