Uncommon Sense - Tools to Improve your Work Forever
Episodes
Using PDSA With Your AI Use Cases
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ever felt that AI experiments seem to start with excitement, then stall when the results don’t quite land?PMI Senior Consultant Anthony Richardson d...
Johari Window: What Don’t You Know About… You?
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if the biggest thing holding you back as a leader is something everyone can see, except you?Join PMI Partner Consultant Des Kelly as he explores ...
Connecting Strategy to Process Management
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tired of overloaded functions and fragile strategies that don’t hold up in reality?Improvement lives where strategy meets process management. When y...
The AI Questions Leaders Are Struggling With
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Leadership decisions around AI are still forming, and a lack of clarity is starting to show.Hear from Anthony Richardson, PMI Senior Consultant guidin...
Has Strategy Deployment Lost Its Lean?
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
If your strategy deployment feels like a box-ticking exercise, it’s a sign that something fundamental has been lost along the way.In this episode of...
Building Trust as a Leader
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Which everyday leadership behaviours are building trust… and which might be eroding it? Join Partner Consultant, Des Kelly, in conversation with Sus...
When Improvement Projects Don’t Progress
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Improvement practitioners know the fear: you’ve done the work, you’ve found the solution… but your improvement project just doesn’t progress. ...
The Role of Leaders in AI Adoption
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If your team isn’t using AI yet, it’s not just their problem. It’s yours. The innovators will dive in fearlessly, while the survivors hold back....
From Unconscious Incompetence to Consciously Competent
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes the biggest risks in your business aren’t obvious. They’re hidden in the gaps between teams. Work gets done, but critical information ge...
Process Confirmation: Catching Drift Before It Becomes a Gap
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Even the best-designed processes can drift over time, but Process Confirmation stops small deviations from becoming major gaps.In this episode, PMI Se...
Implement, Standardise, Review
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve delivered the project. The results are in. But six months later… the old ways of working have crept back in. So how do you stop progress fr...
Is/Is Not: The Overlooked Problem Solving Tool
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What exactly is the problem? And what isn’t? It sounds simple, but getting clarity here can be the difference between chasing assumptions and findin...
Roles in Agile and Lean Six Sigma
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Different approaches, same goal: better performance. That’s why Agile and Lean Six Sigma work together; aligning people, roles, and responsibilities...
FMEA Beyond Manufacturing
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a classic tool. But its reach is far wider than you might think.Join PMI Consultant Des Kelly as he explains what Failure Modes Effects Analy...
Lean Is Not About Efficiency, It’s About Abnormality at a Glance
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a bold claim, but one worth exploring.Join PMI Consultant Niall Coney as he challenges one of the most persistent misconceptions in improvement...
AI for Smarter Problem Solving
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
AI is reshaping problem solving. But can it follow the methods you trust? Join PMI Director Consultant Dennis Crommentuijn-Marsh as he shares an impr...
When Is 8D the Right Problem-Solving Approach?
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
8D has a reputation for being thorough, rigorous, and methodical. But is it always the best choice? Join PMI Director Consultant Stuart Gibson as he ...
Correlations: Unravelling Relationships
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“If I change this… what happens over there?”It’s a familiar question in improvement, and one that correlation helps us explore with rigour and...
5 Leadership Pitfalls
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the surface, everything seems aligned. But improvement just won’t stick. Why? Join PMI Director Consultant Warren Knight as he unpacks five lead...
The Purpose of Process
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a deceptively simple question: What is the purpose of this process? An unclear process purpose is one of the most overlooked causes of waste, ...
The Challenges of Defining Value Add
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s simple: identify what’s valuable and do more of it. But in practice, defining what truly adds value and what doesn’t, can be far from stra...
Design of Experiments: How to Read Between the Lines
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The core principle of DoE is elegantly simple: “how does this thing affect that thing?” PMI Consultant Niall Coney explores the value of experime...
Decode Ambiguity with Operational Definitions
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re on the same page… Or are we?In improvement work, misaligned understanding around simple terms like ‘on time’ or ‘complete’ can der...
Simplifying Sampling Strategies
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Does data collection feel like a tedious, time-consuming hurdle in your improvement projects? It doesn’t have to be.Join Niall Coney, Consultant at ...
How to Onboard an Improvement Team Effectively
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Your improvement team is assembled, the project is underway, but something’s off. Misalignment keeps surfacing, engagement is lacking, and stalled p...
Change or Chance? Understanding Hypothesis Testing
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you spot a difference in your data, is it because something has genuinely changed, or is it just chance?Join Niall Coney, Consultant at PMI, as h...
The Value of Capability Analysis
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re making decisions based on assumptions, this episode could change everything.Join PMI Consultant Dennis Crommentuijn-Marsh for a real-world...
Identifying The Right People For Your Team
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Struggling with team dynamics? When it comes to building a successful improvement team, skills matter, but the right people are everything.Join PMI Co...
Understanding Capability in Process Performance
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How confident are you that the processes you rely on can delight your customers? Capability studies will provide the answer by revealing whether your...
How Are Histograms Different to Bar Charts?
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The patterns in your data can hold the key to better business decisions. Histograms go beyond simple bar charts, offering a clear view of data distrib...
SPC Charts: Driving Sustainable Performance Gains
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stop chasing symptoms and start driving sustainable performance gains.PMI Director Consultant Warren Knight shares how SPC Charts can unlock powerful ...
Reporting and Reviewing Performance
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are sales up this month? Have we produced more product this week than last week? Did we exceed our KPIs? Understanding how we’re performing against ...
Why Quality, Why Today?
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Your Quality Improvement activity isn’t delivering the value you want.Business is fast-paced and complex, but your success can’t be sustained if y...
Quality Driven Agile
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quality and Agile thrive together by putting your customer at the centre of what you do.Join PMI Senior Consultant Anthony Richardson as he reveals ho...
Agile Visual Management
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s stopping you from visualising your workflow?Join us as we delve into Agile Visual Management, sharing how integrating Agile principles with v...
Agile Meets Lean Six Sigma: A Case Study
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would happen if you integrated Agile into your improvement activity? In this episode, we explore how Lean Six Sigma and Agile methodologies work ...
What Is Agile Improvement?
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you ever wonder how some organisations adapt to change so effortlessly?PMI Director Consultant Sean Buckland describes how Agile methodologies, roo...
How To Get The Best Out Of Your Improvement Team
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Think you already know how to unlock a team’s potential?Then you need to join Mark Allison; PMI Senior Consultant and experienced improvement team l...
What Gets In The Way Of Adopting SPC?
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Your process data today is different from yesterday. But is an investigation worthy of your time?As an Improvement Practitioner, you already know th...
Applying Lean In Service
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Does Lean apply to me? It’s fine for manufacturing, but I work in the service industry.”Join Niall Coney, Consultant at PMI, as he challenges...
Communicating Results with Impact
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The way you present your project achievements could be the difference between driving impactful change and losing your audience entirely.Delve into th...
Use X Matrix to Determine the Vital Priorities
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you deploy a strategy effectively and ensure it makes the impact that will elevate your organisation?In the final episode of our strategy-focus...
A Model for Improvement at Any Level
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How will you know that your reinvigorated strategy is an improvement? Join PMI Partner Consultant Des Kelly in the next episode of our strategy-focu...
Organise and Sequence Improvement Ideas Using AD and ID
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Developing a successful strategy requires the transformation of abstract ideas into actionable plans, and this is where the Affinity Diagram and the I...
Use Force-Field to Understand the Perspectives, Actions and Consequences of Change
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you aware of the invisible forces shaping the success or failure of your organisation's strategic goals? PMI Partner Consultant Des Kelly del...
Evaluate your strategic position with SWOT
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The business landscape can make or break your strategy. So you need to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing your ...
Understand External Influences using PESTEL
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding the macro environment is crucial for effective strategic decision-making, and PESTEL is a tool for helping you do this.Join us for the n...
Competitive Analysis Through Porter's 5 Forces
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you proactive in identifying the forces that influence your business environment?By understanding and leveraging these forces, your organisation c...
Strategy and the Responsibilities of the Leadership Team
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do you ensure your business strategy is well-crafted and adaptable to the ever-evolving business landscape?In the first of a strategy-focused mini...
Adapting VoC to Establish Voice of the Business
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever questioned if your work is truly aligned with your customer's needs?Drawing on a coaching experience where a project team faced thi...
Psychology Essentials That Leaders Need to Know
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Unlock the power of intrinsic motivation to engage your team in change.Join PMI Director Consultant and experienced Executive Coach Warren Knight as h...
Common Control Chart Fallacies
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Navigate the complexities of Control Charts with ease, as we clear up some common misconceptions. Drawing from years of experience reviewing, coachin...
Evolving to Control Charts
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is your data telling the right story? The shift from simple data tables to Control Charts is more than a mere change in data representation; it&apos...
Control Charts: Walter Shewhart's Gift to Quality
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Beyond its value as a statistical tool, the Control Chart is a symbol of excellence in operational efficiency and quality management that has shaped t...
How Effective Leaders Support a Learning Organisation
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Effective leaders recognise that their organisation's ability to improve is fundamentally based upon its ability to learn. In this thought-provo...
Process Operators: Driving Continuous Improvement
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Process Operators are not just cogs in the machine. They’re the heartbeat of an organisation; executing core processes and directly influencing th...
Why Leaders Need to Understand Variation
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Variation represents chaos and unpredictability. So in our business systems, which require consistency and repeatability to enable improvement, the ...
Mastering Process Management
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Managing processes is as vital as managing people for keeping the gears of performance well-oiled and aligned with organisational goals. Join PMI Sen...
Systems Thinking From a Leadership Perspective
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine your organisation as an orchestra, where each section must play in harmony to create a beautiful symphony. This is the crux of Systems Thinkin...
Navigating Process Management Roles
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Successful process management requires a shift in mindset where everyone is empowered to think of their organisation as a collection of interconnected...
The Power of Retrospectives
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’re seeing a growing recognition of the power of reflection in today’s fast-paced world, where the delivery of improved performance through ever...
Working Successfully With Your Sponsor
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whatever kind of change project you're working on, a good relationship with your sponsor is essential, but it isn’t necessarily easy.PMI Direct...
Managing Variation in Customer Demand With Heijunka
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is your demand unpredictable and difficult to forecast? You can reduce this challenge and improve your business efficiency by implementing a level s...
What is Lean Six Sigma?
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a Lean advocate, do you sit in the Six Sigma camp, or are you wondering what Lean Six Sigma is all about?Join us for a whistlestop tour back t...
How SMED Can Improve Setup Times
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are you in engineering or manufacturing? Do you want to minimise downtime between changeovers? Then this Lean tool is for you!In this episode, Dir...
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) to Measure Performance
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you want to know how effectively your system delivers value to its customers? What are your measures for availability, productivity, and quality ...
Dr Deming - A Relevant Philosophy for Today? With Jan Gillett
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode of Uncommon Sense, we’re joined by former PMI Deputy Chairman Jan Gillett as we commemorate 30 years since the passing of th...
Process Redesign and the 5Rs
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 5Rs will help you work more efficiently and effectively, offering a structured way to analyse and improve processes. So, as you carry out your wo...
Kanban - Triggering Optimal Levels of Inventory
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kanban is all around us, although sometimes we don’t notice it. Its purpose is to provide a signal, in a Pull system, underpinning a just-in-time ...
System Transformation Using TPM
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of Total Productive Maintenance (not to be confused with Total Preventative Maintenance), and its game-c...
The Utilisation Measure – Aligning to Flow and Lean Principles
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A gauge of work completed compared to available capacity, the Utilisation Measure is a commonly used Key Performance Indicator. But in this thought-...
Throughput Yield: Right First Time?
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the top 3 calculations that supervisors and managers should have at their fingertips, according to PMI Director Consultant, Barry Byrne....
Developing Customer Insight Using Value Proposition Statements
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More than just a tagline or a sales pitch, the Value Proposition Statement is a tool for alignment and clarity, serving as a compass, guiding us towar...
Understanding the Voice of the Customer
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Direct, indirect, internal, external, regulatory, people who think they’re customers because they have authority, and ironically, customers who don’...
Mood's Median Test and ANOVA
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you know that performance data is accurate? Are you sure there aren’t, in fact, a series of processes hiding behind your process, distortin...
Why The 5 Whys Are The Mindset You Need
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
5 Whys is a great problem-solving tool for improvement projects, and it can also be invaluable in your day-to-day work to understand root causes when ...
How to Get The Best Out of Your Sponsor
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ensure a productive and successful partnership with your sponsor and achieve more with your next improvement project.PMI Director Consultant Warren Kn...
Scatter Diagrams For Visualising Relationships
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Avoid wasting time on ineffective improvement strategies by using scatter diagrams to visually prove or disprove your theories.PMI Senior Consultant D...
Encouraging Divergent Thinking with Cause and Effect
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you need to identify potential causes of an undesirable effect or problem? Then you're in luck because in this episode of PMI's Uncommo...
Knowing Your Internal Customer
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
All business improvement is geared around doing a better job for your end customer. But in reality, so much of what you work on isn’t directly aff...
Key Steps to Successful Project Planning
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have an innate ability to manage our personal lives successfully, but as observed by PMI Director Consultant Barry Byrne, we’re sometimes relucta...
The Who, the Why & the How of Engaging Stakeholders
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The majority of problems you face in your organisation are likely to be systemic, manifest across multiple parts of the business, and will have a numb...
Don’t jump, test first! Piloting Solutions for Maximum Impact
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve done a great job of diagnosing the problem; you’ve identified the waste, and you’re feeling really enthusiastic about the solution you&...
Visual Management: You Can't Manage What You Can't See
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Visual Management is done well, it has a simple elegance about it that helps you to understand how to best manage your work.PMI Director Consulta...
Idea Generation For Better Solutions
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Join Dennis Crommentuijn-Marsh, Director Consultant and enthusiastic innovator, as he talks about the joy and the fun of using Idea Generation to find...
Quick Wins For Early Success
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all love Quick Wins. And in the world of Process Improvement, they help you maintain motivation to get the maximum benefit and return for the wor...
Why Your Process Needs a SIPOC
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A SIPOC can reveal what you don’t know about your process, as well as gather together what you do. It’s very much about setting the context for ...
Going to Gemba
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
See for yourself how a process is operated by going to Gemba – ‘the real place’ where the work happens.PMI Director Consultant Dennis Crommentui...
Selecting a Problem
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The starting point for any project-based improvement effort, your Problem Statement should be a concise description of the issue to be solved. Sound...
Visualising with Value Stream Mapping
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Waste identification and elimination is a life’s work, but collate where your customer sees the value into a single visualisation of your end-to-end...
PDSA and Disconfirming Evidence
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
PDSA – Plan, Do, Study, Act – the iterative four-stage thinking model for delivering change.Contrary to common sense, this robust framework actual...
Taking Out Waste May Not Make You Lean
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The dogged pursuit of finding and eliminating the eight deadly wastes from your processes – it’s the classic Lean theory, with a proven track reco...
The Humble Pareto
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are you seeing so many opportunities for improvement that you just don’t know where to start?Don’t fall into the trap of prioritising projects whe...
The Process Mapping Approach
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the number one tool for understanding how your work works. And the great news – it can generate success in any organisation, across any sec...