While these days I deliver Lean and Six Sigma training, project support and consulting I am actually a Systems Ecologist with degrees in Botany and Soil Science. In the days of my science career I designed and ran forestry and agricultural field research projects. Making the move to the office in professional roles I found the satisfying work of process improvement. Helping people solve problems and removing constraints in the design of work was exhilarating and I thirsted for more knowledge.
I was very very fortunate being taught and mentored by some industry legends and thought leaders such as Thomas Pyzdek. My good fortune also meant an opportunity of being coached by very experienced Toyota leaders and having the time and access to really understand the Toyota Production System and Toyota Way from a senior leadership perspective rather than a tools oriented project perspective.
I have come to appreciate having a natural sciences background, especially systems ecology really helps in process improvement to see complexity of the whole system rather than fragment it for the sake of analysis simplicity. Don't get me wrong there are some fantastic engineers doing great work in process improvement, however I have helped many engineers over the years see things a little differently and go beyond what they thought possible in terms of transforming the design of work for vastly improved quality and flow.
Having a special interest in improvement in non-manufacturing, I am still working towards making Lean and Six Sigma more relevant and applicable in the service context. I don't believe as improvement practitioners we have done a good job helping the service economy, especially with Lean and so this remains a personal goal for me to develop better solutions for the application of Lean in services.