I got the rainbow quilt sandwiched and basted and started marking it. It is now decorating our dining room table, until the marking process is finished. I am hoping that will be the next couple of days. I am really looking forward to sitting with the quilt and quilting it, that is a time that I find peaceful. I like the process of spending quality time with each hoop sized section of the quilt. By the time I have completed it, I feel that I know each square personally, and there is a lot of 'me' in the quilt. There is also a lot of my thoughts, prayers, meditations, hopes for the person for whom I am making the quilt. In this case, it is for my daughter who has recently graduated from college. I feel that the quilt is so appropriate to this time in her life, a rainbow for me is a sign of hope; at this time when she is embarking on the next phase of her life after 16 years of being in school (since Pre-K) it seems to be such an appropriate metaphor.

The rest of the week was spent in a much more mundane way, a Kaizen session to improve the forecasting process used to manage the budget my company's portfolio of IT projects. For those not familiar with the process (as I was not) here is a description of Kaizen:

Kaizen (Japanese for "improvement" or "change for the better") refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management. It has been applied in healthcare, government, banking, and many other industries. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain. By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste. Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world.

It was a structured, facilitated process that used several interesting tools to assist the group in identifying the current process then identify issues, rank them, identify root causes then develop short, medium and longer term resolutions. It was intense and required a lot of concentration. It was a cross functional group so many perspectives were represented. It was a great learning experience. The plans that we identified for resolutions are exciting.

The process that we worked on is one of the more difficult parts of my job, and most months I spend about 4 days on it, so I am personally very invested in improvements that will help to ensure that the results we get are accurate and meaningful. There are many of us who do this work, probably at least 50, so it is a costly process that today does not produce reliable results.

Of course there is now a task force to carry out the actions, and yes, of course I will be a part of that. This afternoon I came back to a rush of questions about the project we are rolling out over the next week, so this week has really flown by. I look forward to working at home tomorrow and catching up as best I can.