Does Six Sigma Kill Creativity?
From the Project Management 2.0 Blog
by Dave Garrett
New technologies, concepts, and Web 2.0 tools are popping up everywhere. How can you use them to help your project team collaborate, communicate - or just give your project an extra boost? [Contact Dave]
Recent Posts
Are You Prepping For The PMP 24/7?
Are You Just Too Darn Busy?
Eliciting Requirements... Creatively!
What To Expect When Your Stakeholders Are Expecting
8 More Templates to Save You Time
Categories
Advice,
Certification,
Collaboration Tools,
Decision Making,
Estimating,
Interviews,
Learning,
Management Approaches,
New Templates,
Personal Productivity,
PM Software,
PPM Software,
Presentation Tools,
Reporting Tools,
Requirements Management,
Research,
Risk Management,
Scheduling Software,
Security,
shameless self promotion,
Techie Tools,
Time Killers,
Time Tracking Software,
Training,
Virtual Team Tools,
Web-based Tools,
workshops
Date
Situation: You have some doubts about the way your company runs Total Quality efforts.
The cover story in the current issue of BusinessWeek is of interest to many of us - particularly those in Fortune 500 organizations that are really bought into Six Sigma efforts. The article, entitled
3M's Innovation Crisis looks at whether the Six Sigma approaches they have put into place since 2000 have stifled the groundbreaking work they are known for, including Post-it Notes, Thinsulate, and more.
I think its worth a read for anyone touched by Six Sigma, not because threapproach is bad - but rather I think the article gives you some food for thought for business areas that might be better left alone.
There are a few lines in the article that really stood out for me:
On invention versus structure"Invention is by its very nature a disorderly process," says current CEO George Buckley, who has dialed back many of McNerney's initiatives. "You can't put a Six Sigma process into that area and say, well, I'm getting behind on invention, so I'm going to schedule myself for three good ideas on Wednesday and two on Friday. That's not how creativity works."
Indeed, the very factors that make Six Sigma effective in one context can make it ineffective in another. Traditionally, it uses rigorous statistical analysis to produce unambiguous data that help produce better quality, lower costs, and more efficiency. That all sounds great when you know what outcomes you'd like to control. But what about when there are few facts to go on—or you don't even know the nature of the problem you're trying to define? Defenders of Six Sigma at 3M claim that a more systematic new-product introduction process allows innovations to get to market faster. But Fry, the Post-it note inventor, disagrees. In fact, he places the blame for 3M's recent lack of innovative sizzle squarely on Six Sigma's application in 3M's research labs. Innovation, he says, is "a numbers game. You have to go through 5,000 to 6,000 raw ideas to find one successful business." Six Sigma would ask, why not eliminate all that waste and just come up with the right idea the first time? That way of thinking, says Fry, can have serious side effects. The obvious reason it happens
"If you take over a company that's been living on innovation, clearly you can squeeze costs out," says Charles O'Reilly, a Stanford Graduate School of Business management professor. "The question is, what's the long-term damage to the company?"
Posted on: June 02, 2007 08:20 AM |
Permalink
Comments (6)
Please login or join to subscribe to this item
Braden Kelley
Human-Centered Design, Innovation, Change and Transformation Leader| Best Selling Author and Keynote Speaker
Issaquah, Wa, United States
Six Sigma has its place and it can be in conflict with innovation when the two are implemented poorly together. It can help for both professions to understand the other. Braden (@innovate)
Kevin Coleman
Subject Matter Expert, Author, Speaker and Strategic Advisor| - Insights
Pa, United States
Not when it is used properly! IT is a tool and it can be modified
Six sigma can definitely kill innovation if applied poorly as Braden said.
I have deployed six sigma tools and more pecisely DMAIC on our innovation process and tools with great results.
Kevin Raney
Project Manager| Duke University Health Systems
Eugene, OR, United States
Dave, this is a great share, thank you. It is so easy to start from the point of view driven by statistics and control. But when you start from the viewpoint of culture and creativity, then you have to learn how to dial it back and adapt to the environment. It feels like a novel idea to think that 3M may have gotten it right the first time, so why mess with a good thing?
I agree that traditional quality methods can impede creativity, and the DMAIC methodology may be part of the problem. However, DMAIC was based in part on PDCA, Plan Do Check Act. When one looks at PDCA, or PDSA as Deming preferred, then the Check (Study) part of the cycle can be used to think outside the box. With DMAIC, it's the Improve part that probably contains creativity (or innovation).
Remember that DMAIC and Six Sigma are mostly based on the Kaizen philosophy, which is a continuous improvement process. Radical change via creativity and innovation are more associated with Kaikaku, aka Breakthrough Kaizen. Kaikaku events do not fit well within the cyclic models of DMAIC or PDCA.
Yup, Six Sigma can complement well with other project approaches and not stifle creativity.
Please Login/Register to leave a comment.
|
"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
- Walt Disney
|
