David JonesAtherstone, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Hi All,
I have heard good things regarding Six Sigma as a way to measure and improve quality on my projects, I actually know very little about this methodology so thought I would come to you knowledgeable types at Gantthead...
Can anyone with direct experience of Six Sigma let me know their thoughts on this process, its effectiveness etc. Before I go off and spend my hard earned pennies learning I want to know if it is worthwhile or was the guy telling me about it just showing off?
Thanks as always,
DJ Saving Changes...
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Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear David, Six Sigma is as good as your colleague says it is. It is a methodology that uses data and statistical analysis to measure and improve a company's operational performance. It does this by identifying and eliminating "defects" in, typically, manufacturing and service-related processes. Depending upon the "type and size" of projects you manage, Six Sigma may or may not be appropriate to your project mix, but in any case it would be worthwhile to become acquainted with. For more information on Six Sigma, you might want to visit iSixSigma.com at http://www.isixsigma.com/ They are one of many fine Six Sigma sites. Cheers. -- Mark Perry, VP of Customer Care, BOT International Saving Changes...
Prabhas SinhaDirector - Product Management| CAHyderabad, India
David, I am not sure in which industry you're. I am assuming that you are related to IT.
I have been working with CMM/CMMi for a few years. A few months back I did some research on Six Sigma as well to see its applicability in IT. Here are some of the thoughts:
1) Six Sigma would need senior executives involvement and support, do you think you got it? You would need Green Belts, Black Belts, Master Black Belt champions.
2) Six Sigma actually will be used for process improvement and for that you must have a process asset library and data that has been collected in the past to actually assess what you wanna improve. If you dont have these, dont even think of Six Sigma. You might wanna think of vanilla processes, then graduate to compliances like CMMi. To improve further, you can think of icing it with Six Sigma style process improvement.
3) In IT, there is one thing that is constant: CHANGES in every phases.
4) Simply put, it is 3.4 defects per million, right? Do you think it is worth spending resources to achieve this level of accuracy? E.g., In IT, can your people really write a million line of code that will have only 3.4 defects?
5) Such a low level of defects can be achieved only by automation/tools, have you figured out what kinda tool/automation you would need?
I would take a very practical and critical view of "3.4 defect per million" claim that any consultant would offer me in the IT industry.
Lets see what others have to say.
Hope it helps !!
Thanks
Prabhas Saving Changes...
David JonesAtherstone, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Thanks for the input Mark, Prabhas.. six sigma does seem extremely useful, however I don't think we (as an enterprise) are mature enough in our IT processes to use it properly, yet! I will certainly become familiar with it as a methodology but only for interests sake at the moment. Thanks for the links Mark, I will take a look.
For info I work for a global logistics company as a project manager in the IT department, the projects I work on are all large scale solutions to be rolled out globally which is bringing me several new challenges as a PM (been here less than a year, moved from an IT consultancy). Saving Changes...
