Continuous improvement (CI) practitioners know that Lean Six Sigma can be applied to almost any business process to achieve positive results. But perhaps no other sector better represents the challenges and potential of Six Sigma than the federal government. In the case of the U.S. military, incremental performance improvements can be a matter of life or death on the battlefield.
In less than two weeks, iSixSigma Live! will present the 2011 Performance Symposium, sponsored by the Department of Defense in partnership with the Performance Improvement Council. Over the course of four days, June 27-30, attendees will have the chance to learn about the latest Six Sigma improvements in government and military arenas in four tracks of breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon. On Monday, there will be a Performance Bowl, in which teams will compete against each other to complete DMAIC simulations in a single day. There will also be plenty of opportunities to meet new CI contacts at the many scheduled networking events.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, several keynote addresses at the Symposium will provide an overview of the current state of CI deployments in the Department of Defense and various federal agencies. These keynotes will include:
• “Performance, Strategy and Budget in a Fiscally Constrained Environment” – Elizabeth A. McGrath, Deputy Chief Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense (Tues., 8:45-9:30 a.m.)
• “Driving Performance in the Federal Government” – Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) (Tues., 10-11 a.m.)
• “Driving Performance through Goal Setting” – Shelley Metzenbaum, Associate Director for Performance/Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget (Tues., 2:45-3:30 p.m.)
• “Ending Veterans Homelessness: A View from HUD” – Peter Grace, Office of Strategic Planning and Management, Advisory to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (Tues., 3:30-4 p.m.)
• “Improving Performance Across the Federal Government” – Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, Director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (Wed., 8:45-9:45 a.m.)
• “Integrating Performance, Strategy and Budget: An Industry Perspective” – Jon Spector, President and CEO, The Conference Board (Wed., 2:45-3:30 p.m.)
Along with the keynotes, the Symposium will also include two engaging Panel Discussions on Wednesday, which will surely spark debate that will continue into that evening’s networking reception. The two panels will include:
“Integrating Performance, Strategy and Budget” – Moderated by J.D. Sicilia, Director, Strategic Management and Performance, U.S. Department of Defense (Wed., 10:15-11:15 a.m.)
• Eric Fanning, DUSN, Deputy Chief Management Officer, U.S. Department of the Navy
• Mark Lewis, Deputy Chief Management Officer, U.S. Department of the Army
• David Tillotson III, Deputy Chief Management Officer, Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force?
“Federal Government Goal Leader Roundtable” – Moderated by: Dustin Brown, Deputy Assistant Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget (Wed., 3:30-4:15 p.m.)
• Tammy Duckworth, Assistant Secretary, Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Mat Kendall, Director, Office of Provider Adoption and Support, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Lisa Markowski, Executive Coordinator for Backlog Initiatives, Social Security Administration?
Stay tuned to the iSixSigma Blogosphere during the 2011 Performance Symposium for regular updates and analysis of the conference proceedings by iSixSigma staff. For more details, please visit our registration page. We hope to see you there!
