Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them?

Nayism 4: Six Sigma projects take too long to complete. I need to get this fixed now.

Actually, they should have probably had the problem fixed 3 years ago. And maybe they did. A long-standing problem has probably been fixed a couple of times, but since the solution did not address the root cause, they get to fix it again. So, here’s what I say . . .

Properly scoped Six Sigma projects can be easily completed in 2-3 months if several things are in place including good data and team resources. Good data is usually the culprit that drives up project cycle time. Once an organization isusing Six Sigma they frequently find that good measurements and good measurement systems are not readily available. It may take some additional time to get these measurement systems in place but once established, data gathering, analysis and ultimately the right fix can be put in place in a relatively short period of time. Need to get it done faster? Then you should accelerate the project time-line and resource commitment. The bottom line is that it is going to take a certain amount of time and resources to gather and analyze data. If you skip this step, then you can look forward to fixing the same problem next year.