Tag: Project Scope

Mike was a newly hired Black Belt (BB) at a roofing shingle manufacturing plant who was going through Six Sigma training. Tim, the general manager of the plant where Mike worked, brought Mike into his office and explained that Mike’s Master Black Belt was on the speaker phone. The Master Black Belt, Robert, shared with […]

Businesses are in business to make money. But calculating the true value of any project (Lean Six Sigma or otherwise) with respect to its impact on margin has always been challenging, mainly due to the ambiguity of turning notions into dollar values. For instance, it is clear that training employees will improve expertise and productivity, […]

Have you ever managed a project that just will not end? For those projects that never seem to finish, a common cause is cited. It is not necessarily inexperience of personnel or a flawed technology, rather allowing requirements to pass in and out of the revolving door of project scope. Below are a few simple […]

This is my second article from my series reflecting research on strategies and trends in deploying Six Sigma. Our research is performed not in an academic lab but with direct application in companies through advanced team-training concepts and relevant project coaching. Although subjects vary, the structure of my articles will remain similar starting with What […]

With many issues facing the U.S. healthcare system the task of “fixing” it seems insurmountable, but the appropriate implementation With so many different issues facing the U.S. healthcare system the task of “fixing” it can seem insurmountable. Every healthcare executive knows the litany of challenges: rising costs, inadequate insurance coverage, capacity constraints, patient safety concerns, […]

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” With those words, President Kennedy launched the program that has become the stereotypical example of multi-generation project planning. At the time, multi-generation project planning (MGPP) was not a popular tool, […]

“So what?” That’s all your CEO has to say after you present your latest Lean Six Sigma triumph. You gaze out over a deafeningly silent boardroom. Your team is stunned. While you try to comprehend the CEO’s demoralizing response, the other managers and administrators chime in: “Yeah, so what?” The above scenario might be an […]

Every sales force has a few outstanding sales representatives, who always deliver on or above target. What is it, in their way of working (process), which makes them so outstanding? If we identify these processes and give them as tools to the rest of the organization, our belief is that we will increase sales force […]

One of the hardest decisions teams and their sponsors make is picking the right scope for a project. Those who choose easy, bite-sized projects often have a high success rate – but the impact sometimes is so small that the general reaction is “so what” or “is that all that Lean Six Sigma can do […]

Hardly anyone who has managed a software project has not had a project that just will not end. The reason those projects never seem to finish is not necessarily inexperienced personnel or a flawed technology. The common cause is allowing requirements to pass in and out of the revolving door of project scope. There are […]

The project charter is the first step and one of the most important parts of any Six Sigma project. The document provides an overview of the project and serves as an agreement between management and the Six Sigma team regarding the expected project outcome. The charter is used to set the project direction and defines […]

An organization’s sigma level in terms of key CMMI process areas can be measured via metrics related to that process area. Organizations not using Six Sigma also can use this technique to measure their sigma level in terms of project planning process area.

An important factor contributing to the success of a Six Sigma healthcare project is the initial defining or scoping of the project. After the primary focus area of a project has been identified, scoping is the activity of breaking down the focus area into the many specific processes, sub-divisions of the business and/or segments that […]