Advice For Ensuring Project Success

We will now summarize some key points made throughout this book. First we focus on advice for ensuring project success, and then on success for the overall Six Sigma initiative.

Key Project Success Criteria

Improvement in Six Sigma initiatives occurs primarily project-by-project, although the resulting cultural change adds additional benefits outside formal projects. Therefore, we must ensure that these projects are successful in order for the organization to fully benefit from Six Sigma. The primary keys to project success, discussed in Chapters 4 and 5, include:

• Selection of good Six Sigma projects

• Assignment of a top talent Black Belt and Champion to the project

• Proper support, such as from functional support groups (IT, Finance, HR, Legal)

• Regular, well-structured project reviews

• Clear project close-out criteria

Chapter 4 provided suggested criteria for project selection, as well as an example of criteria used by one organization. The key points are that you should be working on important projects that are supported by management, can be completed within four to six months, and have clear measures of success. In order to obtain such projects, organizations need to develop a rigorous project identification and prioritization process. Prioritized projects are then placed into a project hopper, awaiting assignment of a Black Belt. Some pitfalls to avoid in project selection include:

• Fuzzy objectives

• Poor metrics

• No tie to financials

• Overly broad scope

• Lack of connection with strategic or annual plans

• Problem whose solution is already identified

• Projects with too many objectives

Use of top talent in Six Sigma is a theme running throughout the initiative, but is perhaps most critical in the Black Belts leading the individual projects. We have seen huge variation in success rates between projects that were led by true top talent, and projects that weren't. It is also important that projects have access as needed to resources from support groups, such as IT, Finance, or Maintenance. This often is critical in the improve phase of projects, when an identified improvement needs to be implemented. If the improvement calls for a process step to be digitized, for example, the prompt support of the IT organization will be necessary.

Well-structured project reviews serve several purposes. First, scheduling of project reviews indicates leadership's seriousness, and sets the expectation of tangible results. In addition, reviews identify issues or roadblocks hindering projects so that they can be addressed by Champions, or others in leadership roles. Projects with regular, formal reviews rarely drag on past the expected completion date. A fringe benefit is that as leaders see more and more success in Six Sigma projects firsthand, they become stronger and stronger proponents for the initiative.

Clear close-out criteria help ensure that perfectionist Black Belts do not continue on a project past the point of significant return, when there are dozens of processes in critical condition that urgently need a Black Belt. Conversely, these criteria help prevent Black Belts from prematurely jumping from one project to another before success has been assured. Well- thought-out criteria help Black Belts move crisply from one project to the next, maximizing the overall benefit to the organization.

Common Project Pitfalls to Avoid

Project pitfalls that can derail success are almost mirror images of the key success criteria; omission of each success criteria is itself a pitfall. However, some pitfalls are more common than others, so we briefly list the most common here in order of frequency, based on our experience. In each case, one or more success criteria will help address the pitfall.

• Poorly scoped projects, typically projects that attempt to boil the ocean or solve world hunger. Proper project selection and scoping are the key solutions to this pitfall. Frequent project review will also help catch the problem early.

• Lack of available data to study and improve the process. Insufficient data is generally an indication of a project that should have been weeded out before selection. A good project identification and prioritization process will minimize this pitfall.

• Failure to follow the DMAIC or DFSS process. In some cases, poorly trained or led Black Belts may attack the problem using the Six Sigma tools haphazardly, rather than following the DMAIC process in a disciplined manner. Proper training and frequent project reviews will address this pitfall.

• A weak Black Belt or Champion. Selection of Black Belts and Champions from the top talent pool will prevent this problem.

• Dysfunctional Black Belt teams. This can occur due to poorly trained Black Belts, lack of a team culture, or missing leadership support, especially intervention from the Champion. The combination of an active Six Sigma organizational structure (including functional Champions), proper training of Black Belts, and a formal project review process will help nip this problem in the bud.

Good Questions to Ask in Project Reviews

Of course, the best questions to ask in a project review are dependent on the specific project, the experience of the Black Belt, and many other factors. Therefore, we cannot provide a generic list of the correct questions that apply in all situations. However, the types of questions leaders ask in project reviews are extremely important, in that they set the tone for the projects. Here we provide sample questions that may be appropriate to ask in some reviews, particularly if the Black Belt has not already raised the subject during the review. The questions are organized according to the specific phase of the DMAIC process to which the question would most likely pertain.