A review of the process for successfully building and executing a pilot, which is a method for testing potential improvements to implement.

1. Section & Lesson #:
Pre-Requisite Lessons:
Complex Tools + Clear Teaching = Powerful Results
Piloting Solutions: The Process
Six Sigma-Improve – Lesson 8
A review of the process for successfully building and executing a pilot,
which is a method for testing potential improvements to implement.
None
Copyright © 2011-2019 by Matthew J. Hansen. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photographic, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission in writing by the author and/or publisher.

2. The Pilot Process
o Note: this pilot process can be followed in the same way for full implementation.
o What is the process for planning and executing a pilot?
• A well executed pilot will generally follow these steps:
o Can a pilot be successful without following these steps?
• Of course! However, these steps will help you be most prepared for full implementation.
 They can help unify the vision and communication of the team and those affected by the pilot.
 They can help build confidence that the right actions and measurements are being used for the pilot.
 They can help expedite the review of the post-pilot results and ultimately the full implementation actions.
o The scope and targeted audience for the pilot must be pre-defined.
• Does the team already know what to pilot and where to conduct the pilot?
 If NO, then before the team can build a pilot plan, they need to identify them and consider the following:
– What are all the improvements that are expected to significantly fix the root cause? (Ensure these are included in pilot.)
– What subset process or location has similar characteristics of the destination where all the improvements will be
implemented? (E.g., if deploying improvements across retail locations nationwide, which few stores represent the
general performance, design, demographic, etc. as most of the other stores? )
 If YES, then ensure all stakeholders are notified and bought-in before building a pilot plan.
– ALL stakeholders where the improvements will be piloted MUST be included or you could risk pilot delays or failure.
Copyright © 2011-2019 by Matthew J. Hansen. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photographic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission in writing by the author and/or publisher.
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1. Build a
pilot plan
2. Execute
pre-pilot
actions
3. Begin
the pilot
4. Monitor
progress of
pilot
5. Review
post-pilot
results
INPUT to Pilot PROCESS during Pilot OUTPUT from Pilot

3. The Pilot Process: Steps 1 & 2
o INPUT to Pilot
• #1 – Build a pilot plan
 A pilot plan is very critical to the pilot process.
 It can be built in a meeting with your team by following a separate 5 step process.
– Due to the complexity of building a pilot plan, it’s covered in a separate lesson.
• #2 – Execute pre-pilot actions
 A pilot plan is only as good as the ability to follow the plan and keep all action owners accountable.
 The “Due Date” column on the plan can be colored red, yellow or green to track progress of the actions.
– Below is an example of the legend used in the pilot plan to help track progress:
 If the pilot plan has many actions with many different owners, then consider scheduling recurring meetings
(weekly or bi-weekly) to review the progress as a team.
 What if an action is late (reflected as red)?
– Try to contact that action owner before meeting as a team so they can try to complete the action or explain the delay.
– For all red or TBD actions, continue to ask the team for new dates to update the pilot plan.
– For any significant delays (especially if a delayed action is a pre-requisite to another action), discuss with the team the
impact to the overall start date for the pilot and impact to any stakeholders.
Copyright © 2011-2019 by Matthew J. Hansen. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photographic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission in writing by the author and/or publisher.
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Due Date Legend:
= Complete
= Due Soon
= Needs Attention

4. The Pilot Process: Steps 3 to 5
o PROCESS During Pilot
• #3 – Begin the pilot
 The date to officially begin the pilot should have already been defined and agreed upon by the team.
– The start date should correspond with the due dates from the pilot plan to ensure all actions are complete.
 It’s generally helpful to define in advance the tentative stopping point for the pilot.
– For example, the pilot is complete after a certain number of weeks, or process iterations, or improving a key metric.
• #4 – Monitor progress of pilot
 There should be recurring team meetings (at least weekly) to help monitor the progress of the pilot.
– Communication across the team is very critical during the pilot in order to quickly catch & fix problems or errors.
– It may be necessary to even have short daily meetings to monitor the progress and ensure the pilot is running smoothly.
 There should already be key metrics to analyze for measuring the pilot’s progress and impact.
– It may be helpful to track these metrics at a daily level so that trends are more observable.
o OUTPUT From Pilot
• #5 – Review post-pilot results
 The pilot results should clearly answer the following:
– Did the improvements resolve the root cause for the piloted area?
– How much improvement was realized for the piloted area and can be expected for an extended rollout?
– What unique or unexpected issues arose during the pilot that may risk the impact from an extended rollout?
 Based on the above, the team should confidently know if, when, and how to do an extended rollout.
– If the team cannot answer this, then it may be necessary to continue the pilot until those questions can be answered.
o Now what?
• If the entire team agrees to an extended rollout, then begin to build an Implementation Plan.
 Build the Implementation Plan in the same way as the Pilot Plan, yet accounting for an extended rollout.
 Continue with implementing the improvements following the same process steps as used in the pilot.
Copyright © 2011-2019 by Matthew J. Hansen. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photographic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission in writing by the author and/or publisher.
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5. Practical Application
o Identify at least 2 different projects or initiatives at your organization that involved the
implementation of a significant process change and answer the following questions:
• Were the process changes piloted?
 If so, was a formal process followed for piloting the changes?
• Was the piloted area representative of the full area where the changes would be implemented?
 If not, then why not? How did that lack of representation affect the implementation results?
• How successful was the pilot?
 How helpful was the pilot in preparing for the full implementation (e.g., finding unexpected risks)?
• How successful was the full implementation?
 If a pilot wasn’t used before the implementation, then why not?
 What problems (if any) could have been avoided if a pilot were done first?
Copyright © 2011-2019 by Matthew J. Hansen. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photographic,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior permission in writing by the author and/or publisher.
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