1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
5 Steps to Success
ffective project management is essential to the success of any Six Sigma
MASTERING THESE
KEY PHASES WILL E project. Project management consists of planning, management and
accountability, and the Champion’s ability to select, prioritize, scope
and remove barriers for Six Sigma Black Belt (BB) projects. These critical ele-
HELP SIX SIGMA ments are directly correlated to the project’s success rate, but they have
proven to be a challenge for many organizations due to the lack of emphasis
PROJECT CHAMPIONS placed on them during training and the unavailability of related material.
CREATE POSITIVE Project management is one of a Champion’s critical responsibilities, and the
factors for its success can be broken down into five distinct areas:
OUTCOMES. 1. The project charter.
2. The project plan, also known as a BB Gantt chart.
3. Weekly master schedule reviews.
4. The formal tollgate review processes.
5. Champion and BB accountability.
Project Charter
By Donald P.
The project charter is an imperative part of project management. It is main-
Lynch and Elaine ly the Champion’s responsibility, but the BB also has a vested interest and
should assume a role in its development.
T. Cloutier, Visteon Indicating an overall commitment between the Champion, BB and project
team, the charter is a contract that outlines the resources and support the
Corp. Champion will provide in return for the project deliverables. It should be
modified if any changes in the project result in violations of the original agree-
ment. The project charter is, in effect, a means to control, manage and
approve Six Sigma projects. It also helps the team avoid projects that:1
• Contend with unimportant issues.
• Overlap or conflict with other project objectives.
• Target soon to be obsolete processes or products.
• Have a poorly defined or overwhelming scope.
• Study symptoms instead of root cause.
• Provide poorly defined deliverables.
• Lack management authority and responsibility.
A project charter typically includes:2
• A brief statement of the purpose of the project.
• A summary of the problem to be addressed.
• An objective or specific outcome desired.
• A scope or the aspects of the problem that will be addressed.
• The key milestones or projected conclusion of each of the define,
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2. 5 Steps to Success
measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) experts, project area representatives, a financial
phases of the project plan, with timing and consultant and all personnel whose participation
responsibilities. would add value to the project.
• The departments, customers or vendors (stake- • Any process, personnel, equipment, IT support,
holders) influenced by the project activities and information and funding resources required of
its outcome. the project.
• The name of the Champion, the middle to upper • The business case for the project, including finan-
level manager who supports the project. The cial aspects, such as financial ratios and other doc-
Champion funds the project, allocates resources umented costs affected by the project. These finan-
and develops the initial charter. As a member of cial considerations are based on the projected hard
management, the Champion builds support for the cost savings and take into consideration the soft
project within the organization’s managerial ranks. savings, such as cost avoidance and lost revenue.
His or her managerial position in the subject func- • The deliverables, which define what constitutes a
tional area helps build project awareness and sup- successful project and include all measurable ben-
port in the operational ranks and clear roadblocks efits resulting from the project implementation.
that might inhibit the timely progress of the project. These benefits consist of the actual hard and soft
• The names of the team members, including the cost savings from project completion, as well as
assigned BB, Green Belt (GB), subject matter the desired levels of project metrics.
Define Phase
Goal or purpose: • Why is this project important?
• To obtain a clear understanding of the problem to • What are the key measures or performance indica-
be addressed. tors? How are they defined? How will you know if
• To identify the input and output variables. things improve? What is the current performance
level?
• To develop responsibilities, process steps, goals
and milestones. • What are the major steps of the process you will
be improving? Who are the suppliers? What are
• To get the team organized.
the inputs and outputs?
• To obtain an understanding of the project’s merit.
• Who is your customer? What impact will closing the
Deliverables: gap or solving the problem have on your customer?
• A well-defined problem statement, objective and • Have you developed the business case for the project?
1
statement of the intended improvement and how it
• What measures are important to your customer?
will be measured.
How do you know?
• A list of the process or product’s customers.
• What are the boundaries of the project?
• A Y = f (X) diagram or similar graphic to outline the
• Have you established your project milestones?
relationship between the input and output variables.
• Is the project properly scoped? Or is it possibly
• A primary metric trend chart indicating the
overscoped: Does it cover more than one area,
process’s historical performance.
deal with a number of models or products or with a
• A high level process map with designated scope. number of issues? Is it scoped to be completed in
• A project charter. four to six months?
• A project plan. • If the project is going to be led by a new Black
Relevant tools: Belt, does it require the use of advanced tools?
• Flowcharts, Pareto charts, time plots, control • Have you summarized the results of these steps in
charts, Gantt charts, project plans, project charter your project charter?
methodology and communication plans.
Questions to be answered:1 References
• What problem or gap are you addressing? 1. Guiding Successful Six Sigma Projects, Oriel, 2000.
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3. 5 Steps to Success
Project Plan Within each milestone, the BB should then develop
a detailed work breakdown structure that identifies
Project planning involves applying good project each task with its corresponding timing and responsi-
management principles to a BB Six Sigma project. bility. The team can use this detailed Gantt chart to
The purpose of project management is to maintain manage the project’s daily control, including assess-
the project schedule and communicate project ments of changes that should be updated in the proj-
changes, progress, action items and responsibilities.3 ect charter.
Using his or her insights from prior project experi-
ence, the BB should develop a detailed Gantt chart based Weekly Master Schedule Reviews
on the scope of the project. The Gantt chart should out-
line the projected start and finish dates and highlight any The weekly master schedule review meeting is
other major milestones, which should correlate to the intended to be a high level review of all continuous
completion of each phase of the DMAIC process. improvement efforts under the direction of the
Measure Phase
2
Goal or purpose: and concentration diagrams.
• To document the existing process. • Cause and effect matrices, flow charts, FMEA and
• To establish techniques for collecting data. gauge R&R.
• To ensure the measurement system is adequate. • Graphical techniques, such as Pareto charts, time
plots, control charts, frequency plots and histograms.
• To collect the data.
• Process sigma calculations.
• To establish a baseline, including confirmation of
financial considerations. • Change management tools.
• To display the data graphically so project opportuni- Questions to be answered:2
ties can begin to be highlighted. • What is the current status of the situation?
• To focus the improvement effort by gathering infor- • What problem or gap are you addressing? Where,
mation on the current situation. when and how often does the problem occur? How
Deliverables: severe is it?
• A more focused problem statement. • What data are you collecting? How will you collect
it? How can you ensure your data collection
• A detailed process map.
process is reliable and valid?
• A cause and effect matrix and diagram and a fail-
• What does your collected data tell you about the
ure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).
problem or gap?
• A data collection plan with designations on the
• How did you define defect, unit and opportunity?
process map and a data collection form.
• What is the current process capability?
• A validated measurement system including gauge
repeatability and reproducibility (R&R). • Have you found any quick-hit improvements? What is
your plan for implementing them? Will this affect the
• Sufficient data for the analysis phase.
business case? Given your understanding of the
• A complete graphical analysis, including a Pareto problem or gap, do you need to change the charter?
chart, trend charts, box plots, histograms and
• Have you completed a measurement error study?
scatter plots.
What are the results? Do you need better gauges?
• Baseline primary and secondary metrics indicated What would be the cost?
on a trend chart.
• Have you completed a process map (flowchart)?
• A baseline capability study, including calculation of Who was involved in its development?
the sigma levels.
Relevant tools:1 References
• Process mapping. 1. Guiding Successful Six Sigma Projects, Oriel, 2000.
• Data collection tools, such as check sheets, forms 2. Ibid.
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4. 5 Steps to Success
Champion. It encompasses any number or combina- must update its status prior to the start of the meeting.
tion of Six Sigma, lean and other continuous improve- For visual effect, progress can be indicated through a
ment projects. timeline using GYR coding on the large master sched-
The meeting should be stand-up and take no more ule board:
than 15 minutes, and it should be centered around a • Green (G) means the project is progressing
large master schedule board that helps management according to the prescribed Gantt chart.
determine the progress of projects according to their
• Yellow (Y) means there is a gap, or an anticipated
respective Gantt charts. Individual projects should be
discussed only in minimal detail. The review should be gap, in the project’s progress in comparison to the
exceedingly efficient, outlining the specific areas that prescribed Gantt chart, but the project team has
need to be addressed. Stand-up meetings stress that identified a correction plan that will bring the
they are only update meetings and short in duration. project back on track by the next meeting.
If a green, yellow, red (GYR) approach is used to • Red (R) means there is a gap in the project’s
indicate a project’s progress, the responsible parties progress in comparison to the prescribed Gantt
Analyze Phase
Goal or purpose: • Which factors turned out to be root causes or con-
• To narrow the focus of the project by gathering tribute most to the problem? How many significant
information on the current situation. (vital few) variables influence the process? What are
they? What sources of variation have you identified?
• To uncover potential sources of variation through
an understanding of the relationship between the X • How did you verify these root causes or vital few
and Y variables. factors? How did you analyze the data? Show your
charts or graphs.
• To reduce the number of process variables to be
acted on in the improvement phase. • How do you know you’ve gotten at root causes and
not just symptoms?
• To identify and manage high risk inputs.
• Which factors will you investigate further? How did
Deliverables:
you choose them? What graphs or statistics sup-
3
• Statistical analysis of the significance of the X vari- port your choice?
ables with respect to Y. Can be obtained from a
• Does your identification of root causes affect the
combination of inference tests, regression analy-
makeup of the team? Does it affect the business
ses, analyses of variance (ANOVA) and design of
case? If so, how?
experiments (DOE).
• Did you find any quick hit improvements?
• A cause and effect diagram outlining the relation-
ship between X and Y. • What progress has been made on the process
capability chart (projections and timing)?
• The root cause of the problem.
• What interim actions have you taken to contain
• An outline of areas for the improvement to
defects until a final solution can be developed and
address.
implemented? Has the team completed a failure
• An understanding of the underlying process distri- mode and effects analysis?
bution.
• What are your improvement plans and next steps
Relevant tools:1 to get there, including timing, responsibility and
• Process mapping, graphical techniques, operational expected results?
definitions, sampling, multi-vari studies, hypothesis • What was the basis for your improvement quantifi-
testing, correlation and regression analysis, cation calculations?
ANOVA, DOE and change management tools.
Questions to be answered:2 References
• How reliable is the concluded data?
1. Guiding Successful Six Sigma Projects, Oriel, 2000.
• How did you identify potential causes? What tool 2. Ibid.
did you use to collect certain data?
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5. 5 Steps to Success
chart, or a project that was coded yellow in a prior parties agree it is unreasonable to expend the addi-
review has not been brought back on track. tional resources or the slip in timing is irrecoverable,
Highlighting projects in this manner is not meant to a new project plan is developed and the project char-
be a way to discipline the respective team leaders or ter revised. Any modifications to the project charter
members. Chastising project teams can cause the should transpire only as a result of a conscious deci-
whole structure to break down, resulting in integrity sion by the Champion and BB.
issues with the master schedule updating process. It is
necessary for team leaders and team members to con- Formal Tollgate Review Process
sider the entire process as a way to get assistance with
their projects. The review process embraces manage- The formal tollgate review process is a systematic
ment by exception. review that takes place when a project reaches a mile-
At the weekly review, the team acknowledges proj- stone. This process is not intended to be a substitute
ects coded R or Y on consecutive weeks, and the team for the daily and weekly project management controls
leader (usually the BB) presents a brief explanation of already in place. Typically, a project should be
the shortcoming or issue. A supplemental Champion reviewed after each phase of the DMAIC process is
project review meeting is then scheduled to eliminate completed.
barriers and assign additional resources to develop a The BB and project team should not be allowed to
recovery plan. continue on to the next phase of the project until
The Champion and BB work together to construct a approved by the Champion and the assigned Master
plan that will bring the project back on track to meet Black Belt. These reviews ensure the Six Sigma
the guidelines outlined in the project charter. If both methodology is being followed, the appropriate
Improve Phase
4
Goal or purpose: Questions to be answered:2
• To verify the variable relationship. • How did you generate your potential solutions?
• To identify, test and implement potential solutions • What criteria did you use to evaluate the potential
to address the root cause. solutions? How do the criteria relate to the key per-
• To verify the solutions are effective. formance measures?
• To document the cost benefit. • What potential problems, errors or failure modes
did you identify? How were they addressed?
• To ensure the solution is robust.
• Which solutions did you pilot test? How did you
Deliverables:
test them? If you tested several changes, did you
• Statistical analysis verifying the variable list. use a designed experiment?
• A brainstormed list of potential solutions. • What was the impact of the data you collected dur-
• A new process map. ing the pilot tests on the root causes and key per-
• Revised or new operating tolerances. formance indicators or measures?
• Results for an optimization routine. • What steps can be taken to manage the cultural
impact of the full-scale implementation? Who will
• A revised failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).
be affected by the changes and how? What is
• A finalized cost benefit analysis. being done to facilitate this change?
• A new measurement system assessment. • How will full-scale implementation of the chosen
• A new capability analysis, including calculation of solution affect customers?
the sigma level.
Relevant tools:1 References
• Process mapping, design of experiments, simulation, 1. Guiding Successful Six Sigma Projects, Oriel, 2000.
optimization, cost benefit analysis, FMEA, stakehold- 2. Ibid.
er analysis and change management tools.
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6. 5 Steps to Success
technical tools are being correctly applied and the The Champion is responsible for the identification,
project is progressing as anticipated. The review selection, definition, scoping and prioritization of proj-
process can be likened to a quality auditing function, ects and, therefore, should be held accountable.
and there are a number of key process questions that Maintaining a next-up list of prioritized, well-scoped
need to be addressed. projects allows the Champion to assign the highest pri-
The five sidebars throughout the article provide ority projects to BBs.
sample questions for each phase of the DMAIC Typically, the Champion is responsible for the overall
process and explanations of each phase’s purpose, management of all Six Sigma projects within his or her
deliverables and relevant tools. functional area, including providing resources, remov-
ing barriers and holding BBs accountable for their
Champion and BB Accountability respective project goals.
Eliminating barriers is an integral part of a
The previously discussed project management tools Champion’s duties. It can prevent lack of team sup-
are based on an effective and efficient system of port and resources, conflicts, scoping issues and orga-
accountability. There are several Champion and BB nizational roadblocks. To identify and address barri-
responsibilities, and without respective accountability ers, Champions and BBs need to maintain an open
there is minimal provision to ensure the performance and constant dialogue.
of the Six Sigma project is not adversely affected. The Champion should also be held accountable for
Control Phase
5
Goal or purpose: • How is the new method documented? Where is the
• To ensure the gains are sustained for the long term. documentation kept? How will employees access it?
• To document new work methods and processes to • Who owns the process? Who will maintain and
ensure the gains are sustained. update documentation? Who will check to make
sure the standard methods or processes are
Deliverables:
used? How often?
• A list of poka-yoke measures.
• What will be measured in your plan for process
• Formal documentation of the new method. management? How often? By whom? How will the
• Reaction plans. data be displayed? Where will control charts be
• An updated control plan, work instructions, standard used? What action will be taken if the measure-
operating procedure and operator instructional aides. ments are unsatisfactory?
• Control charts with statistically driven limits. • How will you transfer responsibility for ongoing
monitoring to the process owner?
• A trend chart verifying performance at or below tar-
get for three months. • What organizational systems need to change to
1 support standardization?
Relevant tools:
• What process controls are being implemented to
• Control plan, statistical process control, gauge con-
ensure the organization sustains the gains?
trol plan, graphical techniques, preventive mainte-
nance, poka-yoke or mistake proofing, process man- • To date, what progress has been achieved in
agement charts and change management tools. process capability performance? Has your chart
been updated?
Questions to be answered:2
• Is there a plan to revisit this process in the future
• How are the reductions in defects maintained?
to ensure the new capability level is maintained?
• How is the improved process standardized and What new measurements are in place?
institutionalized?
• What can be done to ensure continuity in the event
References
of changes in conditions, customers and technology?
1. Oriel, Guiding Successful Six Sigma Projects, Oriel, 2000.
• What is the new standard method or process? How
2. Ibid.
was it developed?
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7. 5 Steps to Success
the overall effectiveness of the Six Sigma program in reviews, formal tollgate review processes and, ulti-
his or her functional areas. Effectiveness is usually mately, tying project performance to the BB’s per-
indicated by a set of metrics developed to reflect the formance appraisal and merit review.
program status. Accountability is then achieved by These five project management steps are essential
establishing goals and objectives that support the met- to the success of any Six Sigma project. They help pro-
rics and incorporating them into the Champion’s per- mote an atmosphere conducive to continuous
formance appraisal and merit reviews. improvement and substantially benefit an organiza-
The BB is responsible for the timely completion of tion and its employees.
his or her project in accordance with the project plan
and should be held accountable. Project completion REFERENCES
is the backbone of Six Sigma, and all other efforts
1. P.A. Keller, Six Sigma Deployment: A Guide for Implementing Six Sigma in
should be subordinate to its bottom-line results. Your Organization, QA Publishing, 2001.
It is imperative for the BB to feel empowered, 2. Ibid.
because he or she is responsible for the identification 3. Ibid.
of project barriers that need to be addressed in a
proactive manner.
The BB is ultimately accountable for the project’s
benefits, including cost, timing, quality and customer WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS ARTICLE? Please share
satisfaction derived from the successful completion of
your comments and thoughts with the editor by e-mailing
the project and realization of its merit. Accountability
is maintained through weekly master schedule godfrey@asq.org.
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