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Lean Six Sigma Project Selection

How should an organisation ensure Black and Green Belts have the right Lean Six Sigma projects to work on?

One way of looking at Lean Six Sigma is as the improvement function within an organisation. As such its job is to ensure that the Lean Six Sigma Projects it executes are specifically designed to close the gaps between the strategic plan and the organisation's performance. In this way Lean Six Sigma will always be vibrant and relevant.

But how can an organisation ensure that its projects are going to do just that - close the gaps? The answer lies in carefully focused project identification, prioritisation, selection and launch processes, and this article will examine how an organisation might go about this in a systematic and effective manner.

The four stages of identification, prioritisation, selection and launch should be considered separately, and may be carried out by different agents within the organisation.

Opportunity identification and project launch may well be carried out by the belts, but project prioritisation and selection should not be delegated by management to the belts. This is because the management will have a better understanding of the strategic objectives of the organisation, and if management prioritise and select the projects then they are much more likely to support them and provide the resources necessary to ensure project success.

The overall process of identification, prioritisation, selection and launch SigmaPro recommend is shown below. This process should be fully integrated with the strategic planning and goal deployment processes within an organisation:

1. IDENTIFY

Create or Consolidate the vision for the future, and consequential high level goals & objectives for the Business. This is of course the role of the executive team and if the Lean Six Sigma Champion or Master Black Belt is not part of this process then he or she should make sure that a copy is available and is consulted with.

Review the Key Process Indicator's for the business, and determine the gaps between current performance and the goals & objectives in 1 above. We described Lean Six Sigma as a method for closing gaps, and so it is vital that these gaps are calculated and fully understood.

Determine the appropriate project selection methodology or methodologies to identify project opportunities. High level Business Level Value Stream Mapping is an effective way of doing this, as this allows the identification of a long term vision relating to a future state, but also identifies smaller scale projects (suitable for Green Belts and Yellow Belts) to be completed along the way. There are other methods, however, such as 'Cost of Quality' and 'Customer Journey', which are particularly useful for service organisations.

2. PRIORITISE

Review the list with a team consisting of Champions, Sponsors and functional management. It is vital that the leadership are fully participative in this process, and it is best done as a group activity. For this we would recommend the use of a Project Selection Matrix populated with selection criteria such as:

• Customer Impact
• Savings/benefits
• Strategic alignment
• Probability of success
• Team availability
• Data availability
• Speed of delivery
• Use of LSS tools

An example matrix is shown below

Determine projects which are suitable for BBs or GBs and which are more suited to standard Project Management Techniques. Lean Six Sigma projects are best utilised where solutions and root causes are not known. Investment projects are better managed by means of standard project management techniques.

3. SELECT

Establish the problem statements, objectives, benefits/returns and the feasibility and risk associated with the project opportunities at the top of the prioritised list. This may require some initial data collection to enable a real comparison between potential projects.

Select the most important projects for launch. Make sure ideally that there is broad agreement amongst key stake holders regarding what projects get done.

4. LAUNCH

Select suitable BBs and GBs for the chosen projects. Experienced Black Belts should be able to tackle any project in any area but Green Belts should only tackle projects in their own area and discipline.

Formally launch the projects. Projects are formally launched by means of the Project Charter. This is the project definition document used within Lean Six Sigma to ensure the project is clearly and precisely focused and that there are clear measurements in place to measure progress and that resources are forthcoming to ensure success.

We have examined how an organisation needs to ensure Black and Green Belts have the right Lean Six Sigma projects to work on in the article, and we have covered a process an organisation can follow to deliver this. As we have said much of the process can be delegated by management but it is not advisable to delegate the actual prioritisation and final selection process. Management should always maintain control of this.

Of all things in a Lean Six Sigma deployment ensuring that the Black and Green Belts have good projects to work on - ones which will be supported by the organisation, and ones which will help deliver the organisation's strategic objectives - is of vital importance if an organisation is to fulfil its potential of growth and profitability. This process is taught as part of our Lean Six Sigma Champion programme.

Author Biography

Mike Titchen

Six Sigma Master Black Belt

[ View More about Mike ]