What methods should you use to select your Six Sigma project?

Our video goes through the techniques used and information you must take into account before selecting a Six Sigma project.

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How to Select to Selecting a Six Sigma Project

There are 3 Approaches to selecting a Six Sigma Project:

1. Obvious Problem or Improvement Opportunity
2. Brainstormed List
3. Structured Approach
   • Business Strategy
     • Business Case
     • Project Charter
       • Scope
       • KPI
       • Improvement Targets
       • Stakeholders

The Structured Approach

This is typically connected with the business strategy. There could be a financial gap or breakthrough opportunity, voice of the customer issues, quality issues, external market or environmental issues. Once you have identified which one of these is the priority and they are connected with the business strategy. The next thing to do is to develop a business case.

In the business case you are basically looking for additionally data to substantiate why this project is important and how it is connected to the business strategy.

One element that you will add to the business case is the project charter. The project charter will include everything about the project. It will include the pertinent information about the project. It will include the problem you are trying to solve, the team members, key performance indicators (KPI’s), key business metrics, also it will include stakeholders that are impacted by the project.

Some of the most important things to think about when developing the charter are:

1. How to scope the project – you need to spend a lot of time here talking with the stakeholders as well as the sponsors and champion to make sure you scope the project appropriately.
2. The next thing that you do is when you identify your KPI’s make sure that you identify the percent improvement target associated with the scope that you have defined for the project.
3. Make sure you identify all of the stakeholders. This is important because you don’t want to get to the point where the project is complete and you don’t have buy-in from all the stakeholders.