PMBOK® Guide / PMI® / PMP®

-
6σ
PMBOK® Guide and Six
Sigma – Basics

Six Sigma (or more recent: Lean Six Sigma) uses

projects to attain dramatic improvements in
production and services.

What are the commonalities and differences

with PMI®‘s methods?

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PMBOK® Guide and Six
Sigma – Basics

What can we learn from Six Sigma?

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PMBOK® Guide and Six
Sigma – Basics

Contents

1: What is Six Sigma?

2: What Six Sigma Does

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1: What is Six Sigma?
1: What is Six Sigma?

Six Sigma was based on groundbreaking work

of Dr. Walter Shewhart, between the two world
wars at Hawthorne, Il, USA.

Dr. Shewhart was the inventor of modern

quality control based on statistics.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

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1: What is Six Sigma?

Dr. Shewhart recommended to strive for 3σ

quality.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

Gaussian standard curve

3σ 2σ 1σ μ 1σ 2σ 3σ

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1: What is Six Sigma?

Motorola (1986, Bill Smith), GE and other

companies found 3σ insufficient for modern,
complex products:

With growing numbers of items, production

yields go down to fast.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

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1: What is Six Sigma?

A special problem:
Chip wavers had
only 30% and less
production yield.
12 © image: Steve Evans
1: What is Six Sigma?

Over time, processes get worse, e.g. by wear

and tear of tools between to replacement
cycles.

This is sometimes described by allowing a 1.5σ

process shift.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

A new quality goal was defined:

Further reduce the error level by a factor of

~1/1,000, even including the process shift.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

~3,000 DPMO

3σ
3σ 2σ 1σ 1σ 2σ 3σ

~3.4 DPMO
Process
shift
6σ

6σ 5σ 4σ 3σ 2σ 1σ 1σ 2σ 3σ 4σ 5σ 6σ

15 DPMO: Defects per 1 million opportunities

1: What is Six Sigma?

Once the 6σ quality goal of 3.4 DPMO has been

achieved, even complex systems will attain a
high yield.

Losses from low system quality (“cost of poor

quality”, COPQ) will go down.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

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1: What is Six Sigma?

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1: What is Six Sigma?

As of 2006 Motorola reported over US $17

billion in savings from Six Sigma.

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1: What is Six Sigma?

Another application:
Thousands of
Dabawallas in India
apply Six Sigma
methods to deliver
home-cooked food.
20 © image: Steve Evans
1: What is Six Sigma?

Some examples for Six Sigma application in DACH:

Engineering Automotive Logistics

Finance and Medical Service

Insurance

Distribution IT, Consulting Production

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2: What Six Sigma Does
2: Methods of Six Sigma

Six Sigma uses 2 phase models

for improvements:
• DMAIC
• DMADV (= DfSS)

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2: Methods of Six Sigma

Six Sigma uses various techniques:

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2: Methods of Six Sigma

Six Sigma uses a special role model with

popular certifications:
Six Sigma Champions: Six Sigma Master Black Belts:
Project sponsors
Full-time program managers,
and mentors
PMO heads and educators

Six Sigma Black Belts: Six Sigma Green Belts:

Full-time project
Part time project
managers
coordinators and
assistants
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3: From Six Sigma to Lean Six
Sigma
3: From Six Sigma to Lean
Six Sigma
History

Total Quality Management

Six Sigma (Motorola, GE)
Striving for dramatic revolutions by
means of projects.
Focus on improving output
precision.
Goal: Reducing cost of bad quality.
Lean Manufacturing /
Management (Toyota)
Striving for continuous
improvement.
Focus on reduction of product
stocks and process waste.
Goal: Short cycle times and just in
time production and service.

Lean Six Sigma

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3: From Six Sigma to Lean
Six Sigma

Six Sigma is “TQM on steroids”.

Lean applies a “pull” approach on production,

i.e. it is driven from the output side, not input.

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3: From Six Sigma to Lean
Six Sigma

Experts today try to combine the methods to

get the best of both worlds.

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 4: What can we learn from (Lean)
Six Sigma?

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

The project management approach of Six

Sigma is rather simple:
• 2 alternative phase models
• No complex life-cycle descriptions
• No process orientation for project management.

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

Common elements shared with the PMBOK

Guide:
• Based on the Shewhart/Deming cycle (P-D-C-A)
• Emphasis on customer satisfaction
• Appreciation of stakeholder orientation
• Team approach

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

Common caveats shared with the PMBOK

Guide:
• Some companies have achieved quick wins
through implementations.
• One should not expect repetiton in the own
organization. Benefits are rather long-term.

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

The deeply hidden gem of Six Sigma:

The Implicit Focus on

Management Attention

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

The role of the (Lean) Six Sigma Project

Champion:
• More than an Initiator – a true project sponsor
• Deeply linked with the project, involved in it.
• Takes an active role in critical processess like
change request management.

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4: What can we learn from
(Lean) Six Sigma?

The (Lean) Six Sigma Project Champion:

• ...remove roadblocks.
• ...assign, define and align roles.
• ...develop the core structure of the Six Sigma
team.
• ...own the process, guarantee implementation.

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Thank you