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The Difference Between Typical Project Management And Six Sigma Project Management
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) became an
accepted standard (as established by the Project Management
Institute) that is still widely used in many industries around
the world. At a basic level, many of the methodologies advocated
by PMBoK and Six Sigma have a great deal in common. Both seek to
establish a sound plan; identify and communicate with
stakeholders; conduct regular reviews; and manage schedule,
cost, and resources.
Six Sigma is not just another project management initiative or
process improvement program. Six Sigma is not just a new term
for project management nor is it a mere repackaging of old
concepts. It is more than that because it is a robust continuous
improvement strategy and process that includes cultural and
statistical methodologies. Six Sigma is complementary with
existing project management programs and standards but differs
in significant ways. Both disciplines seek to reduce failures,
prevent defects, control costs and schedules, and manage risk.
Generally, professional project management attempts to achieve
these goals by encouraging best practices on a
project-by-project basis, often through the mechanism of a
project office that promulgates policy, provides templates and
advice, promotes appropriate use of tools such as critical path
method, and perhaps performs periodic project reviews.
Too many project management methods have failed not because they
weren't adding value but because you couldn't measure the
effectiveness of the methodology or quantify the value added by
process changes. Six Sigma provides a structured data-driven
methodology with tools and techniques that companies can use to
measure their performance both before and after Six Sigma
projects. Using Six Sigma, management can measure the baseline
performance of their processes and determine the root causes of
variations so they can improve their processes to meet and
exceed the desired performance levels.
Six Sigma allows managers to take their projects to new levels
of discipline and comprehensive commitment. For standard project
management ideas, you can approach them ad hoc and implement
them as you learn them. You can't do Six Sigma halfheartedly,
and that is a good thing. Six Sigma is not for dabblers. You
can't implement it piecemeal. If you're in, you're in deep, and
you're in for the long haul. Again, that is a good thing because
that level of commitment not only gets everyone involved and
keeps them involved but also leads to more substantial and
far-reaching change in your processes.
There are many challenges facing project managers: data
gathering and analysis, problem solving, understanding and
evaluating existing processes,
Associated Websites
developing and tracking
measurements in a standardized manner, and making quantitative
evaluations. Six Sigma methodology provides tools and techniques
to help a manager be successful in all of these challenges. This
success is accomplished by means of understanding what the
methodology is, how it is applied, and how it used.
Six Sigma is not simply another supplement to an organization's
existing management methods. It is a complementary management
methodology that is integrated into and replaces the existing
ways of determining, analyzing, and resolving/avoiding problems,
as well as achieving business and customer requirements
objectively and methodically. Six Sigma can be applied to
operational management issues, or it can directly support
strategic management development and implementation. Six Sigma's
set of tools are more broadly applicable than those commonly
applied within typical project management. Six Sigma is more
oriented toward solutions of problems at their root cause and
prevention of their recurrence rather than attempting to control
potential causes of failure on a project-by-project basis.
The breadth, depth, and precision of Six Sigma also
differentiate it from typical project management. Six Sigma has
a well-defined project charter that outlines the scope of a
project, financial targets, anticipated benefits, milestones,
etc. It's based on hard financial data and savings. In typical
project management, organizations go into a project without
fully knowing what the financial gains might be. Six Sigma has a
solid control phase (DMAIC:
Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) that makes specific
measurements, identifies specific problems, and provides
specific solutions that can be measured.
Six Sigma is a robust continuous improvement strategy and
process that includes cultural methodologies such as Total
Quality Management (TQM), process control strategies such as
Statistical Process Control (SPC), and other important
statistical tools. When done correctly, Six Sigma becomes a way
toward organization and cultural development, but it is more
than a set of tools. Six Sigma is the strategic and systematic
application of the tools on targeted important projects at the
appropriate time to bring about significant and lasting change
in an organization as a whole.
About the author:
Peter Peterka is the Principal Consultant
http://www.6sigma.us/aboutus.php in practice areas of DMAIC and
DFSS. Peter has eleven years of experience performing as a
Master Black Belt http://www.6sigma.us/six-sigma-black-belt.php,
and has over 15 years experience in industry as an improvement
specialist and engineer working with numerous companies.
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