The IT industry is usually looked to when companies need solutions. But, IT companies themselves have situations when they need to make use of improvement methodologies, such as Six Sigma. IT companies love Six Sigma and for good reason. It allows them to find solutions to raising their levels of services and capabilities.
The IT industry, like the manufacturing industry, is faced with a few challenges. The biggest problem is the length of the project. Projects take too long to complete beyond set deadlines. Not just the data oriented tools, but the lack of knowledge base in the industry is an area of concern. On some occasions, companies have not been able to utilize the DMAIC methodology properly for software development projects. Once the projects are completed, the teams disperse - and Six Sigma remains limited to that project itself.
The answer to this dilemma is the meshing Lean tools and methods with Six Sigma. They can easily be used in conjunction with each other, and being quite efficient in places of high variances and wastes. These result in defects, which are Six Sigma specialties. It is sometimes hard to determine total wastes, and Lean is useful in this aspect.
The optimal method in bring about improvements is to use Lean tools to find areas of concern and what is the reason for drawbacks. This process is called "leaning out" and makes it easier to look at issues using Six Sigma tools. This approach yields very good results.
As the analysis covers a larger scope of the project and moves towards achieving cost reduction by identifying the cost of poor quality, organizations are able to bring down such costs to a large extent. It cannot be a one solution for everyone. With the coordinated efforts of Six Sigma and Lean, relevant problem areas can be sorted out properly, and advantages of both achieved for overall success of the improvement process. - 15431
The IT industry, like the manufacturing industry, is faced with a few challenges. The biggest problem is the length of the project. Projects take too long to complete beyond set deadlines. Not just the data oriented tools, but the lack of knowledge base in the industry is an area of concern. On some occasions, companies have not been able to utilize the DMAIC methodology properly for software development projects. Once the projects are completed, the teams disperse - and Six Sigma remains limited to that project itself.
The answer to this dilemma is the meshing Lean tools and methods with Six Sigma. They can easily be used in conjunction with each other, and being quite efficient in places of high variances and wastes. These result in defects, which are Six Sigma specialties. It is sometimes hard to determine total wastes, and Lean is useful in this aspect.
The optimal method in bring about improvements is to use Lean tools to find areas of concern and what is the reason for drawbacks. This process is called "leaning out" and makes it easier to look at issues using Six Sigma tools. This approach yields very good results.
As the analysis covers a larger scope of the project and moves towards achieving cost reduction by identifying the cost of poor quality, organizations are able to bring down such costs to a large extent. It cannot be a one solution for everyone. With the coordinated efforts of Six Sigma and Lean, relevant problem areas can be sorted out properly, and advantages of both achieved for overall success of the improvement process. - 15431
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Six sigma is a method that will benefit almost every business. To learn more about howto bring about improvement in your organization, and more about lean six sigma, visit sixsigmaonline.org today.
