RCI Books
HOW TO IDENTIFY AND CHARTER A LEAN SIX SIGMA PROJECT
TIPS AND TRICKS LEARNED THE HARD WAY
By Keith Johnson
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A BOOK FOR PROJECT SPONSORS:
- Have you been asked to “sponsor” a lean six sigma or continuous improvement project?
- Are you being sent to “sponsor training”, and asked to bring ideas for potential projects in your area?
- Do you have an idea for a project, and need to decide if it’s a good lean six sigma project?
A BOOK FOR PROJECT LEADERS:
- Have you been asked to lead a lean six sigma or continuous improvement project?
- Are you going to “black belt” or “green belt” or “kaizen leader” training, and being told to bring a project charter with you (and you don’t have one)?
- Do you have a sponsor and project charter, but need to determine if it’s reasonable and ready to use for the team kick off?
Getting Results in about Half the Time
Traditional process improvement programs using lean six sigma can deliver strong results, by focusing on customer needs, eliminating waste and reducing variation is products and services. The main drawback has always been waiting for projects to get completed, so the benefits can start. This is especially true when a company already has a “can do” culture used to solving problems quickly, and now finds that lean six sigma projects take 6‐12 months to achieve the results. Fortunately, the lean toolkit has a solution called “kaizen” that cuts the time in half.
Candidate Selection Criteria
Continuous improvement results are a combination of the right strategy, projects and people. In this article, we will focus on how to identify and select candidates for the project and program leader roles. Fortunately, roles such as Green Belts, Black Belts, Kaizen Leaders, Master Black Belts and Champions have existed for decades and the best ones have had certain things in common.
