Page 143 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

Which IT Project Methodology? Six Sigma - Why and why not?

In a recent flyover article about the various IT Project
methodologies, we looked at the pros and cons of each
and I promised that we’d go on to look at each
methodology further, in order to gain more insight on
the advantages and disadvantages each can offer.

In this piece, let’s focus on Six Sigma.
Six Sigma. What Is It, When Should You Use It?

Like a fine wine, it would appear that the Six Sigma
methodology gets better with age. Since its initial
introduction in the 1980s, fans of the methodology
claim that it has been ‘perfected’ thanks to small
tweaks that have been made over the years. Six Sigma
allows for high-quality deliverables to be produced. Indeed, the main focus of the methodology is to
produce a piece of software that is effectively bug-free and teams that use Six Sigma are renowned
for producing high-quality work.

In the introductory piece on IT methodologies I wrote the following:
Six Sigma was first introduced in the mid-1980s at Motorola. I believe that executed right, Six Sigma
is the best methodology for eliminating errors and therefore improving quality. Six Sigma identifies
what is working well and more importantly what is not - what is not working can then be removed
from your project's gene pool. Data is key to Six Sigma.

When Is It Most Effective? Six Sigma is great for larger organisations seeking greater efficiency and
quality.
Proponents of Six Sigma are among the most passionate advocates of any methodology (as anyone
who knows a Six Sigma Master Black Belt will attest). Not for the faint-hearted, data is the lifeblood
of the methodology and what you get out of it relates precisely to the quality of what you feed in!

Six Sigma is great for clearly identifying and framing the problem that your IT Project seeks to
address and its goals.

Now, let’s do the deep dive on Six Sigma.

What Advocates of Six Sigma Say

Increased quality of software - The majority of teams who chose to use the Six Sigma methodology
do so in order to improve the quality of the projects they deliver. Six Sigma practically ensures that
software delivered is virtually bug-free, the data analysis used in Six Sigma helps prevents bugs from
occurring (usually before an issue has even arisen). Six Sigma makes sense from a business point of
view, a higher quality product is more valuable commercially and reputationally.

High customer satisfaction - Teams who use this methodology often boast that their ‘customer’ and
stakeholder satisfaction is higher. It’s all about that higher-quality end product. High satisfaction