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A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt will often chair the Stage Gate Review meetings for Lean Six Sigma Projects. In those meetings, the Black Belt needs to ensure the work of the phase was done and the tools were used effectively. This lesson reviews the normal deliverables due at the Define Stage Gate review. It also includes hints and tips for identifying problems to be avoided during that phase.

Quick reference

Define Stage Deliverables

The Define Stage is the initial stage of a Lean Six Sigma project.  The deliverables from this stage set the project boundaries and establish the success criteria for the project.

When to use

The Define Stage deliverables should be reviewed and approved at the Define Stage Gate Review meeting.

Instructions

Throughout the Define Stage, the Lean Six Sigma team creates the deliverables.  The deliverables are normally consolidated into a Project Charter that is reviewed and approved during the Define Stage Gate Review.   This charter will describe the business case for why this project should be conducted.  The charter will also include other project boundary conditions such as preliminary gate review dates and clarifying the project Green Belt or Black Belt project leader.  The final result of the Define Stage Review is the approval of the charter and the authorization for the team to proceed into the Measure phase.

The focus of this stage is to get the stakeholders to agree on the defect or problem that is to be addressed.  This is normally summarized as the Customer Critical to Quality (CTQ) attributes.  This is often referred to as the “Big Y” in the equation Y=f(x).  In addition, the scope of the investigation or analysis is determined by conducting a SIPOC of the process.  This scoping action will determine the departments or processes involved in the analysis and therefore the subject matter expert team members who are needed on the team.

A major challenge can arise in this stage if the stakeholders have different goals or agendas for the project.  When that occurs, they normally disagree on the CTQs or the project boundaries.  As a Black Belt, you will need to manage the stakeholder interactions and negotiate an agreement between these stakeholders before moving on to the next stage. The Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) analysis is often very useful in this negotiation. Questions you often must work through with the stakeholders are:

  • Where to set the SIPOC process boundaries (business department view – not detailed step view)?
  • What subject matter experts do we need and who should be on the team?
  • Can we integrate and align the different CTQs from different stakeholders?

Hints & tips

  • Make sure you understand the business case behind the defect or problem.  Don’t jump to a technical definition of the defect or problem, understand how the defect is impacting the business.
  • Although there may be one prominent stakeholder who is sponsoring the project, be sure you have considered the perspective of other stakeholders.  You don’t want to create a solution that optimizes the performance for one stakeholder and sub-optimizes the performance for many others.
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  • 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 I want to summarize this section by discussing the defined stage deliverables
  • 00:10 and some of the challenges that you may encounter while those are being developed.
  • 00:14 Let's start by looking at the gate review and
  • 00:17 what's required to get through that meeting.
  • 00:20 The focus of the gate review is to get agreement from the stakeholders concerning
  • 00:24 the business defect or problem that is being analyzed.
  • 00:28 Don't jump to a conclusion or letting the focus go to a root cause,
  • 00:31 we just want to agree on the nature of the problem to be addressed.
  • 00:35 The Lean Six Sigma process will determine the true root cause and
  • 00:39 lead to a solution in later stages.
  • 00:42 That means that our critical take-away is the customer CTQ.
  • 00:46 What does the internal or external customer expect from the process?
  • 00:50 In our Lean Six Sigma equation of y equal f(x), this is the Big Y.
  • 00:56 The decision that occurs at this gate is the approval for
  • 00:58 the team to start the investigation and analysis.
  • 01:01 Until the stakeholders agree on the business issue to be solved,
  • 01:04 the team should not waste time in other activities.
  • 01:08 And of course, this points to the biggest risk or challenge in this phase.
  • 01:12 That is, when stakeholders cannot agree on what the problem should be focused on.
  • 01:17 They may have different goals or agendas with respect to the project, you,
  • 01:22 as the Black Belt or Green Belt, have the task of resolving that conflict.
  • 01:26 You will need to find a point of common ground where they can all agree that it
  • 01:30 makes sense to do an analysis.
  • 01:32 This is where you must have your stakeholder management skills at
  • 01:36 the forefront.
  • 01:37 As you prepare for the gate review and sometimes during the gate review,
  • 01:41 you can expect several questions to come up again and again.
  • 01:45 These are some of the points of negotiation with these stakeholders.
  • 01:49 These questions include, where to set the process boundaries?
  • 01:53 Use the SIPOC to facilitate this discussion, but be careful,
  • 01:56 keep it at a high level, such as the flow from department to department, and
  • 02:00 don't try to create a detailed map yet.
  • 02:03 Another question is, who should be on the team?
  • 02:07 In particular, you need to identify the subject matter experts that will be
  • 02:10 needed based upon the process boundaries.
  • 02:13 You want people who know and understand the processes and systems in use.
  • 02:18 A third question is, can we integrate and
  • 02:20 align the different CTQs from different stakeholders.
  • 02:24 It's okay to have multiple CTQs, but realize, that can complicate
  • 02:28 the solution process as you try to simultaneously meet multiple goals.
  • 02:34 It's better if possible to create one integrated CTQ that benefits all
  • 02:38 stakeholders.
  • 02:40 This flowchart can help to guide you through that phase.
  • 02:43 When the focus is clear to everyone, you can quickly zip down the right side of
  • 02:47 this flowchart and complete the phase in a day or two.
  • 02:51 However, when the focus is not clear and stakeholders are not in agreement,
  • 02:55 you will need to create a high-level map to set the boundaries,
  • 02:59 use your voice to the customer to gain focus, understand your cost of quality,
  • 03:03 and create a project charter.
  • 03:05 All of these could take several weeks.
  • 03:08 Of course, you don't want to hold a gate review if you're not ready.
  • 03:12 So let's look at typical criteria for what is needed for successful gate review.
  • 03:18 One other comment, you may need to explain to stakeholders who are new to
  • 03:22 the Lean Six Sigma process what they should be reviewing at each gate.
  • 03:27 For instance, there is no detailed problem statement yet,
  • 03:30 that comes in the next phase.
  • 03:33 The most important technical decision that you need at this meeting is
  • 03:38 stakeholder agreement on the project CTQ or Big Y,
  • 03:41 this is how the project will measure success.
  • 03:44 Also, you want agreement on project boundaries, which means you may need
  • 03:49 a SIPOC to show what part of the business will be studied or analyzed.
  • 03:53 The SIPOC is also useful for
  • 03:55 explaining why you need the subject matter experts on your team.
  • 03:59 Ideally, you walk out of the review with a list of names of team members.
  • 04:04 As a minimum, you need the agreement that the team member slots will be filled.
  • 04:09 If you don't have the names, I would place them on my project risk register as a high
  • 04:14 risk until you do get those people identified.
  • 04:17 Often this review is organized around reviewing the elements of
  • 04:20 the project charter.
  • 04:22 The charter will identify the problem statement from a CTQ perspective.
  • 04:26 Note, this is not the detailed root cause problem statement,
  • 04:29 the problem was related to the Big Y project goal.
  • 04:32 The charter will also include the business case, often based on the cost of quality,
  • 04:36 that provides the rationale for why we are doing the project.
  • 04:40 The rest of the project charter is typically project management charter
  • 04:43 elements.
  • 04:44 The scope boundaries are set with the SIPOC tentative milestones consisting of
  • 04:48 the other gate reviews are set.
  • 04:51 Be sure the stakeholders know that these are tentative.
  • 04:54 What is more important is that the team does the work correctly rather than they
  • 04:57 meet an arbitrary date.
  • 04:59 Also, the key team members are identified, in particular,
  • 05:02 the Green Belt or Black Belt project leader and the subject matter experts.
  • 05:08 Let's finish this by providing a few tips and hints to help you get through this
  • 05:12 stage and have a successful stage review meeting.
  • 05:15 Don't look at the business case or stakeholder inputs as just checking a box.
  • 05:20 Understand what's really driving the concern, it's easy to write
  • 05:24 a problem statement that misses the main point and focuses on an irrelevant detail.
  • 05:29 Make sure you know why this project is being done and reflect that in the CTQs.
  • 05:36 Don't over focus on the problem from one stakeholder, make sure you consider
  • 05:41 it from several perspectives, we refer to this as a frame storming.
  • 05:46 We view this issue from different frames of reference, such as,
  • 05:50 what does the operator see as the issue?
  • 05:53 What does the process manager see as the issue?
  • 05:55 What does the internal customer see as the issue?
  • 05:58 And what's the impact on the external customer?
  • 06:01 Plan on meeting with all of them and consider their frames of reference.
  • 06:05 We are less likely to create a CTQ that will optimize one department and
  • 06:10 sub optimize everyone else.
  • 06:12 I've said it before, but let me repeat, use your SIPOC to set process boundaries,
  • 06:17 and then based on those boundaries, determine who you need on the team.
  • 06:21 Finally, take the charter seriously.
  • 06:24 We don't just file it away and forget about it at the end of this review,
  • 06:28 the charter will be reviewed at the beginning of every gate review.
  • 06:31 So take it seriously and be sure it reflects the true focus and
  • 06:36 boundaries of this project.
  • 06:39 As a Black Belt, it's your job to make sure that the deliverables for
  • 06:43 the defined stage are completed, both for the projects that you lead and for
  • 06:47 the projects that you're coaching.

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