Project Phases

Quick reference

• 00:05 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:07 It's time now for us to go through the phases of a Lean Six Sigma project.
• 00:13 One of the important keys to success of Lean Six Sigma is that every project
• 00:17 follows a similar path, so people know what to do and what to expect.
• 00:22 The path is the DMAIC process, define, measure, analyze, improve, and control.
• 00:28 As a team starts down the path in the define phase,
• 00:30 the business is setting targets and boundaries.
• 00:33 Onto the measure phase and
• 00:35 the team is investigating the problem to determine what is really going on.
• 00:39 Together, these phases are clarifying the real problem and the business impact.
• 00:44 Then comes the analysis phase, where the true problem solving occurs.
• 00:48 Lean Six Sigma relies heavily on disciplined statistical analysis of data,
• 00:53 and that occurs at this point.
• 00:55 When the problem is now well understood, the team creates a practical,
• 01:00 viable solution for the problem in the improve phase.
• 01:03 And that problem is implemented with all appropriate changes to systems, processes,
• 01:08 and procedures during the control phase.
• 01:10 Let's look at each of these in a little more detail.
• 01:13 We'll start at the beginning with the define phase.
• 01:16 The purpose of this phase is to clearly and
• 01:19 precisely define the goals of this project from a business or a customer perspective.
• 01:25 Is at this time that the stakeholders ensure that the team is aligned around
• 01:29 the business objectives.
• 01:30 Now, during this phase, the team and stakeholders agree on boundaries.
• 01:35 Some of the more common tools to use this are a project charter or
• 01:39 a high-level process map.
• 01:41 We don't want the team to spend effort on perceived problems that are irrelevant to
• 01:46 the business, this sets the priorities and directs the teams in their areas of focus.
• 01:51 Next comes the measure phase.
• 01:54 With the focus set, the team now goes out and collects accurate, meaningful,
• 01:58 reliable data about the problem to be solved or the process to be improved.
• 02:03 This data relates back to the Critical to Quality characteristics that were set in
• 02:07 the define phase.
• 02:08 There are several activities that the team must do to accomplish this work.
• 02:12 They must map the process in detail to understand the types of activities that
• 02:16 are going on.
• 02:17 With this information, they can take high-level CTQs from the defined phase,
• 02:21 like the customer expects on-time delivery.
• 02:24 And translate those into specific product or process CTQs, such as the time from
• 02:29 receipt of order to shipment of the product should not exceed 24 hours.
• 02:33 You can see from that CTQ that the teams will often need to set performance
• 02:37 standards also during this phase.
• 02:39 Then once those are set,
• 02:41 the data must be collected to determine if the standards are being met.
• 02:45 By now, the problem is defined, so it's time to analyze the data that was
• 02:49 collected to see what it tells us about the problem.
• 02:53 The purpose then of this phase is to determine exactly how well the process is
• 02:57 performing and to identify any causes that contribute to substandard performance.
• 03:02 From a statistical standpoint, that means determining the process capability or
• 03:07 sigma level.
• 03:08 But it may also mean analyzing the flow with Lean metrics to identify bottlenecks
• 03:13 and waste.
• 03:13 With the capability and flow metrics, we can now set realistic goals for
• 03:17 improvement.
• 03:18 Now, notice the specific improvement goal for
• 03:21 the project is not determined until this phase.
• 03:25 This is one of the ways that Lean Six Sigma projects differ from traditional
• 03:29 projects.
• 03:29 The specific project success criteria is not established until halfway
• 03:34 through the project.
• 03:36 It's also at this time that the cause of variations and waste are determined,
• 03:40 including the magnitude and contribution from each cause.
• 03:44 Well, now on to the improve phase.
• 03:46 The purpose of this phase is pretty clear, fix the problem, improve the process.
• 03:51 Depending upon the underlying causes,
• 03:53 there are a number of improvement approaches that could be used.
• 03:56 Whichever one fits the purpose, the team must develop and test the solution.
• 04:00 This may involve creating new process maps or value stream maps.
• 04:04 It may mean changing a supplier or an element of the design.
• 04:08 It almost always includes some change in operating procedures.
• 04:12 The team should prototype or simulate the implementation of the solution so
• 04:16 that they can foresee business impacts of putting it in place.
• 04:19 The solution must be practical given the business context.
• 04:24 The final phase is the control phase.
• 04:26 This is the phase that transitions the improvement from the project team
• 04:30 to the business processes, and
• 04:32 ensures that the implementation will become the new normal mode of operations.
• 04:37 By doing so, the product or process should achieve the project goal and
• 04:41 be able to sustain that performance.
• 04:43 There are several important activities to take place.
• 04:46 There needs to be a validated measurement system to ensure that the new process can
• 04:50 be measured and that it is working correctly.
• 04:53 With the system working, new process standards are established and
• 04:57 other related business processes or systems in the organization are changed,
• 05:01 including training the users.
• 05:03 Now, the team does not assume that everything will always go as expected.
• 05:07 So the team creates a control plan to help users maintain and
• 05:10 sustain their performance.
• 05:12 And, of course, the team needs to bring the project to an orderly close,
• 05:16 dispose of any team resources, and
• 05:17 ensure the documentation of the results is being archive correctly.
• 05:23 So those are the five phases.
• 05:25 Now, we'll spend a number of sessions in each phase, going through the tools and
• 05:30 techniques that are typically used in that phase.

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