Project Deliverables

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 I'd now like to go through a little more detail
• 00:09 about the deliverables in each of five phases of a Lean Six Sigma Project.
• 00:14 First, a quick recap on what I mean about by project deliverables.
• 00:18 Deliverables are the results of the project activities that are delivered to
• 00:22 the business customers or stakeholders of the project.
• 00:25 The project was undertaken to create these deliverables.
• 00:30 For Lean Six Sigma projects, these will take the form of data and
• 00:33 analysis that lead to the solution and all of the associated documentation and
• 00:37 procedures needed to implement the solution effectively.
• 00:42 Project deliverables also include any project management artifacts,
• 00:45 such as schedules or project reports that will go into the project archives.
• 00:50 In fact, on most Lean Six Sigma projects, you can't move from one phase to the next
• 00:55 until the deliverables for the first phase are complete.
• 00:59 A good rule of thumb is that a project is not over until all the deliverables
• 01:03 are complete and have been accepted by the appropriate part of the organization.
• 01:08 So let's look at the type of deliverables for the Define phase.
• 01:11 Remember, during the Define phase, the business is setting the boundaries and
• 01:15 general goals and direction for the project.
• 01:17 Some of these are fairy common deliverables for the start of any project.
• 01:21 The team members are identified and the key stakeholders or
• 01:24 customers are identified, and then these are captured.
• 01:28 One deliverable that is specific to Lean Six Sigma projects
• 01:31 is that a high level process map is done, usually at the SIPOC level only.
• 01:36 And of course, like any good project that is starting there's a charter.
• 01:40 I'll talk more about charters and SIPOC in another section.
• 01:44 On to the measure phase.
• 01:45 In this phase, the team is digging into the current situation,
• 01:48 determining what is actually happening with respect to the problem or process.
• 01:52 These deliverables now become very problem specific.
• 01:55 The specific defect is quantified.
• 01:58 It is not enough to say that we have poor quality on a product in this phase.
• 02:02 The team measures the actual number and categories of defects on the product or
• 02:07 if it is a process that has to be improved, the team creates a detailed
• 02:11 process map or value stream map of that process in its as is condition.
• 02:16 The team is also collecting data, and as part of this, they must frequently do
• 02:20 a measurement system analysis to determine if the data is valid.
• 02:23 With this information, baseline performance metrics can be established,
• 02:28 such as process capability, process sigma and value-added time.
• 02:33 The measure phase is often the longest phase in a Lean Six Sigma project.
• 02:39 Next comes the Analyze phase.
• 02:41 If your data collection contains the right data, the Analyze phase will go fast.
• 02:46 If not, you may have to go back and
• 02:47 get some additional data to fine-tune your analysis.
• 02:50 In my experience, I typically need to get some more data.
• 02:54 With the data that was collected and is now analyzed, the opportunity for
• 02:58 improvement and the magnitude of that improvement can now be set.
• 03:01 Notice that it's not until this phase that
• 03:04 we know that the level of benefit could be.
• 03:07 Within the process, we can quantify waste and determine the activities that are value-added
• 03:10 and those that are not.
• 03:12 We can also identify the sources of variation creating defects and
• 03:16 determine the root cause or causes, which means we can finally state with
• 03:21 some authority and clarity the independent and dependent attributes, and
• 03:25 how they're related, i.e., that Y = F(x) relationship.
• 03:30 Once we understand the real problem, we can create an appropriate solution for
• 03:33 those problems, which brings us to the improve phase.
• 03:37 There's a tendency to want to jump to this phase when you're only
• 03:40 halfway through Measure because you think you know the problem.
• 03:44 Follow the Lean Six Sigma disciplines and complete the analysis.
• 03:47 Even if you guessed right back into the Measure phase,
• 03:50 chances are that there are several contributing root causes.
• 03:54 If you wait until now to come up with the solution,
• 03:56 you will probably fix all of them and not just one of them.
• 04:00 What I'm talking about is the creation of a solution strategy to address the causes.
• 04:05 In some cases you'll need to do a Design of Experiments to find the sweet spot of
• 04:09 performance across many different attributes.
• 04:12 In other cases, there's a singular problem and a singular solution.
• 04:16 With that solution in mind, you can set new operational specifications and
• 04:20 tolerances to ensure proper process performance.
• 04:24 Of course, we're dealing with real problems, not hypothetical ones,
• 04:28 so we need to create and test a real solution.
• 04:31 This may require prototypes or some form of simulation.
• 04:34 Based upon the improvement solution, we have a new Y = F(x) for the product or
• 04:39 process.
• 04:42 And now the final phase, Control.
• 04:44 The deliverables in this phase are focused upon ensuring the improvement is fully
• 04:48 implemented and that the improvement is permanent.
• 04:51 So based upon the characteristics of the improvement, new standards and
• 04:55 procedures are put in place for the operators.
• 04:57 And new systems and equipment are installed or upgraded.
• 05:00 A control plan for monitoring the performance of the new process,
• 05:04 including how to respond if the performance degrades is also put in place.
• 05:08 During this phase, we actually run the process for a little while to validate
• 05:12 that it is working as expected, and that the benefits are realized.
• 05:16 This allows us to demonstrate the new process capability to the organization.
• 05:20 Finally, the project is closed out administratively and
• 05:23 project documentation is appropriately archived.
• 05:28 Completing each of the deliverables for a Lean Sigma project phase,
• 05:32 will ensure that the team is making progress and
• 05:35 is able to make sound decisions at the completion of each phase.

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