Overview

Good project selection is a major factor in the early success and long-term acceptance of Six Sigma within the organization. Project selection is a process and, as with any process, if it is not planned and monitored, there is no telling how it will evolve. Every manager, Sponsor, Process Owner, and Black Belt will develop a different project selection process. While we believe some flexibility is needed, unmanaged processes turn into anarchy.

Project identification starts before training of Black Belts. Many organizations get this confused and send people off to be trained as Black Belts before they have projects identified. This hurts in several ways:

• The Black Belt candidates do not have an assigned project in which to apply the skills they learn as they go through the training.

• The number of Black Belts can be totally disproportionate to the available projects.

• Black Belts can finish training or complete a project and not have another project ready.

Doing Black Belt training before projects are identified is the classic "getting the cart before the horse."

We contend that projects are best if they align with the strategic plan and with one or more key objectives from that strategic plan. When projects are aligned with the strategic plan developed by the executive leadership and communicated to the rest of the organization, the project selection process carried out by other managers, Champions, and the Black Belts can be easily checked for alignment. If a project does not align with the strategic plan...