Lessons in Six sigma: 72 must-know truths for managers/ Debashis Sarkar.

Machine derived contents note: Contents -- Preface -- Lesson ?1 -- Six Sigma is a structured problem solving methodology which is a powerful lever for business improvement. -- Lesson ?2 -- It?s CEO and only the CEO who can make Six Sigma successful in an organization. -- Lesson 3 -- Take the members of the senior management team on board with a Champions Workshop -- Lesson 4 -- Precede Six Sigma deployment with an organizational assessment -- Lesson 5 -- Create a deployment platoon for execution of Six Sigma projects -- Lesson 6 -- The responsibility for success of Six Sigma projects lies with the Champions -- Lesson 7 -- Improvement with Six Sigma entails finding and working with critical X?s in a process -- Lesson 8 -- Build solid infrastructure pillars to support Six Sigma in the organization -- Lesson 9 -- Appoint a marketing manager for selling and marketing Six Sigma as a product to the employees of the company -- Lesson 10 -- The Quality Council should drive Six Sigma implementation across the organization -- Lesson 11 -- Bolster Six Sigma projects with a solid review framework -- Lesson 12 -- Becoming a Master Black Belt requires a practical demonstration of adeptness in coaching, teaching, facilitating, consulting and mentoring. -- Lesson 13 -- When hiring a consultant for Six Sigma deployment ensure that all laid down criteria are met -- Lesson 14 -- Beware of the consultant who gives a proposal to improve an organizational business processes all by itself, without involvement of employees -- Lesson 15 -- Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of Six Sigma Teams -- Lesson 16 -- The composition of the Six Sigma project team is critical to its success -- Lesson 17 -- During the first year of Six Sigma implementation, focus of deployment should be on value and not volume. -- Lesson 18 -- Appoint a Dashboard Manager with a responsibility for tracking process metrics -- Lesson 19 -- Six Sigma deployment should precede with the identification of core business processes. -- Lesson 20 -- Do not take up improvement projects in the cafeteria during the early days of Six Sigma journey -- Lesson?21 -- Black Belts should not carry out small improvement projects ( read: Green Belt Projects) in the garb of their being Black Belt Projects -- Lesson ?22 -- The Project Charter is a tool to manage, control and approve Six Sigma Projects -- Lesson ?23 -- Scripting the Problem Statement right is vital to a Six Sigma project -- Lesson ?24 -- Effective Six Sigma deployment requires a holistic mechanism to capture the voice of the customers -- Lesson 25 -- It is important to focus on the right measure to ascertain the efficacy of a process -- Lesson 26 -- Together with Sigma levels keep an eye on the class of the process -- Lesson 27 -- While executing DMAIC projects do not take short cuts. Follow all steps. -- Lesson 28 -- It is imperative that all Six Sigma projects savings should provide real time savings -- Lesson 29 -- Just by calculating the benefits at the beginning and end of a project shall not get the ?wow? from the CFO or his colleagues -- Lesson 30 -- Six Sigma is just not for manufacturing organizations. It can be deployed in Service Organizations also. -- Lesson 31 -- Be on top of meetings. Let them be enablers to project improvements. -- Lesson 32 -- Before setting out to do a Six Sigma project ensure that it is scoped well -- Lesson 34 -- The organization should have an effective methodology to ensure the there is continuous flow of ideas -- Lesson 35 -- All improvement ideas need not qualify as candidates for Six Sigma project. -- Lesson 36 -- Creating the right organizational structure is a must for Six Sigma deployment -- Lesson 37 -- Before determining the sample size and sampling plan, ascertain if the data for measurement is from a moving process or is from a stagnant population. -- Lesson 38 -- Understand the key terms and the steps involved in DPMO calculation. -- Lesson 39 -- DPMO is a good concept but be alert to the confusions it can create. Mindlessly increasing the opportunity levels can increase the Sigma levels. -- Lesson 40 -- Do not just be satisfied with yields, commence with the calculation of First Pass Yield -- Lesson 41 -- You can unfurl the non-value added activities in your process from DPU levels, by a measurement called Rolled Throughput Yield -- Lesson 42 -- Defects in a Six Sigma process without a shift is 2 defects per billion and not 3.4 defects per million opportunities -- Lesson 43 -- Get a sense if Six Sigma is delivering value through measurement of Quality Costs -- Lesson 44 -- When a Process Capability is reported ascertain if it is Long Term or Short Term Capability -- Lesson 45 -- People at the top should have a gut feel of the happenings of ground zero . -- Lesson 46 -- As a Six Sigma change agent master the art of conflict resolution -- Lesson 47 -- A defect is one which does not meet the customer needs. -- Lesson 48 -- Do not wait for problems to occur to initiate improvements through Six Sigma projects. Proactively take actions when precursors and evidences to a problem are seen. -- Lesson 49 -- Look at processes end to end while taking up projects for improvement -- Lesson 50 -- Do not launch Six Sigma with the sole idea of saving cost for your organization -- Lesson 51 -- Select the best performers to take up Six Sigma projects -- Lesson 52 -- Be extremely meticulously about the BOK being followed by the trainers to prepare your Black Belts or Green Belts -- Lesson 53 -- ISO 9001:2000 quality management system serves as an excellent platform for Six Sigma deployment -- Lesson 54 -- Each Six Sigma project leader should master the art of conducting effective meetings -- Lesson 55 -- Appoint a Chief Process Facilitator for all Six Sigma team processes in your company -- Lesson 56 -- While focusing on primary metrics do not forget to keep the secondary metrics on the radar -- Lesson 57 -- Six Sigma deployment may be a mirage for small sized companies but there are ways to go about it -- Lesson 58 -- Do not get perturbed if data points in your Six Sigma project have a Non-Normal behaviour -- Lesson 59 -- Deployment of Six Sigma does not come cheap. Keep this in mind before setting out on a Six Sigma journey -- Lesson 60 -- Avoid pre-conceived solutions getting force fitted into Six Sigma methodology without any data analysis -- Lesson 61 -- The Human Resource Department cannot be a sleeping partner in Six Sigma deployment -- Lesson 62 -- Six Sigma framework does not act at cross purposes in an organization?s journey towards achieving business excellence. -- Lesson 63 -- Once processes are improved using Six Sigma methodology, it is important to take an all encompassing approach to ensure that the improvements are sustained. -- Lesson 64 -- Process Audits are integral part of Six Sigma deployment -- Lesson 65 -- Use a Power Tool called Brown Bag to make your employees learn more about the tools used in Six Sigma methodology -- Lesson 66 -- Bolster your Six Sigma journey with a solid rewards and recognition scheme -- Lesson 67 -- Remember mistake-proofing when implementing Six Sigma solutions -- Lesson 68 -- Be ruthless if Six Sigma objectives are not met -- Lesson 69 -- In case control charts are not being used by process team members, replace it with pre-control charts -- Lesson 70 -- Six Sigma is not an off the shelf total solution to organizational pains -- Lesson 71 -- Statistical Thinking should be a way of life in a company working towards Six Sigma deployment -- Lesson 72 -- Six Sigma project team leaders need to have focus, good relationship, communication skills, ingenuity and excellent project management skills to translate the charter into results. -- Index.