Six Sigma and Beyond: Design for Six Sigma, Volume VI

As we have seen, project management is a problem-solving methodology. On the other hand, both six sigma and DFSS are a "process project" that require total acceptance for improvement. For that improvement to occur, six sigma and DFSS commitment must be understood and implemented in the entire organization as a culture change first and then for the project itself. As such, it fits the profile of project management. Every component of it is designed to facilitate the solving of complex problems. It uses teams of specialists. It makes use of a powerful scheduling method. It tightly tracks costs. It provides a mechanism for management of total improvement and customer satisfaction. It depends on the integration of several skills and disciplines. It encourages monitoring of processes and depends on feedback for evaluation. It requires leaders with clear vision and doable objectives. It requires knowledge of appropriate and applicable tools. And it plans for success.

Project management makes and at the same time facilitates change(s). By definition, projects have a start, work accomplished, and a finish. The finish comes when the objectives for the project are satisfied. Project objectives always address changes that will be made in some current situation. If an organization does not want to make a change, then project management is not an appropriate management method. This does not imply that changes should not be made there, only that there is no motivation for change. In such an organization, the introduction of project management would have little support and may even encounter resistance. For a discussion on change and when change actually takes place see Stamatis (1996).

Since the implementation of both six sigma and DFSS is a project, with a beginning, work changes, and an end, project management is indeed a method that can be used in the implementation process. (It is very important to differentiate the concept of six sigma and DFSS, which are philosophical in nature, and the implementation of six sigma and DFSS, which is a project. Here we are talking about the physical implementation of both six sigma and DFSS projects.)