for change.
Chapter 6 provides further detail on managing people and change.
Applying Agility
Agile has evolved from being something software developers did to becoming recognized as a way of boosting the performance of projects in general. Applying Agile concepts and an Agile mindset to Lean Six Sigma helps to speed up the delivery of improvement results and bring focus and cohesion to a team.
These aspects of Agile are of particular relevance and value:
Focusing on delivering the benefits in a timely way. For example, not releasing all of the changes or deliverables on one hit but doing so in increments, so customers feel the benefits quicker and can provide feedback on what’s working and what’s not. Letting go of perfection is necessary here. In the words of Mark Twain, “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”
Embracing a culture of experimentation: being prepared to test and try things out and learn from them. You recognize that not everything will work and are comfortable with failure.
Using aspects from the Scrum approach (see Chapter 16) to deliver the Lean Six Sigma work in timely, focused “sprints” of activity rather than letting projects drag on over long periods of time.
Visualizing the “to do” list of a Lean Six Sigma project by using the kanban approach.
Creating an atmosphere of “psychological safety” where team members feel safe, comfortable, and confident to make their contribution.
Agility is a powerful enabler when it comes to Lean Six Sigma. Chapter 16 looks at Agile in more detail.
Employing innovation
We live in an age of innovation, where customers’ needs and expectations change rapidly and technological advances can make nearly anything possible. Innovation (whether disruptive — the type that creates a dramatic shift away from what’s gone before — or more incremental) can help shape effective responses to changes and opportunities, and create new concepts or processes to excite customers.
The basics of Robotic Process Automation are featured in Chapter 13 of this book. There are also some tools for creative thinking and ideas generation that support “thinking differently” (see Chapter 12).
As with all of the new ingredients in today’s Lean Six Sigma mix, there are entire books devoted to this subject. A fantastic summary of the mindset required to drive innovation is provided in the Design Thinking Playbook (authored by Lewrick, Link, and Leifer and published by Wiley). Lean Six Sigma practitioners can benefit greatly from these, and we’ll delve a little deeper into Design Thinking in Chapter 15.
Being driven by curiosity, and looking at things from different angles
Focusing on the people and their needs
Accepting complexity in the systems our work exists in
Visualizing and showing to aid understanding
Experimenting and iterating in order to learn, solve problems, and improve
Seeking to grow and expand capabilities
Developing an awareness of the process
Collaborating across departments and organizations
Reflecting on thinking, activities, and attitudes because they shape actions and assumptions
Practicing Project Management
Project Management is about getting things done and getting them done in a structured way. Tools and techniques for Project Management can help Lean Six Sigma practitioners to do the following:
Establish a project timeline.
Plan the work by breaking it down into tasks, including task owners, required resources, due dates, and so on.
Work effectively with a team (remembering the acronym Together Everyone Achieves More).
Monitor progress against the plan.
Manage the scope of the work to avoid the dreaded scope creep (the tendency of a project to grow into something bigger and more difficult to manage).
Report the benefits achieved.
Apply governance to the project, such as, for example, in identifying and managing risks and holding tollgate reviews.
Identifying and sharing lessons learned.
As you get to know more about Lean Six Sigma, you’ll notice there are a few overlaps between Project Management and Lean Six Sigma. The tools and methods of Project Management can certainly help when it comes to managing Lean Six Sigma improvements, and indeed some of them are included in the Lean Six Sigma / DMAIC toolkit (such as planning, managing stakeholders, and establishing a project sponsor).
Chapter 2
Understanding the Principles of Lean Six Sigma
IN THIS CHAPTER
In this chapter we look at the synergy produced by combining the approaches of Lean and Six Sigma to form Lean Six Sigma — along with the best of the approaches outlined in Chapter
