Page 89 - Six Sigma Demystified

70 Six SigMa DemystifieD

Project exAmPle: Objective

affect cycle time and costs associated with sales:
Reduce order processing costs by 50 percent.

Reduce e- mail marketing costs to existing clients by 98 percent.
increase renewal rate by 20 percent.

Scope

The scope is the specific aspect of the problem that will be addressed. Many
projects have too broad a scope initially, such as when objectives are too ambi-
tious to reach a conclusion in a reasonable time frame, or the impact is too large,
affecting too many stakeholders.
As the project cycle time increases, the tangible cost of the project deploy-
ment, such as the cost owing to labor and material usage, will increase. The
intangible costs of the project also will increase: frustration owing to lack of
progress, diversion of personnel away from other activities, and delay in realiza-
tion of project benefits, to name just a few. When the project cycle time exceeds
six months or so, these intangible costs may result in loss of critical team mem-
bers, causing additional delays in project completion. These “world peace” proj-
ects, with laudable but unrealistic goals, generally serve to frustrate teams and
undermine the credibility of the Six Sigma program.
A critical aspect of a Six Sigma project is that of providing a measurable benefit
in terms of cost, schedule, and/or quality. A project whose benefit is not realized

in a reasonable amount of time generally would not be acceptable as a Six Sigma
project. While this may seem short- sighted, it merely reflects the reality of resource
allocation. Since resources for Six Sigma projects are limited, they should be spent
on projects that provide the best benefit relative to the cost to deploy.
For these reasons, Six Sigma projects assigned to black or green belts should
be scoped for completion in a three- to four- month period. This tight schedule
allows team members to commit themselves for the full length of the project.
Projects that are too large to be completed in this length of time usually can be
divided into several potential projects whose merits can be compared with
those of other projects competing for project resources.
In many cases, projects can be scoped properly before assignment, but in
some cases the project team, in its problem- solving effort, will uncover a much