Page 183 - The Six Sigma Project Planner

cross-functional responsibilities and allow access to interdepartmental resources. Six
Sigma projects will impact one of the major stakeholder groups: customers,
shareholders, or employees. Although it is possible to calculate the impact of any given
project on all three groups, I recommend that projects be evaluated separately for each
group. This keeps the analysis relatively simple and ensures that a good stakeholder
mix is represented in the project portfolio.

Customer Value Projects
Many, if not most Six Sigma projects are selected because they have a positive impact
on customers. To evaluate such projects, one must be able to determine the linkage
between business processes and customer-perceived value. Customer-driven
organizations, especially process enterprises, focus on customer value as a matter of
routine. This focus will generate many Six Sigma customer value projects in the course
of strategy deployment. However, in addition to the strategy-based linkage of Six Sigma
projects, there is also a need to use customer demands directly to generate focused Six
Sigma projects. Both approaches are described below.
Learning what customers value is primarily determined by first-hand contact with
customers through customer focus groups, interviews, surveys, etc. The connection
between customer-perceived value and business processes, or customer value streams, is
established through business process mapping and quality function deployment (QFD).
The Executive Six Sigma Council and project sponsors should carefully review the
results of these efforts to locate the “lever points” where Six Sigma projects will have
the greatest impact on customer value.

Using QFD to Link Six Sigma Projects to Strategies
A common problem with Six Sigma is that there is a cognitive disconnect between the
Six Sigma projects and top leadership’s strategic goals. Strategy deployment plans are
simple maps showing the linkage between stakeholder satisfaction, strategies, and
metrics. However, these maps are inadequate guides to operational personnel trying to
relate their activities—including Six Sigma projects—to the vision of their leadership.
Unfortunately, more complexity is required to communicate the strategic message
throughout the organization all the way to specific Six Sigma projects. We will use QFD
for this purpose. An example, based on the strategy deployment plan shown in Figure
28, will be used to illustrate the process.

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