Page 22 - The Six Sigma Project Planner

Project Since the charter is a two-page document,
Name/Number the project’s ID information is repeated.
Project Mission State in clear and concise terms what this
Statement project will accomplish for the organization
or its customers. Do not begin until every
member of the project team and the
sponsor are in agreement with the mission.
Problem Statement Describe the “burning platform” for this
project. Why is this project necessary?
Project Scope Define the boundaries for this project. What
will be addressed? What will not be
addressed?
Business Need Why should the problems described in the
Addressed by This problem statement be solved? How will the
Project business or its customers benefit from this
project? How will this project improve
quality, cycle time, costs, customer
satisfaction, or competitiveness?
Product or Service Specifically, what will be created by this
Created by This project? E.g., increased sales, reduced
Project (Deliverables) warranty expense, lower costs, shorter
cycle time, etc.

Resources List significant resources that must be
Authorized for This made available and those that will be
Project consumed to support this project.
Examples: raw materials, machine time,
overtime pay, operations personnel, etc.

Conduct a Feasibility Analysis

Is This a Valid Project?
Before launching a significant effort to solve a business problem, be sure that it is the correct
problem and not just a symptom. Is the “defect” you are trying to eliminate something the
customer cares about or even notices? Is the design requirement really essential, or can
engineering relax the requirement? Is the performance metric really a key business driver, or is it
arbitrary? Conduct a project validation analysis and describe your findings on the following
page. Suggested techniques: interrelationship digraph, cause-and-effect diagram.

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