Six Sigma for Information Technology Professionals

The application of Six Sigma in the IT service sector has resulted in changes in methodologies and tools. Process improvement managers must transform programs to suit their industry needs and experts must tailor the tools for successful deployment.

he methodologies and framework have, ironically, occasionally lagged behind as they cope with different industries. DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is applied the same way in the information technology (IT) services sector as it was in manufacturing. Some of the challenges facing Six Sigma in the IT sector are:

•          Lengthy projects
•          Data oriented tools
•          Lack of knowledge in a knowledge-based industry
•          Failure to properly use DMAIC in a software development project
•          Six-Sigma as a Project Based Approach

Historically Six Sigma has been termed a project-based approach to improvements. Each project, however, could take between five weeks and six months. In the IT services sector the length of the project is often too long to realize the benefits. Projects are completed, resources are re-aligned and team members are transferred to other teams or sent to onsite assignments. These changes affect the cohesiveness of improvement teams. Many Six Sigma projects are either delayed or canceled due to lack of participation.

·         Minimize the Project Duration

·         A revised approach to Six Sigma should include a DMAIC life cycle of not more than three weeks, and the complete Six Sigma project should not take longer than three to five weeks. Six Sigma remains a project-based approach, but shortening the duration of the projects will eliminate frequent changes at the organization level, and teams will see projects through to completion. Six Sigma methodology and tools must be ingrained into the process framework so that it becomes part of “business as usual.” This reduces the cycle time for executing projects. 

A successful Six Sigma program empowers employees with problem solving tools. The benefits of Six Sigma are realized when employees or teams use Six Sigma tools, methodologies and philosophies as part of their day-to-day activities. Though not project-based these improvements drive the true bottom-line.

Six-Sigma as a Data Driven Approach

The IT services sector as a whole is still evolving when it comes to metrics. Companies are investing huge amounts of effort in arriving at “good indicators” of project/organizational health. It is difficult to have a database created for a team, which results in a longer measure phase. In the absence of data, personal opinions take over and adversely impact the effectiveness of the framework. As projects stretch and lose their focus, teams lose faith in Six Sigma.

The strength of Six Sigma lies in the data driven approach, hence it has to be supported by a well-implemented metrics program throughout the organization. With the inclusion of Lean in the Six Sigma framework, practitioners can use fewer data oriented tools.

Six-Sigma Professes Y = f (X)

Software engineering activities are largely manual and are greatly dependent on the skill of the developer. The IT sector is knowledge base driven – organizations are investing huge amounts of money in finding skills outside the organization or developing them internally. Six Sigma offers little in terms of improving the productivity of engineering teams – a team’s productivity increases as it moves up the learning curve.

Improve Skills and Knowledge with Minimal Cost

The software engineering process rests heavily on manual processes. Results have some inherent inconsistencies because of the varying capabilities of individual developers. The new approach has to focus on automation and optimizing the learning curve. With the majority of the organization’s costs going toward manpower, increasing employee knowledge is core to management. Companies are focusing on support functions such as organizational training and cultural awareness classes. Six Sigma projects create strong processes that enhance learning and reduce costs without compromising the efficacy of the function. A focused application of Six Sigma concepts in developing the knowledge management processes would yield positive results within the services sector.

Choosing the Methodology

Unlike repetitive manufacturing processes, software development is an engineering activity and, therefore, DMAIC fails to help achieve improvements by inculcating quality into the software engineering process. Some companies are exploring options of inculcating Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) tools/methodologies into the software engineering process – these still need to be integrated with the software engineering frameworks like the capability maturity model integration (CMMi) and ISO (the worldwide federation of national standards bodies for approximately 130 countries). It is important to remember software engineering activities are not repetitive; the true benefit lies in integrating tools into the frameworks like CMMi and ISO.

Organizations are working on applying Six Sigma tools as part of the software engineering practices. Some of the tools that have a wider application can be:

•         Failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) helps organizations reveal the overall system architecture for any kind of failure and helps reduce potential test defects especially in system and field testing.
•         QFD used during the requirements gathering and analysis phases help prioritize requirements and high- level technical solutions by providing engineers leads into areas to be considered in the system.
•       Design of experiments (DOE) is used in test phases to identify test cases that best match the expectations from the system. This is a useful approach when there are multiple interactions between the features of a product. DOE can also assist in optimizing software and hardware resources in a complex infrastructure project.

• Although only a few tools are mentioned here, that does not limit the applicability of other Six Sigma tools in an IT service organization. As industry awareness grows, more tools are used.

Conclusion

Changes in the application of Six Sigma tools and methodology are evident in many different forums. Change will only become more prevalent as the need for being more competitive becomes a reality. Like any initiative in a business sector, process improvement managers need to transform Six Sigma to suit their industry needs. Six Sigma experts must tailor the tools for successful deployment and thereby help organizations improve their bottom lines. Today companies that have reached the pinnacle are re-inventing themselves and Six Sigma will find its place throughout IT service organizations.

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Role of ITIL in Project Management

ITIL is a certification on services, so it is rational to believe that IT professionals in the service industry. The world is flattening; products which are outcomes of projects need servicing, and the era where services took over after a project has ended is a thing of the past. These days, the scope of project planning extends to services as well — how the product would be serviced and what the boundaries would be. Projects and services are running companies hand in hand, and this is the way of the future.

ITIL is unquestionably the unparalleled standard for services. It is gaining popularity by the day, people in service industry have hopped onto the band wagon, and we are beginning to see project managers especially show interest in learning the nuances, and leveraging ITIL for a better outcome on their projects.

How ITIL Can Help Project Managers

ITIL delves into how a service is to be formulated, aspects of design, transition, operation and the improvements that can be identified and implemented. Traditional project management stages include initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling – which is more or less principally similar to what ITIL has to offer.

The outcome of a project will act as a feeder to service in most cases. For example, when Microsoft releases their next version of Windows, the product — Windows 8 — needs servicing. Users are going to have issues with capacity and compatibility, among others. In order to service their customers better, Microsoft will have to doff their project hat, and don the service hat, and do what is necessary to service the customer proactively.

In essence, the product led to a service, so service planning and strategizing should be done during the project phase to predict the service issues that might arise, to implement preventive actions if possible or keep corrective actions ready.

Example: Benefits of ITIL in Projects

A particular project uses a vendor to perform certain activities, like delivering necessary hardware and servicing the hardware for a certain period of time. Project management is ably supported with processes to find a suitable vendor, through tools such as bidder conferences, contract negotiations and expert judgment.

Project management can ensure that the vendor is selected, and products are delivered on time — but what are the terms of support? Are there any agreements governing the kind of support the vendor would provide their customers? These questions can be tackled with ease by somebody with ITIL knowledge.

Any support that is agreed upon is bound by the Service Level Agreement (SLA). This document contains all the dimensions of a support – support window (24X7 or 15X5 etc), how soon the vendor responds to issues, how soon he will be able to resolve issues, constraints, conditions when a vendor could be penalized for missing targets. SLA negotiations are a specialty of ITIL, and ITIL professionals are best placed to negotiate these terms. Imagine a project manager who is ITIL certified, he is a force to reckon with.

How ITIL Improves Project Manager’s Chances in the Industry

Today (and for a very long time to come), ITIL certification for a project manager is a priced arrow in his quiver. It gives him options. He can take up positions that involve project management alone or a position that needs both the skills – like the transition manager. And, he will be automatically qualified to take up positions in the service industry based on his ITIL knowledge alone (backed with the IT experience in project management) – such as the service delivery manager.

The role of a service delivery manager is just one of the many managerial positions we have in the service industry – others worth mentioning are IT process manager, data center manager, account manager amongst others.

How Project Managers Can Get Started with ITIL

Project managers can get started with ITIL fundamentals through ITIL v3 Foundation Training which covers the 5 core ITIL libraries:

1.  Service Strategy
2.  Service Design
3.  Service Transition
4.  Service Operation
5.  Continual Service Improvement

The ITIL certification will not only help you be a better project manager, but it will improve your employment prospects as more companies, and especially IT organizations, are utilizing ITIL.

QUANTUM Global Academy is famous for providing training in ITIL, PMP, Six Sigma, event management, retail management and logistics & supply chain in Gurgaon, Delhi. We are here to help for improving company’s performance and productivity. For more information visit our website quantumglobal.org/ or can call us at 01244609530, 08527092037.