101 Things A Six Sigma Black Belt Should Know

1. In general, a Six Sigma Black Belt should be quantitatively oriented.

2. With minimal guidance, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to use data to convert broad generalizations into actionable goals.

3. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to make the business case for attempting to accomplish these goals.

4. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to develop detailed plans for achieving these goals.

5. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to measure progress towards the goals in terms meaningful to customers and leaders.

6. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know how to establish control systems for maintaining the gains achieved through Six Sigma.

7. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand and be able to communicate the rationale for continuous improvement, even after initial goals have been accomplished.

8. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be familiar with research that quantifies the benefits firms have obtained from Six Sigma.

9. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know or be able to find the PPM rates associated with different sigma levels (e.g., Six Sigma = 3.4 PPM)

10. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know the approximate relative cost of poor quality associated with various sigma levels (e.g., three sigma firms report 25% COPQ).

11. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand the roles of the various people involved in change (senior leader, champion, mentor, change agent, technical leader, team leader, facilitator).

12. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to design, test, and analyze customer surveys.

13. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know how to quantitatively analyze data from employee and customer surveys. This includes evaluating survey reliability and validity as well as the differences between surveys.

14. Given two or more sets of survey data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to determine if there are statistically significant differences between them.

15. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to quantify the value of customer retention.

16. Given a partly completed QFD matrix, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to complete it.

17. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the value of money held or invested over time, including present value and future value of a fixed sum.

18. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute PV and FV values for various compounding periods.

19. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the break even point for a project.

20. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the net present value of cash flow streams, and to use the results to choose among competing projects.

21. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the internal rate of return for cash flow streams and to use the results to choose among competing projects.

22. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know the COPQ rationale for Six Sigma, i.e., he should be able to explain what to do if COPQ analysis indicates that the optimum for a given process is less than Six Sigma.

23. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know the basic COPQ categories and be able to allocate a list of costs to the correct category.

24. Given a table of COPQ data over time, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to perform a statistical analysis of the trend.

25. Given a table of COPQ data over time, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to perform a statistical analysis of the distribution of costs among the various categories.

26. Given a list of tasks for a project, their times to complete, and their precedence relationships, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the time to completion for the project, the earliest completion times, the latest completion times and the slack times. He should also be able to identify which tasks are on the critical path.

27. Give cost and time data for project tasks, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the cost of normal and crash schedules and the minimum total cost schedule.

28. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be familiar with the basic principles of benchmarking.

29. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be familiar with the limitations of benchmarking.

30. Given an organization chart and a listing of team members, process owners, and sponsors, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to identify projects with a low probability of success.

31. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to identify measurement scales of various metrics (nominal, ordinal, etc).

32. Given a metric on a particular scale, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to determine if a particular statistical method should be used for analysis.

33. Given a properly collected set of data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to perform a complete measurement system analysis, including the calculation of bias, repeatability, reproducibility, stability, discrimination (resolution) and linearity.

34. Given the measurement system metrics, the Six Sigma Black Belt should know whether or not a given measurement system should be used on a given part or process.

35. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know the difference between computing sigma from a data set whose production sequence is known and from a data set whose production sequence is not known.

36. Given the results of an AIAG Gage R&R study, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to answer a variety of questions about the measurement system.

37. Given a narrative description of "as-is" and "should-be" processes, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to prepare process maps.

38. Given a table of raw data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to prepare a frequency tally sheet of the data, and to use the tally sheet data to construct a histogram.

39. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the mean and standard deviation from a grouped frequency distribution.

40. Given a list of problems, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to construct a Pareto Diagram of the problem frequencies.

41. Given a list which describes problems by department, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to construct a Cross tabulation and use the information to perform a Chi-square analysis.

42. Given a table of x and y data pairs, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to determine if the relationship is linear or non-linear.

43. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know how to use non-linearity’s to make products or processes more robust.

44. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to construct and interpret a run chart when given a table of data in time-ordered sequence. This includes calculating run length, number of runs and quantitative trend evaluation.

45. When told the data are from an exponential or Erlang distribution the Six Sigma Black Belt should know that the run chart is preferred over the standard X control chart.

46. Given a set of raw data the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to identify and compute two statistical measures each for central tendency, dispersion, and shape.

47. Given a set of raw data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to construct a histogram. 

48. Given a stem & leaf plot, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to reproduce a sample of numbers to the accuracy allowed by the plot.

49. Given a box plot with numbers on the key box points, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to identify the 25th and 75th percentile and the median.

50. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know when to apply enumerative statistical methods, and when not to.

51. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know when to apply analytic statistical methods, and when not to.

52. The Six Sigma Black Belt should demonstrate a grasp of basic probability concepts, such as the probability of mutually exclusive events, of dependent and independent events, of events that can occur simultaneously, etc.

53. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know factorials, permutations and combinations, and how to use these in commonly used probability distributions.

54. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute expected values for continuous and discrete random variables.

55. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute univariate statistics for samples.

56. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute confidence intervals for various statistics.

57. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to read values from a cumulative frequency ogive.

58. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be familiar with the commonly used probability distributions, including: hyper geometric, binomial, Poisson, normal, exponential, chi-square, Student's t, and F.

59. Given a set of data the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to correctly identify which distribution should be used to perform a given analysis, and to use the distribution to perform the analysis.

60. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know that different techniques are required for analysis depending on whether a given measure (e.g., the mean) is assumed known or estimated from a sample. The Six Sigma Black Belt should choose and properly use the correct technique when provided with data and sufficient information about the data.

61. Given a set of sub grouped data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to select and prepare the correct control charts and to determine if a given process is in a state of statistical control.

62. The above should be demonstrated for data representing all of the most common control charts.

63. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand the assumptions that underlie ANOVA, and be able to select and apply a transformation to the data.

64. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to identify which cause on a list of possible causes will most likely explain a non-random pattern in the regression residuals.

65. If shown control chart patterns, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to match the control chart with the correct situation (e.g., an outlier pattern vs. a gradual trend matched to a tool breaking vs. a machine gradually warming up).

66. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand the mechanics of PREControl.

67. The Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to correctly apply EWMA charts to a process with serial correlation in the data.

68. Given a stable set of sub grouped data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to perform a complete Process Capability Analysis. This includes computing and interpreting capability indices, estimating the % failures, control limit calculations, etc.

69. The Six Sigma Black Belt should demonstrate an awareness of the assumptions that underlie the use of capability indices.

70. Given the results of a replicated 22 full-factorial experiment, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to complete the entire ANOVA table.

71. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand the basic principles of planning a statistically designed experiment. This can be demonstrated by critiquing various experimental plans with or without shortcomings.

72. Given a "clean" experimental plan, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to find the correct number of replicates to obtain a desired power.

73. The Six Sigma Black Belt should know the difference between the various types of experimental models (fixed-effects, random-effects, mixed).

74. The Six Sigma Black Belt should understand the concepts of randomization and blocking.

75. Given a set of data, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to perform a Latin Square analysis and interpret the results.

76. Ditto for one way ANOVA, two way ANOVA (with and without replicates), full and fractional factorials, and response surface designs.

77. Given an appropriate experimental result, the Six Sigma Black Belt should be able to compute the direction of steepest ascent.

78. Given a set of variables each at two levels, the Six Sigma Black Belt can determine the correct experimental layout for a screening experiment using a saturated design.

79. Given data for such an experiment, the Six Sigma Black Belt can identify which main effects are significant and state the effect of these factors.

80. Given two or more sets of responses to categorical items (e.g.,customer survey responses categorized as poor, fair, good, excellent),the Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to perform a Chi-Square test to determine if the samples are significantly different.

81. The Six Sigma Black Belt will understand the idea of confounding and be able to identify which two factor interactions are confounded with the significant main effects.

82. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to state the direction of steepest ascent from experimental data.

83. The Six Sigma Black Belt will understand fold over designs and be able to identify the fold over design that will clear a given alias.

84. The Six Sigma Black Belt will know how to augment a factorial design to create a composite or central composite design.

85. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to evaluate the diagnostics for an experiment.

86. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to identify the need for a transformation in y and to apply the correct transformation.

87. Given a response surface equation in quadratic form, the Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to compute the stationary point.

88. Given data (not graphics), the Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to determine if the stationary point is a maximum, minimum or saddle point.

89. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to use a quadratic loss function to compute the cost of a given process.

90. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to conduct simple and multiple linear regression.

91. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to identify patterns in residuals from an improper regression model and to apply the correct remedy.

92. The Six Sigma Black Belt will understand the difference between regression and correlation studies.

93. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to perform chi-square analysis of contingency tables.

94. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to compute basic reliability statistics (mtbf, availability, etc.).

95. Given the failure rates for given subsystems, the Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to use reliability apportionment to set mtbf goals.

96. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to compute the reliability of series, parallel, and series-parallel system configurations.

97. The Six Sigma Black Belt will demonstrate the ability to create and read an FMEA analysis.

98. The Six Sigma Black Belt will demonstrate the ability to create and read a fault tree.

99. Given distributions of strength and stress, the Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to compute the probability of failure.

100. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be able to apply statistical tolerance to set tolerances for simple assemblies. He will know how to compare statistical tolerances to so-called "worst case" tolerance.

101. The Six Sigma Black Belt will be aware of the limits of the Six Sigma approach.

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The Difference between ITIL® Foundation Version 3 and Version 4

AXELOS has released the latest version of the ITIL® Foundation certification, the world-renowned and widely used IT service management framework. This is the first new version to be released since the 2011 update. Version 4 of ITIL Foundation has been developed by more than 150 experts in the field along with a team of writers and contributors. A new ITIL development group has also been established, comprising of over 2000 members in order to gain input from large and modern organisations.

This latest version was released in the first quarter of 2019 after its announcement in 2017 at the itSMF (Information Technology Service Management Forum) USA Fusion conference.

What is ITIL?

For many years now, ITIL has been considered as one of the foremost IT service management best practice frameworks. ITIL helps ITSM professionals develop effective methods that follow best practices in delivering IT services to their organisations. This will help them not only manage risk and strengthen relationships with customers but will help them to ensure that their organisations’ IT services are cost-effective and delivered in an environment that is ready for change and advancement.

ITIL uses a set of Service Lifecycle stages, ensuring that the requirements for new services in the organisation are well documented and known to those involved in the change and those that are utilising existing services that need to be updated. Throughout the ITIL processes, knowledge management is vital and iterative improvements should be made wherever they are needed.

Who is ITIL for?

ITIL is the perfect best practice framework for those who work in, or are new to IT service management and will benefit anyone working in roles such as Senior IT Service Manager, Service Desk Analyst, Technical Relationship Manager, Telecoms Manager, Senior Desktop Technician, Application Engineer, Network Engineer, IT Change Analyst, IT Service Transition Analyst or Technical Business Analyst to name but a few.

What’s new in version 4?

Version 4 of ITIL Foundation has a strong focus on the integration of ITIL guidance with DevOps (Development and Operations), Agile and Lean best practices, taking a more holistic approach to IT service management. It also supports organisations that are moving towards a greater emphasis on digital transformation by providing a practical platform that is also flexible in nature.

ITIL Foundation V4 delivers an IT operating model that is end-to-end, supporting the delivery and implementation of IT products and services. This ensures that IT Teams continue to play a vital role in the business strategy of the organisation.

What will I learn?

The ITIL Foundation V4 curriculum includes the following:

◉ Introduction and overview

◉ Key concepts of service management

◉ Four dimensions of service management

◉ Service value system

◉ Introduction to practices

◉ Purpose of 11 practices and some definitions

◉ Introduction to seven key practices in detail

◉ Continual improvement

◉ Change control

◉ Incident management

◉ Service request management

◉ Service desk

◉ Service level management

◉ Exam simulator

Upon completing the ITIL Foundation V4 course and passing the accompanying exam, you will have a firm understanding of ITIL service management concepts and how your organisation will benefit from adopting ITIL service management. You will also gain perspective on the four dimensions of ITIL service management, the purpose and components of the ITIL service value system and the key concepts of continual improvement.

Why study ITIL Foundation 4?

In this new version of ITIL Foundation, the concerns regarding the framework’s relationship with the IT service management community and the relevance of version 3 to new and emerging trends in software development and IT operations. This is done by ensuring that the latest version is community-driven and by integrating Agile, DevOps and Lean into traditional ITIL best practices.

What if I am studying version 3?

If you are certified under version 3 of ITIL Foundation, fear not. ITIL Foundation version 3 certifications will remain relevant and you will still be able to apply your skills and knowledge gained from that certification. You will, however, not be ready to sit the new version 4 exam as the new version includes an array of new content that will be present during the exam.

There are also avenues to consider that will allow you to upgrade to version 4 from version 3. If you have already studied the modules beyond the ITIL Foundation version 3 certification, you will be able to transition to version 4 without having to start from the very beginning.

If you have gained the status of ITIL V3 Expert, or you have gained 17 ITIL version 3 credits, you will automatically qualify for the ITIL MP Transition module. This will allow you to gain your ITIL Managing Professional certification.

Those that have gained their ITIL Foundation V3 certifications but have nor gained 17 ITIL version 3 credits will have to sit the ITIL Foundation version 4 exam in order to become version 4 certified.

What about the exam?

During the ITIL Foundation 4 exam, you will be given 1 hour (60 minutes) in which to answer as many of the 40 questions as you are able to. In order to gain your ITIL Foundation V4 certification, you will be required to score a minimum of 65% (26 marks or higher). This exam is entirely closed-book and you will not be allowed to use any additional reading material while you sit your exam.

Upon passing your ITIL Foundation V4 exam, you will have the option to study towards two ITIL 4 certification paths. These are:

◉ ITIL Managing Professional which is aimed at IT practitioners

◉ ITIL Strategic Leader which focusses on digitally-enabled services and business strategy

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Promises of Brand Strategy and Design for Six Sigma

For recent generations of Americans, the slogans above have become synonymous with the high-profile brands they represent. But these words are not simply clever taglines. They are in fact shorthand descriptions of each company’s competitive strategy. These words describe what the companies are pledging to deliver as well as what is special about their products and services. In the cases of Federal Express, BMW and General Electric, consumers and stockholders would agree that the success of these brands is a function of both the relevance of their promises and how effectively and consistently the companies are able to keep them.

But what does making good on a brand promise get a company? First of all, it means the company is able to consistently deliver the products, services and experiences it promises to deliver. When this happens – and customers know about it – the customers benefit from easier shopping, reduced risk, greater perceived value and increased satisfaction. Resulting business benefits include lower marketing costs, greater pricing independence and higher net income.

Brand Promises Are Not Just Talk

Coca Cola, for example, can today sell a six-pack of its Coca Cola Classic for $2.50. Down the grocery aisle, a store brand virtually identical in its ingredients fetches a mere $1 for a six-pack. Coca Cola’s “brand tax” –which most consumers do not object to paying – has vaulted “the real thing” to No. 1 in Interbrand’s annual brand rankings, with its brand valued at more than $67 billion, according to BusinessWeek. Now that’s a powerful – and valuable – brand promise.

The top organizations in Interbrand’s 2005 rankings include not only Coca-Cola, Microsoft ($60 billion), and GE ($47 billion), but also Disney ($26 billion), McDonald’s ($26 billion) and Ford ($13 billion), companies currently struggling but continuing to be competitive in large part due to their powerful brands. Data from Interbrand and BusinessWeek illustrate the increased financial value of a powerful brand(Figure 1). As the experiences of these companies demonstrate, success is clearly related to keeping promises made to consumers, because an unkept brand promise means a failure to deliver the product, quality, service, experience or pricing customers expect. Consider “Born to perform,” “The document company” and “Reach out and touch someone.” The fact is that Jaguar’s U.S. sales in 2002 were 61,204 units and 45,875 units in 2004. Xerox was ranked 26th among the Fortune 500 in 1994 and 130th in 2004. And AT&T’s revenue/income in 2000 was $46.8 billion/$12.8 billion and $30.5 billion/-$10 billion in 2004. These companies’ sales and financial results tell the story.

Figure 1: Growth in Investment Value of Top Brands Versus S&P 500 (1990-2002)

The reality is that building a strong brand means delivering maximum value to customers as consistently as possible. And that means every employee delivering on the brand promise, in every action affecting suppliers, coworkers and customers, every time. While most brand strategists might not immediately consider it, putting Six Sigma to work is one way to achieve this level of adherence to a brand promise.

Strategy, Marketing Communication and Operations

An effective brand promise rests on three legs – business strategy, communication of the promise and implementation (Figure 2). It is the third area – implementation – where plans often go astray. It is no coincidence that in organizations building vibrant, high-value brands, the constituencies responsible for the three legs – executive, marketing and operations teams – work in lockstep. The puzzle, for some, is how to get there.

Figure 2: Key Elements of Brand Promise Delivery

Six Sigma – too often viewed as being only about wringing variation and cost from business processes – is, in fact, a versatile, effective framework for connecting executive goals (business strategy), marketing communication (brand promise) and management (operational activities).

Consider the case of the business bank that wanted to increase its share in a regional market. The bank used the DMADV roadmap of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and adapted it for brand strategy (Table 1). By applying DMADV, the organization realized that to advance from the business strategy to marketplace results, it was necessary to first understand the brand, define the brand promise and identify specific actions required to deliver on it (Define, Measure, Analyze). Finally, the organization needed to make sure that the defined brand promise actually was fulfilled (Design, Verify).

Table 1: Adapting Design for Six Sigma’s DMADV for Brand Strategy

Design for Six Sigma	Brand Six Sigma
Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) deliverables.	Ensure that operational activity is delivering on the competitive advantage and customer expectations created by the brand promise.
Measure and determine customer needs and specifications.	Determine the measurable extent and scope of competitive advantage and customer expectations created by the brand promise.
Analyze the process options to meet the customer needs.	Work back from the brand promise through brand associations and tangible brand attributes/CTQs to ensure that operational building blocks – business goals, organization, processes, administration and metrics – are producing the competitive advantage and delivering on customer expectations generated by the brand promise.
Design detailed processes to meet customer needs.	Design and implement the operational building blocks.
Verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs.	Use measurement to verify that the operational building blocks are producing the tangible brand attributes/CTQs contributing to the brand associations and brand promise.

The bank’s marketing team identified customer segments and their respective product and service needs, preferences and priorities; researched competitive threats and opportunities; and gathered complete information about the business itself – its economic model, strengths, weaknesses and internal capabilities. On the basis of that work, the organization was ready to commit to a clear brand promise: “The bank that helps small businesses succeed” (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Creating the Brand Promise

This is the point at which the brand and business strategies of many organizations’ falter. The advertising and point-of-purchase campaigns take wing, but nothing else changes. Customer expectations are raised and then dashed, with predictable results. To avoid this outcome, the business bank employed DFSS techniques to transform the brand promise into “brand associations,” “tangible brand attributes” and “operational building blocks,” ultimately defining very specifically how the organization was to deliver on the promise. And because executive, marketing and operations stakeholders participated together in the process, strategic goals, expectations and planning were understood and aligned effectively throughout the organization.

A Real-World Promise and Its Parts

As this bank example illustrates, defining the brand promise in operational terms involves three critical steps (Figure 4):

1. Translating the brand promise into specific brand associations or CTQs: Here, marketers, operations management and Six Sigma practitioners study the brand promise to identify the characteristics that typical customers will associate with it. These hypotheses are then tested in customer research. For the bank, the list of brand associations included:

◉ Professional, knowledgeable banking staff

◉ A bank that knows its clients as individuals

◉ Rapid loan processing

◉ The customer’s ability to make more money as a result of the banking relationship

◉ And others…

Figure 4: Defining a Promise in Operational Terms: Focus on 'Rapid Loan Processing'

2. Converting each of these brand associations into tangible brand attributes: For this bank, it was decided that “rapid loan processing” would require:

◉ Easy-to-understand paperwork

◉ Online application capability

◉ Online tracking of application progress

◉ Easy access to a banker who knows the client and the loan application

◉ Rapid loan approval

◉ Rapid provision of loan funds

3. Defining how each tangible brand attribute will be delivered operationally: Implementation of the attributes depends on some combination of human resources, processes and technology. For example, for just one attribute of rapid loan processing – easy access to a banker who knows the client and the loan application – there were implications for:

◉ Job specifications, hiring and staffing

◉ Training

◉ Loan evaluation and internal communication and reporting procedures

◉ Electronic case files

◉ Hours of operation

◉ Availability of banker email and cell phones

A Cautionary Tale

When laid out in the example of this regional business bank, the connections between strategy and operational building blocks seem almost too obvious. But history offers many examples of organizations that somehow lost the connection between their brand promises and the brand associations, attributes and building blocks needed to deliver them.

Here is just one: Between 1974 and 1986, Schlitz (“The beer that made Milwaukee famous”) lost 93 percent of its brand equity chiefly because of its decision to lower production costs. A premium brand – in fact, the No. 2 brand in its category at the time – Schlitz cut its costs in 1974 by changing ingredients and by reducing fermentation time from 12 days to four. While the cost reduction enabled Schlitz to build sales with aggressive discounts and promotions (precisely what Ford and GM are doing today), consumers noticed a difference in flavor that, coupled with the word-of-mouth story that the company was making “green beer” (improperly aged), motivated them to switch to other premium brands.

As a result, Schlitz went from selling 17.8 million barrels of beer to selling less than 1 million barrels per year. The problem, of course, was that Schlitz failed to maintain key brand associations – including taste and a reputation for quality brewing – critical to drinkers of Schlitz beer.

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How soft skills can help future proof your career

Transformative changes are happening in our society, climate, economics and technology; and they are set to have a revolutionary impact on the project professional’s job role. Project management is a critical business discipline, and that’s not about to change. However, the demands of the job role are set to change.

We are seeing rapid change in society, with urbanisation, smart cities and today’s children predicted to live beyond 100. Globally, we face the challenge of climate change, and we are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution.

This era is reshaping not only how we live, but how we do business. We are continually having to re-skill in a world where a level of technological understanding is vital. But beyond hard skills development, what more can we do to future-proof our careers in the project profession?

The seismic shift to soft skills

Project management needs to go beyond the technical abilities demanded in the profession. In recent years, there has been the realisation that soft skills can support the competencies of traditional project management. But, as projects of the future are predicted to have more ambition than ever, and be on larger scales too, soft skills are set to take a leading role. Here’s how:

Flexibility and adaptability

It is said that with change comes opportunity. The ability to respond and adapt is set to be more important than ever in an ever-changing and uncertain climate. Possessing the ability to be flexible with agile practices and less rigidity in projects is essential.

The future of project management is going to see a focus on not just being adaptable and flexible, but how you adapt and react. You have the opportunity to up your game by continually questioning, probing if you will, in order to achieve creative and innovative solutions, and make continual improvements throughout a project.

Problem solving and critical thinking

There is an emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies automating project management tasks such as scheduling. AI now even has the ability of using hard data for a level of risk management too. The limitation (at present) of AI tech for projects is problem solving and critical thinking. Essentially the ‘human aspects’ of projects. As tasks shift to being automated by technology, there is going to be more emphasis on the human role. How you step up to challenges as a project manager, and what solutions you offer to problems that arise, will be vital to project success and your career success.

Communication and leadership

The projectication of work in the future will mean greater involvement from all parties. Professionals from all areas of a business are spending time on projects. In his 2019 book, The Project Revolution, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, director of the programme management office at GlaxoSmithKline, predicts that senior business leaders will typically spend 60 per cent of their time on projects.

Growing engagement from business leaders and stakeholders throughout a project, not just at the start, means strength in leadership and communication is paramount. In their recent guide, Projecting the Future, APM discuss how businesses are transforming. They are reshaping their strategies, cultures and visions, and acquisitions and mergers are common too. Increasingly you will need to recognise the value of stakeholder relationships, and the power of projects to improve these relationships. Strengthen your negotiation and collaboration skills now as you may find yourself having to mediate, or even manage conflict in the near future in order to achieve the best outcomes.

Wrapping up

The era of technology, along with societal, economic and environmental changes, is revolutionising our careers, especially in project management. It was once a job role that centered on organisation skills, scheduling and planning, but has now evolved into much more than that. Leadership and communication, innovative problem solving and strength in adaptability are now very important soft skills for a project manager to adopt. Failure to brush up on such soft skills results in the risk of being left behind.

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How to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution

Transformative change is on the horizon as we enter the fourth industrial revolution. Technology is at the forefront, and recent years have seen the rise of robots, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality. This era is set to revolutionise every part of our working and personal lives. Industry 4.0 is reshaping the business landscape, and project management is no exception.

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in project management

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly shaking up project management with tools and technology designed to automate tasks, such as scheduling and administrative functions. New research from PMI’s ‘Pulse of the Profession’ confirms that change is already happening: 81% of respondents reported that their organisations are being impacted by AI technologies.

The scale and types of technological developments will be highly dependent on the industry. That said, where large projects are core to the business, companies will be looking to invest in automation technology as a way to save on the staff cost of remedial tasks, and to eliminate human error.

AI technology has the ability to analyse the patterns of a workforce, assist with resource management and offer suggestions for improving schedules. Going forward, hard data and machine learning will increasingly automate a level of risk management, and assist with tactical planning too.

How to be prepared: The tech changes on the horizon can seem overwhelming, but think of AI as your very own personal assistant. It is here to make your job easier by taking on those time-consuming administrative tasks and allowing you to work on your deliverables. The benefits AI offers project managers are vast – be ready to embrace them.

A new learning culture

In a recent press release, vice president of global solutions at PMI, Michael DePrisco spoke about the changes AI is bringing to business. He said, “Since project professionals are largely responsible for helping to implement change, they will play a critical role in influencing the adoption of these technologies in their organisations.” Going on to add, “Implementing AI into project management plans will require more than just rolling out the technology, it will mean creating a new mindset and learning culture.”

The project profession’s evolution is demanding a broader skill set. The traditional competencies of the profession are shifted by industry 4.0 and the career’s future is set to be a more multi-skilled one, with a greater focus on technical know-how as well as soft skills.

How to be prepared: It is unlikely that you are going to jump from a project manager to a tech wizard overnight. Instead, seek to discover what new technologies will impact your daily role the most and brush up on these instead. Gain professional advice from those in the tech industry, and find ways to keep your finger on the pulse with technology. This could be as simple as incorporating regular training sessions into your personal development plan – a new learning culture.

A collaborative approach

To truly benefit from the fourth industrial revolution project managers must leverage technology. A strong collaboration between humans and machines is essential for the future of the project profession. PMI have highlighted this in their AI Innovators report with their five key principles example - the MELDS principles:

◉ encourage the right mindset

◉ promote experimentation

◉ support actively involved leadership

◉ incorporate data into strategy

◉ cultivate new skills

With these principles at their core, the most visionary organisations have been found to improve project performance with AI investments.

The fourth industrial revolution is having a profound effect on the project profession. Whilse it can be challenging to adapt to rapid change, be sure not to adopt new tech half-heartedly. Fully embrace the potential of AI technologies to achieve project success.

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Six Sigma Organizational Architecture - Rewards

Six Sigma is a quality methodology that can produce significant benefit to businesses and organizations. Not much text, however, has been written about the structure needed to successfully implement Six Sigma quality within your business or organization. Another article on of Six Sigma Architecture focused on roles and responsibilities of a successful Six Sigma quality program. This page focuses on the rewards and recognition associated with a successsful Six Sigma quality program.

Rewards and Recognition

We all know that roles assignment is not enough to start and maintain a successful Six Sigma quality program. Rewards and recognition must be part of the equation. So how do we reward the different roles within the organization? Let’s start with the Green Belts and work our way back up the organization.

Green Belts – Depending on the size of the project and the resulting benefits, gift certificates, cash and stock options are all motivating factors. But don’t underestimate the motivating power of a public congratulations in front of peers – it is many times even more effective than a monetary amount. Depending on the progress of your program, you may want to tie their salary action to the results of the project(s) they completed during the past year.

Black Belts and Master Black Belts – Their salary and bonus structure should be tied to the number of projects and benefit of those projects to the business bottom line. Metrics including productivity, loss reduction, improved quality, reduced overhead, etc. should all be factors in determining the proper payout for performance. For under performing BBs and MBBs, the performance appraisal meeting should serve as a fulcrum in modifying their behaviors and actions.

Process Owners – Here’s one of the key roles that needs to be defined properly. The Process Owner’s compensation (salary and bonus) must be tied directly to quality efforts within their organization. It’s not enough to allow quality to ‘work with us,’ but their metrics and efforts need to be utilizing all of the quality tools appropriately. Why not make 25 percent of their bonus tied to meeting their quality initiative goals and objectives? Then have them report on how they did before you determine the bonus payout.

Quality Leader – Performance based compensation (salary and bonus). Leadership capabilities are critical to this position, so not only should the quantitative aspects (savings, projects, training, etc.) be measured, but so should the qualitative. The difficulty arises in defining and clearly identifying the required behaviors.

CEO – The buck stops here. If the CEO is fully on board with the quality initiative, they will have no problem tying the compensation of her/his direct reports to quality deliverables.

Do not be shy about asking to tie compensation to your Six Sigma quality initiative. It is the only way you’ll truly have your entire organization focused around the customer and the quality of your processes and deliverables.

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Controlling Change in IT Departments Using DMAIC

During a Six Sigma project at an information technology (IT) department, there are many good reasons why a process or a system needs to change. There also are a few bad reasons – bad, but unavoidable. It’s up to the practitioners to decide how to transform bad reasons into good ones, and how to prevent good reasons from going bad, by implementing proper change control mechanisms.

Change control is a method used for requesting and managing changes to work processes that are created or maintained by the organization. Change control helps facilitate communication about requested process modifications among the team members, provides a common process for resolving requested changes and reported problems, and reduces the uncertainty around the existence, state and outcome of a change that has been requested.

Having such a system in place reduces the possibility that faults or unnecessary changes will be introduced to a process without forethought, and lessens the likelihood of undoing positive changes made by other users. The goals of a change control procedure usually include minimal disruption to services, reduction in back-out activities and cost-effective utilization of resources involved in implementing change.

Applying the DMAIC Roadmap

One of the best ways to ensure full benefit of change control is to employ the power of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). For IT departments, following a DMAIC roadmap for a process change request – such as the upgrading of databases and server hardware – can provide organizations with the necessary framework to ensure that all changes are made in the most efficient manner possible.

The following change control steps, which mirror the DMAIC path, should be used by IT departments while implementing any type of procedural changes.

1. Define need for change control – First off, the person responsible for effecting change in the IT department (the change owner) needs to identify the basic requirements of change control. These requirements can be either an improvement in performance or the replacement of existing processes. The change owner needs to identify the scope of change control in terms of practical problems in existing processes and document a proposed solution on a change request template.

To build a strong business case, this person also must enumerate the reasons for the upgrade of the server (the process change being used in this example), such as higher storage capacity, faster processing speeds and tighter security. This Define step is critical for the change owner to demonstrate the value of the project and convince the organization to provide its full support for the proposed change.

2. Request change control and measure performance – Next, the change owner should list these critical criteria while making the change request.

a. Provide a detailed description of the change – Specifications of the new server
b. Describe the type of change – Hardware upgrade
c. List the reasons for the change – Higher storage capacity, a faster application process, better security
d. Describe how the newly proposed changes will replace existing procedures – How will hardware be changed? How will data on current hardware be migrated to new hardware? What are the design and installation qualification protocols?
e. Technical evaluation – The head of the IT department should describe how this will be carried out in terms of a risk-to-benefit ratio. The operation qualification of the upgraded server also must be performed to check for capability.
f. List the impacts – What are the human manpower requirements for ensuring that this proposed change is made? What will the financial effects be as a result?

This change request should be sent to both the organization’s management and its quality personnel for approval. The priority of the above criteria will be decided by management.

3. Analyze the proposed change control request – Once the proposed change control is approved by management, it also should be analyzed by all other departments that will be affected by the proposal. This impact assessment and risk analysis should be based on – but not limited to – the criteria above (a to f). The results of this impact assessment and risk analysis should be reported using the levels “low,” “medium” or “high” by operational qualification.

The analysis can be sent back to the change owner in case it is rejected or if more clarification is required for the criteria. All concerns and suggestions for rejection or clarification should be noted on the change request form. After these concerns are addressed, the change request should be sent back once more to management for approval.

4. Improve, confirm and test the statistical solution – Upon final approval by authorized personnel, the change request should be subject to performance qualification. Before the proposed change can be implemented – in this case, an upgraded server – the data on the current server needs to be backed up. Only then can the change be implemented.

To verify the new upgrade against the current server system, practitioners should take a pilot run and analyze the process; this test also should include the migration of legacy data. The new change can be evaluated by performing technical tests decided as per protocol.

Statistical evaluation of all affected parameters should be performed against the outputs of the process. If the implemented change shows the expected improvements in performance, then an implementation plan must be developed and enacted. After completion of this procedure, a note should be made on the change request that impacts have been assessed and that the change is ready for implementation in routine practice.

5. Set up a control system with routine verification – Controlling and maintaining the change is essential to the project’s success. Newly implemented changes should be assessed at regular intervals to ensure that they are running effectively. In case of future personnel changes, it is important to provide proper training to all personnel for handling the new process.

DMAIC is a familiar method to affect change in IT performance. However, to ensure that change is controlled effectively, practitioners should remember that the DMAIC roadmap also can be employed as an organizational resource. Six Sigma provides the tools to improve the capability and reduce the defects in any process, and change control can benefit from this structured approach.

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An Introduction to ISO 9000, 9001, 9002, ISO 9000:2000

As geographic barriers between countries deteriorate with the continued evolution of the Internet, ISO 9000 may be one of the largest differentiators between you and your competitors. Already, ISO 9000 plays a key role in winning new customers, maintaining satisfied current customers, accessing foreign countries and dealing with the government.

What is ISO 9000, 9001, 9002, ISO 9000:2000?

ISO is the word that represents the International Organization for Standardization. It is not the acronym for the International Organization for Standardization as many people think. It is the worldwide federation of national standards bodies for approximately 130 countries.

The ISO 9000 standards are produced by an international consensus of countries with the aim of creating global standards of product and service quality. These sets of standards form a quality management system and are applicable to any organization regardless of product, service, organizational size, or whether it’s a public or private company.

ISO covers all technical fields and is not limited to any particular discipline. It does not, however, cover electrical or electronic engineering which are the responsibility of the IEC. The responsibility for information technology is performed by a joint ISO/IEC technical committee.

Your business can be certified against one of three quality systems: ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003.

◉ ISO 9001 sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes range all the way from design and development, to production, installation and servicing;

◉ ISO 9002 is the appropriate standard for organizations that do not design and develop products, since it does not include the design control requirements of ISO 9001. Its requirements are identical aside from that distinction.

◉ ISO 9003 is the appropriate standard for an organization whose business processes do not include design control, process control, purchasing or servicing. It focuses on inspection and testing to ensure that final products and services meet specified requirements.

It is your organization that chooses which of the three quality systems to be certified against (ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003) based on business processes. None is considered more important than another; it is important to identify the appropriate standard before pursuing certification.

The Benefits of ISO Certification

ISO 9000 provides a framework and systematic approach to managing business processes to produce a product/service that conforms to customer expectations. For customers, the certification of suppliers to ISO standards means that they can be assured that the development of their products and services are compliant to reference documents that are globally accepted. This, of course, means that customers and suppliers are able to compete in markets around the world.

The benefits of becoming certified are numerous; companies should ensure that they are pursuing certification for the right reasons:

◉ To improve business processes and save money. Most companies implementing ISO 9000 certification report increases in business process efficiencies, reductions in waste, and improved product quality.

◉ To qualify for new customers. Many corporations see ISO 9000 Certification as an essential requirement for conducting business with a new vendor.

◉ To enter global markets. ISO 9000 standards are required in many countries.

How to Pursue ISO Certification

To become ISO certified, a business must develop a quality system that meets the requirements specified by one of the following three standards: ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003, depending on your business product or service. Once your quality system has been documented and implemented, you must invite an accredited external auditor to evaluate the effectiveness of your system. If the auditor determines that your quality system meets all of ISO’s requirements, they will certify your system. You can then announce to the world that the quality of your products/services is managed, controlled, and assured by a registered ISO 9000 quality system.

What is Required – A Snapshot

◉ A standard language for documenting quality practices.
◉ A system to track and manage evidence that these practices are instituted in your business.
◉ An independent audit to assess and certify compliance.

Timeline and Cost Implications of Implementing ISO

It is obvious that there are many advantages to ISO certification. Certification should not be undertaken lightly, however, as it is extremely time consuming and costly. By rough estimate, it can take anywhere from six to 18 months to document your business operations, with another one to three months to verify against actual operations.

Fees for consultants to help guide your business through the process of documentation and certification are around the $10,000 to $20,000 magnitude. Make sure you hire the right consultant for the job. Don’t forget about the time spent by employees during documentation and away from production – these can add up also.

What’s the Future of ISO? ISO 9000:2000

The ISO 9000 family of quality management system standards, called ISO 9000:2000, is finally being updated. Why you ask? Well, it hasn’t been updated since initially issued, and the committee agreed that it needs to reflect a more modern understanding of quality. On September 14, 2000, the standards took one further step towards finalization.

These new standards are now being distributed to the institutes that make up ISO’s worldwide membership. It will be approved if at least 75 percent of the votes cast on November 14, 2000, are in favor. In this case, it will be published as the new International Standards in December 2000.

The three FDIS (Final Draft International Standards) which have just been published are the following:

◉ ISO/FDIS 9000, Quality management systems – Fundamentals and vocabulary
◉ ISO/FDIS 9001, Quality management systems – Requirements
◉ ISO/FDIS 9004, Quality management systems – Guidelines for performance improvements

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