Future trend of six-sigma and a new generation of projects
After its first conceptualization in 1986 by American Engineer Bill Smith, and becoming the central business strategy at General Electric in 1995, six sigma strategy is continuously evolving and has now come a long way. The methodology, providing a huge scope for those keen to transform their business, must be kept a close watch on the new developments.
Based on the concept of continuous development and being centered on measurable improvements in quality, Six-Sigma concept is likely to evolve in the following aspects:
- Data Driven and Fact based decisions:
Business and customer data is assuming prime importance, and the huge potential associated with ‘data-assets’ is in trend everywhere. The data-driven decision making is the essence of six-sigma strategy so it is important to emphasize the need.
- Lean with Six-Sigma:
Apart from the minimization of the variance, the Lean techniques also remove waste processes from the cycle. The future trend is likely to witness the continued use of Lean techniques so as to enhance quality to a greater extent. This, in turn, would lead to greater customer satisfaction and ultimately to the realization of business objectives.
- Analytical Tools:
The Lean and powerful tools with graphical visualization to analyze the reports are on the rise and the organizations are embracing this aspect because of host of benefits offered. Sophisticated computational processes with better simulation and capability to monitor many complicated processes at once and one place will be future of the projects with Six-Sigma.
- Team Skills:
The future projects and collaborations will witness enhanced emphasis on the interpersonal values and team skills. Businesses will seek the professional expertise in LSS Green Belts and Black Belts in implementing strategy, and improving their business process.
The performance excellence initiates are set to be of paramount importance in business operations.
With such changes in the business strategy based on six-sigma, the next generation of project management is also going to shift accordingly.
As the process of systematically planning, organizing, and executing a pre-determined set of steps to maximize resource use and achieve objectives, it is crucial to have an efficient leader guide such business process.
Accordingly, the next generation of project management will transform project managers into leaders who must deal with the strategic and business aspects of their projects, articulate a vision to inspire and motivate their teams, and learn how to adapt their management style to the right project and environmental context.
The future projects and their management will require the merger of Leadership Skills and the Technical Expertise. The Deloitte Human Capital Trend Report 2016 revealed that 89% of global business leaders viewed leadership capabilities of the highest priority. It is crucial for the organizations to invest in developing the leadership capabilities in their project managers to meet the future needs.
A Harvard Report on Project Management concluded the organizations that invest in project management capabilities waste 28 times less money. This study will be of great importance for organizations looking for the tactics to reduce their wastage and enhance the efficiency.
Other important factors that will be required for the management of future projects are:
- Developing leadership abilities in all the team members
- Anticipating issues and resolving conflicts at the earliest
- Greater understanding of the team members
- Being able to interpret the issues at higher authorities effectively and the ability to negotiate.
