Recording the Results of a Six Sigma Project

Closing a Six Sigma project is an elaborate exercise. One of the biggest parts of this exercise is the explicit documentation of the project. However given its importance to the projects that maybe executed at a later date, its importance is unquestionable. Here is a checklist of the activities that need to be performed while formally closing a six sigma project.

Ensuring that the Objectives have been Met

The most obvious thing to do while closing a Six Sigma project is to ensure that the objectives that were the cause of the project in the first place have been adequately met. The fact that there are numerous stakeholders with varying objectives, ending the project requires getting sign-off documents from all these stakeholders.

For each sign-off, the objectives set up in the Project Charter are reviewed. The achievements of the project team are then viewed in the light of these objectives and a decision is reached upon whether the Six Sigma project has been a success. However, since the objectives have tangible numbers, there is very less scope for politicising and ambiguity.

Ensuring that the Results are Standardized

Six Sigma projects are meant to build process capability. Hence, it is the job of the Six Sigma team to ensure that the results obtained are standardized. This entails ensuring that the results are not dependant on the skill, knowledge or expertise of any workers or managers involved and can work independently of it.

Ensuring that the Results are Error Proofed

As we have discussed earlier, no process is error proof. No matter how well designed the process, there is always a probability that things can go wrong. It is the job of the Six Sigma team to list down such scenarios where things can actually go wrong and work towards preventing them from happening in real life.

The plans should be documented along with discussing it with the process owner. There must be experts appointed to solve every type of possible problem that the Six Sigma team can foresee.

Ensuring that the Knowledge is Documented

Every Six Sigma project executed brings with itself a wealth of knowledge. This knowledge may pertain to application of Six Sigma methodology, team building or more knowledge about the process in question.

This knowledge needs to be explicitly documented and stored in the knowledge repository of the organization for re-use.

Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written and Reviewed by Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.