How to identify an ideal Lean Six Sigma project. What is a good Lean Six Sigma project?

I am often asked, “Amanda, how do I know if this is a good Six Sigma project?”
While ranking each project by impact and effort is a wonderful way to narrow down you focus, there are some quick questions to ask so you only rank and vet projects that are good fits for Six Sigma.
There are four questions I ask when determining if a project idea is a good fit for Six Sigma.
First, is this a new process and/or does it require significant capital?
If it is then it likely a better fit to hand off to a Project Manager. For example: Launch a new manufacturing line for our redesigned product. Or purchase 250 trucks and launch at new office branch. The skills needed here are less about identifying the optimal solution and more about implementing an identified improvement. Skills better suited to Project Managers.
Second, is the solution known?
If the solution is known, then just go do it! We don’t need to spend four months managing a project team when the solution is obvious. Now, quite often at this point we may need to change our project idea to not list a solution like “Hire and Executive Assistant” would change to “Determine how to distribute Admin Tasks at Exec level”. Keep in mind a Six Sigma project will follow data, so the solution you may want to move forward may not be the one selected.
Third, is data on the problem hard to find?
If there is not any data on this issue then this is a great time to start implementing a data collection plan. Determine what data is critical to understanding the process performance and implement a system that begins to collect that data. If data is hard to find, and there is no hope of using data to make decisions in this improvement you may find more success in utilizing Lean tools than Six Sigma.
Fourth, will it take more than 3 months?
If it will take more than three months breakdown the idea into smaller pieces. This will ensure the team working the project is set up for success and you will be able to make steady progress over time that can be reported to your management team.
These four questions are quick and easy way to decide if a project idea is a good fit for a Six Sigma DMAIC approach.
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