Both Lean and Six Sigma were coupled eventually to produce what was called Lean Six Sigma, which is a systematic approach for process improvement and problem solving aiming to reduce variation, remove waste and increase capability.Ī software development project is a typical knowledge work project, which involves a lot of innovation and creativity and relies heavily on the skills of individuals and teams. Basically, the Lean philosophy in production considered the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. In parallel to this movement, the Lean movement was rising as well. Six Sigma gained popularity mainly in the manufacturing domain, mainly because of its origin and the fact that Six Sigma often related to an objective of reducing variation in production processes, and since reducing variation in a repetitive production process in manufacturing has been always a desirable goal to achieve, it has led Six Sigma to be a successful approach and methodology for improving processes, products quality and accordingly the business. And since its adoption at General Electric in the 1990’s, it has been widely adopted by many organizations in different domains and industries. It offers a rich set of tools, techniques and roadmaps, which aim to reducing variation, improving the quality of production processes by decreasing the number of defects and improving the capability of the processes, products and services. Six Sigma is a structured methodology for process improvement and problem solving. SIX SIGMA IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 2.1 What is Six Sigma? In addition, we will try to bridge the gap between the 2 approaches and methodologies, and focus on the areas where both can meet and benefit from each other. We will also discuss how we used agile methods in managing the Six Sigma project itself by adopting an agile-‐based iterative and incremental method called “Process Increments”. We will discuss how we benefitted from applying the DMAIC roadmap with an agile team who was adopting Scrum. In this experience report, we will share our experience in combining Six Sigma and its ‘DMAIC’ roadmap as a statistical and analytical problem solving approach with agile software development (particularly Scrum). It provides a set of tools, phases and roadmaps, which can be used by an organization to reduce variation and improve the capability and quality of its processes, products and services. Six Sigma is a philosophy, a measure and a methodology for problem solving and process improvement. Sometimes agile teams lack the bird-‐ eye/strategic approach to process improvement or problem solving. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUNDĪgile methods have been dominating the software development domain in the last decade, and they have proven to be successful for managing and executing software development projects, which are considered as innovative knowledge work as opposed to task work projects founds at other domains such as manufacturing.Īgile teams usually focus on quick and short-‐term improvements identified either through daily collaborations or through periodic vehicles like retrospectives. We tried to cover these aspects through telling our story in adopting both together as well as pointing out what we have learned, how did we overcome the challenges we faced and eventually what we concluded after adopting both successfully. It explores how both can benefit from each other and the gaps that are filled by mixing both of them together. Champion: An upper-level executive who is responsible for the implementation of Six Sigma across all departments.This experience report is about how agile software development and Six Sigma can be adopted together.Demonstrates through an exam an expert understanding of the philosophies and principles of Six Sigma. Master black belt: Manages the implementation of Six Sigma projects across functions.Must pass an exam demonstrating a complete knowledge of the phases of the Six Sigma Method. Black belt: Plans and executes projects using Six Sigma principles.Must pass an exam demonstrating thorough knowledge of the phases of the Six Sigma Method. Green belt: Awarded for learning the principles of Six Sigma and implementing them under the guidance of a black belt in real projects.Yellow belt: Awarded for assisting a project at a practical level and passing an exam demonstrating an understanding of implementing, performing, and applying Six Sigma.White belt: Awarded for completing an entry-level overview of the tools used in Six Sigma, its history, and the system's structure.
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