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What Is Six Sigma? An Introduction for Technical Writers

Philadelphia Metro Chapter Society for Technical Communication20 September 2007

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Overview

History What is it? A brief introduction with imaginary case

study The belt pecking order Where to go for more information References

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History

1908 – W.S. Gosset develops statistical tests to analyze quality at Guinness Brewery

1950s Deming – helped build Japan’s economy after World War II (Total Quality Control)

1980s – Dr. Mikel Harry and Bill Smith invent Six Sigma at Motorola

Currently – thousands of companies have adopted the methodology

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What Is It?

Common sense – you probably already know a lot

Business philosophy: system for improving processes in an organization

Metrics Statistical concept

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Three Flavors

Six Sigma – reduce defects Design for Six Sigma – design new

products Lean – reduce waste

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Six Sigma – The Literal Definition

26 (Lower Limit)

30 mph

35 mph25 mph

34 (Upper Limit)

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What Level of Quality Is Acceptable for Your Product?

4 sigma – 99 percent 6 sigma – 99.9997 percent 7 sigma – 99.99999999974 percent

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The Methodology: New Tools, New Words

Quality SIPOC Failure Mode Effects Analysis Process Map Control Chart ANOVA p-Values Quality Functional Deployment Rolled Throughput Yield Metrics Stakeholders Team Critical to Quality Voice of the Customer DMAIC

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Imaginary Case Study

Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC)

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Case Study: Imaginary

Help Desk getting more calls since the release of NovelPro version 3

The company is faced with hiring more Help Desk employees

The software works as designed: no bugs reported

The Help Desk reports many complaints about the quality of the documentation

The technical writing staff was reduced by 50 percent in 2006

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DMAIC: Define

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Talk to Your Customers

Identify Stakeholders and Team Talk to Your Customer – surveys,

interviews, focus groups – voice of the customer (VOC)

Identify Critical to Quality (CTQ) Items Create a CTQ Flowdown

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CTQ Flowdown

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Next . . .

Problem Statement Goal Analyze Current High-Level Process

SIPOC Map (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers)

Process Flow Define scope of project Figure out what you’re going to fix (Y)

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Problem and Goal Statements

In the TechComm Department for fourth quarter 2007, there has been a 50% increase in the number of errors from 10 to 15. This exceeds the organizational control limit of no more than 12 errors.

Goal Statement: Reduce errors from 12 to 10 or less by June 31, 2008.

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Time Series Plot of Reported Errors

NovelPro 3, 2007

NovelPro 2, 2006

Time

Reported errors

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CustomersProcessInputsSuppliers Outputs

S I P O C

Software developers

Users of software

Marketing Department

Technical Writers

Templates

Style Guide

Procedures

Software Design

Document

Beta Version of Software

Review with Marketing

DesignDocument

Review Software Design

Write/Layout Manual

Review

Completed User Manual

Developers

Help Desk

Proofreaders

Marketing

Other TWs

New Templates

Updated Style Guide

Updated Procedures

Direct

Indirect

Proofread

Publish

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Scope

This project will cover the process of developing documentation from the time the design documents are released to the time when the documentation is in production.

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What We’re Going to Fix – “Y”

Y = f(x) Reduce number of errors in NovelPro

documentation

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Other “Define” Tasks

Identify project risks Develop timeline Communication plan

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DMAIC: Measure

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DMAIC: Measure

Develop a detailed process flow Collect data on how the process is

working Validate your measurement system Quantify process performance

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Process Flow

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Collect Data

Plan your data collection May use statistical sampling Data must be “clean”

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Measure Steps in the Process

In this case, we might measure errors: In design document Proofreading errors Errors caused by lack of review Errors introduced in publication process

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Validate Measurement System

Identify existing system Analyze Is it accurate and precise? Improve measurement system

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Verify that Process Is Stable

You can predict how a process is performing

Doesn’t mean the process doesn’t fluctuate

So, you can predict that 10 to 20 errors are made per topic in documentation in the current state

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Simplify

Sometimes you can find opportunities to fix things just by process mapping, not requiring six sigma rigor

Low-hanging fruit

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DMAIC: Analyze

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Why?

Focus on the x’s that influence the Y you are working with – output is a function of input or Y = f(x)

Work with stakeholders to figure out cause and effect

Use data collected in Measure and statistics (root cause analysis)

Quantify the opportunity

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Work with Stakeholders

Stakeholders should be: Balanced representatives Equally matched (higher-level employee

doesn’t trump lower) Some ways to identify x’s with team:

Brainstorming Cause and effect diagram

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Pareto Chart

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You May Do Other Analyses

Histogram Design of Experiments Scatter Diagram Control Charts Process Capability

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DMAIC: Improve

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Improve

Create solutions Brainstorm Gather from others who do similar work

(benchmarking) Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

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Evaluate and Select Solutions

Evaluate Select Solution Pilot Evaluate Revise your flow chart: ideal process

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Revised Flowchart

This is where we removed a step

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Implement Solution

Present solution to management to get buy-in

Identify Risks Implementation Plan

Document process Train Execute Communicate

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DMAIC: Control

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Control

Ensure that your improvement continues to work over time

Develop a process control plan List the important x’s identified

previously Keep under control Monitor Y

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Sample Control Plan

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More Control

Mistake proof Update the Failure Mode Effects

Analysis Standardize (Standard Operating

Procedures)

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Design for Six Sigma

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Design for Six Sigma

Consists of DMADV (Define Measure Analyze Design Verify)

Define customer requirements and goals for the process, product or service.

Measure and match performance to customer requirements.

Analyze and assess the design for the process, product or service.

Design and implement the array of new processes required for the new process, product or service.

Verify results and maintain performance.

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What DFSS Is Used For

Requirements for New Systems Could be used to

design a new user manual create a process for single sourcing create a translation process

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The Levels of Six Sigma Training:

The Belts

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Master Black Belt

Black Belts

Green Belts

Team Members

Cha

mpi

ons

The “Belts”

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Ideas for Projects

Design for a single-sourcing system Revising a user manual Prepare for a new documentation project: add

to your “project management” bag of tricks Designing or updating translation process Any production process Collecting functional requirements for a new

computer system

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Where to Get Your Greenbelt

Six Sigma Academy George Group SBTI Villanova On-Line Drexel In-Person American Society of Quality . . . And many more

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References

Six Sigma web site Brassard, Michael and Ritter (2001)

Sailing Through Six Sigma, Marietta, Georgia: Brassard & Ritter, LLC.

DeCarlo, Neil with the Breakthrough Management Group (2007)The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Lean Six Sigma: New York, NY: Alpha Books