In one of the previous posts we introduced the Six Sigma Methodology that is rather widely used nowadays. This post is dedicated to the advantages of this methodology and will help to explain why it’s so popular.

The first and most obvious advantage of the methodology is the rise of profitability at the expense of cost’s cutting down. Thanks to the involvement in the projects thanks to Six Sigma this abbreviation can be rather considerable. Six Sigma allows achieving complete satisfaction of clients. And still it is not all. The companies can calculate their success in a durable perspective, only if can surprise the clients with innovative sentences. Moreover, the companies should improve their activity continuously.

The special attention given in the methodology Six Sigma to the rigidity of the process, to its correspondence to the installed norms, contradicts the innovation which, essentially, is a deviation from the norm. The innovative approach means deviations in production, the redundancy, the unusual solutions, insufficient study – all with what Six Sigma fights. It is necessary to report it to the heads, who decided to introduce this methodology.

There is also one more aspect, rather essential to the heads, which is necessary to remember. Six Sigma – not simply a modification of the old technological methods of quality support; it is essentially new approach for company management. Experts are not inclined to oppose Six Sigma and ISO 9001 (here in Oxagile we work according to ISO, by the way). The number of experts considers a method “Six Sigma” simply as one of the statistical methods of the analysis and measurement of quality that can be used as one of possible ones while implementing ISO 9001. This quality standard orders mandatory application of statistical methods on industrial deviation which is an important part of Six Sigma.

Six Sigma is a methodology for improving the quality of production. It was developed by the company Motorola in the early eighties, and it is successfully applied in many software development companies. The purpose of Six Sigma is to make a product of constant quality with statistically measured estimation of defects, improvement of process for eliminating defects, and monitoring these improvements. Six Sigma is successfully applied for improving the organizations in various spheres.

While it has a successful reputation in big companies with thousands of employees, Six Sigma also may be applied in small design teams. This makes it being used by many small web development teams to improve their processes. The basis of the methodology Six Sigma is made by an estimation of deviations of actual metrics of process from a curve of normal allocation of deviations. If those or other metrics of process are in certain limits of deviations, the quality of process results also remains high. In statistics it is accepted to name a unit of measure of deviations as “sigma”.

The appreciable effect is observed at deviation no more than 4,5 sigma; In this case the metric of number of defects on one million units of production makes 3,4. But this condition is fulfilled in stable processes. Productions usually aren’t stable. The inventors of methodology have come to a conclusion that the deviations of the process, called by its natural instability, give quality deviations at level 1,5 sigma.

Thus, if the target degree of quality is made by 4,5 sigma taking into account 1,5 sigma on deviations it is necessary to provide a degree of quality in 6 sigma. ”To reach such degree of quality in production, 99.9997 % from a total number of products should be of comprehensible quality (or 3.4 defects on one million possible). Deviation is the important part of Six Sigma. Here what one of the pioneers and innovators of the methodology has said: “Our clients feel Deviation, instead of the Average.” All processes have some heritable deviation. There are no software processes which generate defects with a constant coefficient. Here Six Sigma is especially effective.

The purpose of Six Sigma is to think of each aspect of business as about a process which can be improved and can be measured statistically. The main tool is the approach consisting of 5 stages named DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control).