A Guide to Strategic Project Selection in Lean Six Sigma

Choosing a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project is like embarking on the adventure of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first bed was too big, the second too small, and the last one, just right.

The project you choose needs to be just right, too. It needs to hit the spot between meaningful and manageable. If your project is too small, it won’t have a significant impact. If it’s too big, you’ll end up overwhelmed.

We’ll help you with the Lean Six Sigma Project Selection process so you can begin the DMAIC process confidently.

What Is Project Selection in Lean Six Sigma?

When you embark on LSS training, you embrace the role of a professional problem solver. With that in mind, Project Selection is about deciding which problem you’ll solve.

Because LSS is process-centric, the problem you choose should relate to inefficiencies within a process. More than that, an excellent Lean Six Sigma project supports the bigger picture: your company’s strategic goals and customers’ pain points.

Projects in Lean Six Sigma Belts

If you’ve started your training, you know you can achieve different Lean Six Sigma belt levels, with Yellow Belt as a beginner, Green Belt as an intermediate, and Black Belt as an advanced.

The project’s complexity will depend on the belt certification you’re aiming for.

• Yellow Belt: As a Yellow Belt, you focus on getting familiar with processes and Process Improvement. Start with a familiar process representing a substantial portion of your work, and look for ways to improve it.
• Green Belt: The problems you solve on a Green Belt project will be larger and more complex. With your knowledge of DMAIC and the 8 Wastes, you can go after specific problems that don’t have established root causes or solutions. These problems can also be departmental, instead of relating only to your workflow.
• Black Belt: Black Belts operate as change agents, responsible for projects that bring about widespread, positive transformation for their company. You’ll want to go for a project that challenges you from a technical and leadership standpoint.

For more inspiration, look through our project success stories for examples of projects at each belt level.

Roles in Project Selection

When you embark on a new project, you’ll need the support and approval of a few key individuals. These are as follows:

• Project Lead: A Green Belt or Black Belt who is responsible for the success of the project.
• Sponsor/Project Champion: A person in a leadership position who supports your project.
• Team Members: Individuals involved in the project applying the Lean Six Sigma Process.
• Process Owner: The person in charge of the process you’re trying to improve.

Getting these individuals on your side before starting your project is vital for success.

The Project Selection Criteria

Although projects vary widely in scope, the underlying criteria remain the same. Here’s what to look for to choose a winning project.

Identify Business Objectives

Outstanding LSS projects align with the organization’s broader business goals–enhanced customer satisfaction, improved productivity, lowered costs, or even all three!

Narrow your Project Selection ideas by asking yourself: what has the most potential to improve business outcomes? For additional help, use our free project selection tool and project selection guide.

Data-Driven Approach

Saying your project will improve customer satisfaction isn’t the same as proving it. All Lean Six Sigma projects are firmly grounded in quantifiable metrics. That’s how you prove the value of LSS implementation.

Before selecting a project, look at the readily available data, such as Voice of the Customer market surveys, and so forth.

If you’re embarking on a Yellow Belt project, choose a problem where all the metrics you need are in place, making it easy to kickstart the DMAIC process. For Green and Black Belts, you may need to dig deeper to uncover your baseline data.

Stakeholder Input

Stakeholders can either be blockers of change or champions of progress. To make your project a success, you’ll need stakeholders to fall into the latter category. Influencing people can be tricky, but our free Stakeholder Analysis template equips you with a proven strategy.

The Stakeholder Analysis is about building empathy: understanding what matters to them, any resistances they have, and how you can get them to care about your project. Once you understand your stakeholders’ perspectives more deeply, you can devise a strategy to build buy-in.

Project Feasibility Assessment

Imagine that your proposed project is a house design. You’re eager to get building, but you need to check that it’s possible for your idea to come to life. Do you have enough resources, funds, and time?

The Project Feasibility Assessment is a data-driven analysis that helps you understand whether or not it makes good business sense to go ahead with your project. Common frameworks include the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, cost-benefit analysis, or technical feasibility assessment.

We offer in-depth guidance on running these assessments in our free training.

Lean Six Sigma Project Types

Knowing what kind of Lean Six Sigma project you’re considering is essential. There are 5 project types to choose from. If you’re looking to conduct a Green Belt or Black Belt project, you should be working on a Process Improvement Project.

• Quick Win: Also known as “Just-Do-It” or Fast Track projects, Quick Wins involve implementing a simple, low-cost solution for a known problem. These projects are fast to plan and deploy because the root cause is established, and the fix is easy.
• Process Improvement: With these projects, the presenting problem has an unknown root cause and undetermined solutions. You’ll use the DMAIC Improvement Cycle to work through the problem and enhance the process.
• Process Design: Focus is on developing a new process or service, rather than improving it. This is also known as DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) or DMADV (Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Validate).
• Process Redesign: Sometimes, entire processes are no longer fit for purpose, meaning focusing on incremental improvements won’t do. When this happens, process redesign projects are the way to go. Here, the team looks at overhauling the holistic process.
• Infrastructure Implementation: These projects, also known as Process Management, involve meticulously monitoring established processes.

Project Selection Best Practices

By now, you’ve probably got two or three potential project ideas at the top of your list. But how do you decide which one to select? Here are some final tips to help you move forward.

Use a Solution Selection Matrix

A Solution Selection Matrix is a visual diagram that enables you to easily weigh up different solutions in terms of effort and value. You’ll get several numerical values by ranking each solution against a set of criteria. The one that ranks highest is the one you should move forward with.

Strategize Portfolio Management

At any one time, there could be multiple Lean Six Sigma projects occurring in your organization. Portfolio Management is about organizing these projects and allocating the right amount of resources to each.

If you choose a Yellow Belt project, you won’t need to worry about portfolio management. But you can help your Project Manager by presenting data-driven insights into what you need to complete your project successfully. This will help them balance the different projects within the portfolio for success.

Continuous Review and Adjustment

Business priorities can change rapidly. What’s of low importance yesterday can escalate to urgent tomorrow. That’s why it’s essential to take a dynamic approach to Project Selection and execution.

Monitor the pulse of your organization’s needs and priorities and review whether your current priorities align with the broader business goals. If you need to review and adjust, don’t be afraid to do so. After all, you want the outcome of your project to have a meaningful impact on the business.

The Importance of Project Selection

Strategic Project Selection is at the heart of implementing LSS. By taking a data-driven approach, being mindful of your company’s goals, and understanding the project ecosystem, you can pick a project that yields excellent returns.

Whether it’s for you, your team, or an organization-wide Process Improvement effort — our free training is an excellent place to start.