[Novalug] OT: Six Sigma

[Joe Klein]

Ken,

Lets define the two against each other to help the people on this list  
understand the place where both certification sit.

First there are three types of certification:
1. Certification for technology - Compliance (to a standard),  
interoperability (to other systems that are compliant), performance  
and security (defend itself and other devices)
2. Certification for people - CISSP, Security+, ITIL etc.
3. Certifications for Processes (of organizations) - i.e. CMMI, ITIL,  
Six Sigma, IA-CMM, SSE-CMM, etc

We are discussing the certification of processes. In the case of ITIL,  
we are discussing IT processes, not financial or audit processes. They  
are different certifications and frameworks.

References from wikipedia:

"ITIL gives a detailed description of a number of important IT  
practices with comprehensive checklists, tasks and procedures that any  
IT organization can tailor to its needs sell defined processes."

"Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by  
identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and  
variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of  
quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates  
a special infrastructure of people within the organization ("Black  
Belts","Green Belts", etc.) who are experts in these methods.[2] Each  
Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined  
sequence of steps and has quantified financial targets (cost reduction  
or profit increase).

So in summary, ITIL is about implementing predefined processes based  
on what ITIL deems important. The job of the ITIL certified  
practitioner, is to figure out what make the best business sense for  
the organization. When implementing ITIL, organization are benchmarked  
against the ITIL, no matter if all the processes make sense to apply  
or not. There for if defective or expenses processes are implemented  
to meet the ITIL, so be it.

Whereas ITIL shows the what needs to be implemented, Six Sigma  
validates the how it is implemented and quantifies the cost/value.

Organizations that use both ITIL and Six Sigma (and CMMI and Six  
Sigma), have shown more cost effective, faster and tailored solutions  
then using either of the individual business process improvement. The  
published studies show up to a 30% ROI when used in conjunction with  
each other.


Joe Klein

On Oct 12, 2009, at 12:10 PM, Ken Kauffman wrote:

> Unfortunately, there are many organizations that offer certification  
> and there is no controlling organization.  With ITIL, you at least  
> have OGC and with PMP, you have PMI.  With Six Sigma, you have  
> essentially a good ol' boys network for black belts, but no master  
> organization who *controls* standards and certification.
>
> Is there a preferred certifying organization for Six Sigma?  Is it  
> ACQ? Or does it matter?
>
> I know this group ... so let me qualify this E-mail with ...  I'm  
> really not looking for an opinion on Six Sigma. :)
>
> Ken
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