Design for Six Sigma in Technology and Product Development

Customer Reviews:

Challenging but worthwhile.......2007-08-13

I don't disagree that Creveling's book is a challenging read, but I do think it's a worthwhile and reasonably comprehensive text on the topics. Many of the methods presented require a certain level of sophistication to execute correctly. If you don't understand the material, maybe you shouldn't be trying to use some of the tools.

Designing for Six Sigma.......2005-02-03

Disclosure: I'm a competitor of Skip's in the Design for Six Sigma field.

Skip obviously knows his stuff - he's written one of the most detailed descriptions of DFSS around. His differentiation of a methodology for technology development and product development is an important concept. The book provides a detailed step-by-step description of how to design a product for Six Sigma performance.

However, the book is really a tough read. I've been working in the DFSS field for the last 7 years and I found it a tough go. The methodology descriptions, while detailed, suffer from a lack of examples or a case study.

My other critique is that Skip describes the DFSS "nirvana" - if your development process is a bit informal, you'll start asking yourself "How in the world will I ever get to DFSS?" Some thoughts around how to transition from a typical development process to a DFSS-based approach would have been helpful.

Finally, one of my clients handed this book out to virtually all their engineers at the beginning of their DFSS iniative. When, a year or two later, I'd ask the engineers if they had the book, the answer was invariably "Yes." When I'd asked if they'd read the book, however, the answer was just as invariably "No."

If you already know about DFSS, its a great reference. If not, go buy one of the introductory books first.

Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001

Average customer rating:

More aimed for managers/laymen.
Should be required "first reading" for process improvement...
PI book review
Great introduction; Easy to read
An engaging overview of the field of process improvement

Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001
James Persse
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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CMMI(R) Survival Guide: Just Enough Process Improvement (The SEI Series in Software Engineering)
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CMMI Distilled: A Practical Introduction to Integrated Process Improvement, Second Edition

ASIN: 0596102178

Book Description

Today, technology has become too much a part of overall corporate success for its effectiveness to be left to chance. The stakes are too high. Fortunately, the idea of 'quality management' is being reinvigorated. In the last decade process programs have become more and more prevalent. And, out of all the available options, three have moved to the top of the chain. These three are:

The 9001:2000 Quality Management Standard from the International Standards Organization;
The Capability Maturity Model Integration from the Software Engineering Institute; and
Six Sigma, a methodology for improvement shaped by companies such as Motorola, Honeywell, and General Electric.

These recognized and proven quality programs are rising in popularity as more technology managers are looking for ways to help remove degrees of risk and uncertainty from their business equations, and to introduce methods of predictability that better ensure success.

Process Improvement Essentials combines the foundation needed to understand process improvement theory with the best practices to help individuals implement process improvement initiatives in their organization. The three leading programs: ISO 9001:2000, CMMI, and Six Sigma--amidst the buzz and hype--tend to get lumped together under a common label. This book delivers a combined guide to all three programs, compares their applicability, and then sets the foundation for further exploration. It's a one-stop-shop designed to give you a working orientation to what the field is all about.

Customer Reviews:

More aimed for managers/laymen........2007-08-06

I bought this book to familiarize myself with process engineering concepts prior to taking a position as a semiconductor process development engineer. This book is not very useful for engineers, but is useful for managers or laymen who need a basic concept/understanding for Quality Control Systems.

Other than that, it is very easy to read.

Should be required "first reading" for process improvement..........2007-01-14

I've had the dubious "pleasure" of reading process improvement books that would make your eyes bleed. Fortunately, this isn't one of them... Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six SIGMA, and ISO 9001 by James R. Persse. This is a perfect "first look" at the subject for someone who doesn't yet know what they don't know...

Contents:
Part One - Process and Process Improvement: Introduction; The Case for Process; Establishing Your Process Program; Sustaining Process Improvement
Part Two - Three Major Process Improvement Standards: ISO 9001:2000; The Capability Maturity Model Integration (For Development); Six Sigma; Considerations For Adoption
Index

The problem with many books on this subject is that they dive into the details of a specific program before you really understand *why* you're doing this in the first place. That's fine for someone who has already decided on a particular approach, but it's completely unsuited to someone who really just needs to get a broad overview. Persse solves this issue by starting out with a high-level look at Process Improvement... why it's necessary, how it works, and how it's best implemented. Based on his years of experience, he is able to point out the mindsets and approaches that will either jumpstart or doom a process improvement initiative. Only after the reader has the mental framework does he introduce details on the three major process improvement frameworks commonly seen in the market today. There's enough detail in each of the chapters to understand how the framework functions and what it's designed to resolve, but not so much that the reader (at the targeted level) decides it's all too complicated and walks away. After reading this book, you should know what it is that you don't know, have an idea as to what areas to focus on, and be prepared to take *intelligent* next steps. And before you decide to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into a program, that's a great place to be starting at.

I'd consider this "required reading" for anyone contemplating a process improvement initiative. Time and dollars invested here will ensure much better value for the money you'll end up spending down the road...

PI book review.......2007-01-09

This is a good book if you're not bound to a specific model/framework. It gives recommendation for CMMI, Six Sig and ISO process frameworks. Easy read.

Great introduction; Easy to read.......2006-12-11

This book was very easy to read and understand. Unlike other books out there, this book didn't put me to sleep. It's well organized and got me up to speed very quickly. I needed a quick introduction to CMMI since taking my new job.

An engaging overview of the field of process improvement.......2006-11-11

There are currently three major international standards in process improvement: CMMI, ISO 9001, and Six Sigma. In the past, I have had a hard time finding insights about the commonalities and differences between these three standards. Most of books and instructors focus on one of these standards. Luckily, I stumbled on this book.

I have never expected a process book to be that interesting and entertaining to read! I found the author's style very engaging; most of the book, except pieces covering specific details of each standard, is *not* "dry" or boring, which I can't say about other process books that I looked at. Secondly, the author's knowledge and experience make everything logical and convincing, even comforting.

The book consists of two parts. The first one is filled with real life examples designed to show an executive or a skeptic (in my past past experience, these words were synonyms) that process must be managed and can be improved. In other words, if one wants a business to succeed, he better understands the processes comprising that business, monitors and measures them, and improves these processes continuously.

The second part of the book is split into three chunks: CMMI, ISO 9001, and Six Sigma. Each of these three chapters have an excellent overview of a standard's history, its main gist, and the differences with the other two standards, as well as a concise descriptions of its concepts and components.

This book will be a pleasant surprise for those who don't have time to compile numerous sources on the topic, or who fall asleep reading traditionally written process books.

Average customer rating:

To write a book about baseball, you have to play it
Six Sigma Software Development Disappointment
Guide to lifecycle adaptation for Six Sigma
Great book on the application of Six Sigma
Really Disappointing

Six Sigma Software Development
Christine B. Tayntor
Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Six Sigma Handbook: The Complete Guide for Greenbelts, Blackbelts, and Managers at All Levels, Revised and Expanded Edition
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Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001

ASIN: 0849311934

Book Description

Using a case study approach to provide clear explanations of concepts and their application, this book illustrates how Six Sigma concepts can be applied to all aspects of the evolving system development process. It includes the traditional waterfall model as well as development innovations such as rapid application development, packaged software implementation, and outsourcing. The book's primary focus is placed on eliminating defects and improving customer satisfaction through the use of tools that help ensure requirements are clearly defined, understood, and met. The book demonstrates how Six Sigma can be applied to measure, manage, and improve the performance of your entire IT department.

Customer Reviews:

To write a book about baseball, you have to play it.......2006-09-28

I was really excited to find a book merging Six Sigma and Software Development, but after reading the book, I still have no idea "how" I would implement the methodology. Tayntor clearly understands the Six Sigma theory and practice, but fails to convice me of its relevance to system development life cycle (SDLC) models.

In the book, we learn the Six Sigma methodology, consisting of the steps "Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control," works well for certain business models. The main goal of Six Sigma is to satisfy the "voice of the customer" or VOC. The VOC describes the needs or requirements of the customer. To ensure that outputs meet the customers' requirements, you must identify, quantify, and control the critical process inputs called X's. This control over the Xs reduces variation in the outcomes (or Y's).

For software developers, using Six Sigma to fully understand the Voice of Customer (VOC), means substantial savings and better overall product quality. Most costs overruns in software development are the result of poorly defined requirements. With Six Sigma and SDLC, the problem is implementation. We are not counting widgets, but discussing abstract intellectual processes. This a hard thing to quantify. I can count errors and I can reduce errors, but is bug free code necessarily good code?

Jeannine Siviy said it best when she described Six Sigma methods in manufacturing as "mature", but applications in software development are still "emerging".

If you are really trying to implement Six Sigma, I would recommend, Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck.

Six Sigma Software Development Disappointment.......2005-02-28

This book is almost all text. It merely describes six sigma on a very high level; it but never shows you how to apply six sigma methods to software. It has no specific "how" examples. Rather, it has elementary tips on software engineering that any software engineer who's been in the field already knows about. It is too high level. It's a very disappointing book. I do not recommend this book even to begineers in software engineering.

Guide to lifecycle adaptation for Six Sigma.......2004-01-19

Tayntor does an excellent job of laying a foundation for Six Sigma understanding, and of mapping that foundation to applications across the traditional SDLC lifecycle. The first third of the book is devoted to a general explanation of the Six Sigma DMAIC process and its related tools. Newcomers to Six Sigma will find these opening chapters helpful to gain an understanding of Six Sigma improvement. The middle third of this book is devoted to a phase by phase overview of Six Sigma tool applications in the traditional development lifecycle. The final third offers insights into less traditonal lifecycles, project types, and organizational change models. Tayntor writes to the novice audience, and deals with lifecycle issues more than technical issues. Readers from less mature organizations, often relying on traditional lifecycle models, will directly adapt and use her materials. More mature audiences will readily adapt her traditional phase mapping to the higher level challenges faced by organizations adopting non-traditional process and software engineering disciplines. Six Sigma Software Development belongs on every information systems bookself.

Great book on the application of Six Sigma.......2004-01-10

Well written - easy to understand some very powerful concepts - definitely a great first read if you are interested in how to apply Six Sigma to software or any other business application.

Really Disappointing.......2003-10-31

I am really disappointed with this book. The examples in the book are rarely software examples. I would recommend reading articles off http://software.isixsigma.com

Business Process Change, Second Edition: A Guide for Business Managers and BPM and Six Sigma Professionals

Average customer rating:

Business Process Change
Harmon has created a New Standard
The Best Overall Perspective of BPM
The Second Edition in Virtually a New Book

Business Process Change, Second Edition: A Guide for Business Managers and BPM and Six Sigma Professionals
Paul Harmon
Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations
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SOA Principles of Service Design (The Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl)

ASIN: 0123741521

Book Description

Every company wants to improve the way it does business, to produce goods and services more efficiently, and to increase profits. Nonprofit organizations are also concerned with efficiency, productivity, and with achieving the goals they set for themselves. Every manager understands that achieving these goals is part of his or her job.

In this balanced treatment of the field of business process change, Paul Harmon offers concepts, methods, cases for all aspects and phases of successful business process improvement. Updated and added for this edition are coverage of business process management systems, business rules, enterprise architectures and frameworks (SCOR), and more content on Six Sigma and Lean--in addition to new coverage of performance metrics.

* Extensive revision and update to the successful BPM book, addressing the growing interest in Business Process Management Systems, and the integration of process redesign and Six Sigma concerns.

* The best first book on business process, the most up-to-date book to read to learn how all the different process elements fit together.

* Presents a methodology based on the best practices available that can be tailored for specific needs and that maintains a focus on the human aspects of process redesign.

* Offers all new detailed case studies showing how these methods are implemented.

Customer Reviews:

Business Process Change.......2007-09-29

This is about the best Business Process book I have read so far. I worked in a IT transformation for a big Telecommunications company which entailed adopting a new approach to Business Process and Operational Process Development and I found this book very useful. This book with the book Business Process Management - Practical Guide to Successful Implementation provided me with most of the knowledge needed.

Harmon has created a New Standard.......2007-09-11

I have been leading business process management projects and working in the BPM space since the late 1990's. I found this book to be as complete and well written as any reference could hope to be.

From my perspective, this book does for BPM what Harold Kerzner's books do for project management - set the standard for others to follow.

The Best Overall Perspective of BPM.......2007-08-12

In 2004, I worked in a business unit at my company that had experienced a period of declining performance. Our senior management felt that one of the causes was work processes that had become cumbersome and inefficient over the years. I was asked to sponsor a process improvement initiative to try to simplify and streamline how we did work. I didn't know where to start, so I went on a crash course to learn everything I could about improving business processes. I read some great books by Geary Rummler, Roger Burlton, Michael Hammer, and many others. I learned about things like process modeling, process redesign, process improvement, process automation, BPM tools, swimlanes, value chains, CMMI, process owners, Six Sigma, Lean, process architectures--and the role of IT in enabling all of this.

This intense study provided me with a valuable foundation of knowledge, but I still didn't know how pull all of the pieces together. Organizations are extremely complex systems. To improve performance, which approaches work best under which situations? Which tools to use? What skills are needed to improve and redesign processes? What's appropriate, and what's not?

In early 2005, I discovered Business Process Change, First Edition, by Paul Harmon. This book provided me with the big picture perspective of the BPM world that I sorely needed. It helped me to ask the right questions and to structure our process improvement plans more effectively. The issues we have been addressing require long term solutions, and this work continues today. But, we are building an infrastructure that will integrate people and technology into our process change initiatives to ensure the sustainability of our efforts and results.

The First Edition not only helped me organize a more effective process improvement strategy in our business unit, but I also consider the knowledge and perspective gained to be a significant factor in my being selected to lead our relatively new Center for Process Excellence (CPE), a central BPM group located in our corporate offices. The mission of our CPE is to promote a process-based culture throughout our company. We currently lead process improvement and redesign projects to solve specific business problems, and we have begun to develop process modeling skills in our lines of business. We are now focusing on establishing an enterprise business process architecture for our organization and securing executive support for large-scale business transformation.

Thankfully, I now have the Second Edition to consult as we continue on our process journey and take our work to even higher, more ambitious levels. I bought my copy two weeks ago, and while I haven't read it cover-to-cover yet, I have read enough to know that this is not the First Edition with just some cosmetic changes. It is a complete overhaul. It reflects the newest and best thinking in business process change and management today. Like the First Edition, it is a surprisingly clear, practical and useful guide. That's the bottom line for me--what works and how can I use it.

If there was ever a must read book for business process change professionals, this is it.

The Second Edition in Virtually a New Book.......2007-07-31

Readers of the first edition of Business Process Change should know that the second edition is virtually a new book. It has been reorganized to emphasize enterprise level process activities, process level projects and implementation level activities. Major sections on enterprise frameworks, process problem diagnosis and BPMS have been added and most chapters have been reworked to add information about changes that have occured since the first book appeared in 2003.
Paul Harmon, author of Business Process Change

CMMI and Six Sigma: Partners in Process Improvement

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CMMI and Six Sigma: Partners in Process Improvement
Jeannine M. Siviy , M. Lynn Penn , and Robert W. Stoddard
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0321516087

Book Description

A successful Six Sigma business strategy provides a suite of cross-functional and vertically aligned metrics that lead to significant improvements in customer satisfaction and the bottom line. At first glance, Six Sigma may seem in direct competition with SEI's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®). However, with its domain-specific approach to improving the engineering process, CMMI offers the process infrastructure that is fundamental to effective Six Sigma strategy.

CMMI® and Six Sigma: Partners in Process Improvement focuses on the synergistic, rather than competitive, implementation of CMMI and Six Sigma—with synergy translating to "faster, better, cheaper" achievement of mission success. Topics range from formation of the value proposition to specific implementation tactics. The authors illustrate how not taking advantage of what both initiatives have to offer puts an organization at risk of sinking time, energy, and money into "inventing" a solution that already exists. Along the way, they try to debunk a few myths about Six Sigma applications in software.

While the authors concentrate on the interoperability of Six Sigma and CMMI, they also recognize that organizations rarely implement only these two initiatives. Accordingly, they also discuss the emerging realm of "multimodel" process improvement and offer strategies and tactics that transcend models to help organizations effectively knit them together into a unified single internal process standard.

Whether you are working in the defense industry, a government agency, consulting, or academia, you'll find that this book bridges the hardware software and hardware process tool set—and come away prepared to formulate your own strategy and tactical plan.

Delivering Successful Projects with TSP and Six Sigma: A Practical Guide to Implementing Team Software Process

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Delivering Successful Projects with TSP and Six Sigma: A Practical Guide to Implementing Team Software Process
Mukesh Jain
Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Quality Control | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1420061437

Six Sigma Statistics for Software Engineers

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Six Sigma Statistics for Software Engineers
C. Ravindranath Pandian
Manufacturer: AUERBACH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Software engineers get a quick and thorough grasp of the statistics fundamental to Six Sigma so they can radically improve software development the Six Sigma way. The book shows how to quickly integrate Six Sigma into leading software engineering standards including CMM, CMMI, and TQM. Using mathematical expressions only where essential, the author demonstrates how to develop Six Sigma measurements better suited to software engineering. It identifies core values in Six Sigma and expresses them in practical terms meaningful to software engineers. This text also covers leadership and management needed to implement Six Sigma in a software development organization.

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