Tag Archives: Six Sigma

Revisiting the MATURE Outsourcing Program

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Chris Niccolls

In the past, we’ve talked about where outsourcing programs are headed when they finally reach their “mature” stage. That is to say, if you operate one or more lower cost locations, which have all passed their “training” phase, and are working … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Uncategorized | Tagged Analysis, Best Practices, Cost, Offshore, outsource, Six Sigma | Leave a comment

The General Electric Turnaround: Why We Can’t All Be Jack Welch!

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Chris Niccolls

Jack Welch is perhaps the world’s best known improvement guru. His transformation of GE not only took genius, it took guts and determination to convince a company that was doing pretty darn well that it had to do better. Not … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Decision Making, Expectations and Rewards, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Project Management Office, Uncategorized | Tagged General Electric, Improve, Jack Welsh, Project Management, Projects, Six Sigma, transform | 3 Comments

Have You Mined-Out Your Project Portfolio?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

More than ever before, corporations are focused on project management and performance improvement techniques to fix long-standing inefficiencies in operations. The problem is that as these methodologies expand throughout major corporations, executives are finding that Project Management Offices (PMOs) and … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Delivering Services, Expectations and Rewards, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development, Unique Ideas | Tagged PMO, Project Management, Projects, Quality, Six Sigma | 2 Comments

Management Focus, Gemba And… Rats In The Attic

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

In our last Blog, we talked about a survey that showed that 46% of outsourcing buyers were satisfied with cost savings, 26% were satisfied with transformation efforts and just 11% were satisfied with meeting innovation goals. We went on to … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development, Unique Ideas | Tagged 4th Sigma, change, Improve, Japan, Kaizen, Projects, Quality, Six Sigma, transform | Leave a comment

Are Costs Savings The Holy Grail Of Outsourcing?

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Whether your goal is re-engineering or outsourcing, somewhere along the line you’ve run into the term Transformation. Your organization may have been exposed to the idea of transforming your organization from contact with a consulting firm or members of your … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Uncategorized | Tagged outsource, Projects, Quality, RFP, Satisfaction, Six Sigma, transform | Leave a comment

4th Sigma: P Charts Made Simple

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

It’s been a while since we spent any time on the 4th Sigma, so let’s take a few minutes today and talk about using the 4th Sigma process to address some problems in your operation. If you’re a regular reader, … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th Sigma, Best Practices, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged 4th Sigma, Projects, Reporting, Six Sigma, Track, transform | 1 Comment

4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 3 – Building Consensus

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A Project Charter is a document that describes a project, names the people who will perform the project, what their roles will be and the name of the project sponsor (the individual that requested the project). Any book on Six … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th Sigma, Best Practices, Decision Making, Expectations and Rewards, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Learning and Development, Self Sorting, Unique Ideas | Tagged 4th Sigma, change, Improve, Meetings, Projects, Quality, Satisfaction, Six Sigma, tips, transform | Leave a comment

4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 2 – A Step by Step Guide

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

When you’re ready to start a project you need to create a Project Charter. In our last Blog we went over the consequences of not having a charter. Today, we’re going to cover the steps you need to take to … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th Sigma, Best Practices, Decision Making, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged 4th Sigma, corporations, Improve, Measure, Projects, Quality, Six Sigma, transform | Leave a comment

4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 1 – Do We Need Charters?

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

If you were to take everything in the very large Six Sigma toolkit and try to identify the top ten most important tools, the Project Charter is near the top. A charter is just a very good description of what you … Continue reading →

Posted in 4th Sigma, Best Practices, Decision Making, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged 4th Sigma, Improve, Projects, Quality, Satisfaction, Six Sigma, transform | Leave a comment

The Regulators: Round 2 – Are Your Costs In Line With The Market… Which Market?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Yesterday we spoke a bit about the rise of “Regulators” in Fortune 500 Firms. In the past service managers would periodically see directives for firm-wide budget controls, freezes for new hires, or (during especially difficult economic times) special committees that … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged Build vs. Buy, change, Costs, Improve, Measure, outsource, Quality, Quantify, Satisfaction, Six Sigma, Track, transform | 1 Comment