For example, one business might have these three major objectives: Typically, there should be a plan for each major component or objective of the breakthrough vision. Handpicked Content: The Eight Elements of TQM How many and what kind of people do we need to work on the projects? What are the main work areas? What are the proposed main projects in those work areas? What do we need to know in order to achieve success? In the spirit of multigeneration planning, practitioners should ask the questions in Table 1 to determine the data and knowledge that must be gained in the first generation and is required to be able to execute the successive generations. The 3-6-12-24 plan then becomes a living document to map out the road to the breakthrough objectives. Practitioners should revise the 12- and 24-month targets every six months, based on the insight gained over the previous six months. At the first review after three months, the original six-month target becomes the three-month target, and a new six-month target is set based on what now appears to be an achievable target on the road to the original 12-month target. This means that not only will the original plan be used to track progress and results every three months, but it will also be reviewed and adapted with that frequency. The 3-6-12-24 planning tool can be best used for a rolling wave type of planning and review. Handpicked Content: Integrating Project Management into a Six Sigma System Creating a Roadmap The Kaizen projects also can be used as a vehicle to deliver quick wins that are often identified in the early stages of a DMAIC project. Not only does this type of project deliver results more quickly, but the projects often act as enablers for larger DMAIC projects that can be executed in parallel. At the same time, the Belts are encouraged to come up with smaller, Kaizen-type projects. This should help overcome the syndrome whereby only large, complex DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) projects are defined and selected, designed to deliver within six months, but often dragging on for 10 months or longer. The short-term horizons of three and six months will focus the Belts on concrete results. Breakthrough objectives are seldom achieved within one fiscal year, so the time horizons have to be set accordingly. The 24-month timeframe should help process owners to break out of fiscal year constraints that often restrict their thinking. For each of these milestones, targets should be set for key performance indicators of the business, and appropriate projects and work streams identified. The numbers in the name of the 3-6-12-24 planning tool refer to months. The process owners challenge them on these proposals in order to get the best return on investment in the shortest possible time frame. Based on their understanding of the challenges and uncertainties involved, they propose timelines, projects and resources to achieve the objectives and deliver the results. Moreover, they want to understand what resources will be needed.īelts usually participate in the dialogue to develop the improvement plan. They also want to track the progress of these results and objectives. Process owners typically want to have a clear picture of what results can be delivered by when, and how these results will contribute to the longer-term objectives. Ultimately, the tool is a communication vehicle between these two parties. Two distinct audiences can benefit from this tool: the process owners that want to achieve their breakthrough objectives and the Belts that will execute the projects. The 3-6-12-24 planning tool presented here is based on the same concepts and principles as multi-generation project planning (MGPP), an approach used to manage complex programs.
An additional benefit: The Belts who run the improvement projects will see these not as stand-alone achievements, but as contributing to a bigger picture. The 3-6-12-24 planning tool helps practitioners find a way out of this predicament by presenting a coherent picture of the balance that must be achieved between short- and long-term objectives. One of the major dilemmas companies face today is the pressure to deliver short-term improvements and benefits while still contributing to longer-term breakthrough objectives.