Lean, Six Sigma, And The BPM Maturity Model: The State Of Their Marriage In 2011

Since the 2007 publication of a Forrester report recommending that firms combine Lean and Six Sigma practices, the adoption of the mixed approach has become increasingly popular across a variety of industries. But project leaders of process improvement efforts face the same old challenge: When they forcibly combine the two methodologies without understanding what they are trying to improve, they achieve disappointing results. Business process pros must first understand their level of process maturity and their process goals before choosing the appropriate blend of Lean and Six Sigma methods and tools. This report provides details of what's happened in the intervening four years, along with fresh examples of companies using Lean Six Sigma practices, and emphasizes that a strong partnership between senior execs and business process pros is critically important to making the Lean/Six Sigma marriage work.