More than just a statistical toolbox, Six
Sigma developed from its initial stages to an ever more
complex and far-reaching business philosophy and one of the
most successful management strategies of modern times.
Originally developed in the context of manufacturing
operations (early 80’s), Six Sigma emphasises the importance
of understanding and controlling variation in any process as
the key to achieving better quality and reducing defects and
costs.
Six Sigma is crossing the chasm of manufacturing and
transactional processes to software engineering processes. Six
Sigma is gaining momentum as an effective process improvement
and change management approach within the IT and Software
engineering industry. Many IT departments and Software
organisations in Europe and elsewhere are embarked on this
change process, including key players in the marketplace
However the methodology requires a fundamental adaptation, as
software processes are model-driven and the human factor plays
a critical role. Software Engineering is mainly a
communication process where different actors exchange
“representations” of real world entities and a higher level of
abstraction is required in order to define “what is expected”
from a software product. The ambiguity of these models becomes
the true enemy of quality in Software. Variation can be
attributed partly to this ambiguity and partly to the inherent
variability of social engineering processes which is not
present in other engineering and manufacturing activities.
Six Sigma, when effectively combined with maturity-based
models (e.g. CMMI®, SPICE, …), agile and lean methods, and
structural system architecture and design, offers a great
opportunity to achieve unprecedented quality and
cost-effective software development. By quantitatively
managing the quality characteristics of system life cycles and
optimizing them accordingly it is possible to optimize both
the process and software design, together.
Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) introduce a
statistical and probabilistic perspective into the software
design and provides software engineers with predictive
abilities in relation to the quality of their designs,
therefore featuring outstanding quality and performance
levels, built in “by-design”.
HOW QT&T CAN HELP
QT&T has partnered with Systonomy Ltd , UK based organisation
and leader in Six Sigma solutions.
Systonomy is specialised in Software Quality Engineering
through the application of Six Sigma and DFSS methods. By
combining Six Sigma with appropriate software engineering
practices and process improvement methods, we help our clients
to accelerate the implementation of their own IT and Software
quality programmes. Our adaptive approach offers our clients
an innovative and low risk move from defensive strategies to
those of growth.
Systonomy has created a unique Six Sigma and DFSS framework
and training for Software Engineering that is at the forefront
of current knowledge and is investing heavily in research into
new methods. Our training has been designed from the ground up
as an IT and Software
Six Sigma or DFSS training programme and is not a superficial
modification of manufacturing Six Sigma.
