Six Sigma: Improvement Platform for ITSM

Cycle of Destructiveness
IT can get caught in a vicious cycle of reactive behavior. Like the involuntary reaction of an organism to painful stimuli, IT organizations react to "stimuli" or incidents in their environments. Such stimuli response behavior feeds on itself and, without structured intervention, subjects IT to a wide range of destructive behaviors:

• Accidental architecture
• Server proliferation
• Change-induced faults
• Excessive support costs
• Frequency of urgent changes
• Dissatisfied customers
• Low morale
• Employee turnover

Each of these are destructive cycles in their own right. Something has to be done. Albert Einstein was known to say: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Another way of putting it: “No problem can be solved within the paradigm it
was created inside of.”

Eneter Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a high performance approach to identifying and achieving sustainable breakthrough improvement. It focuses on the reduction of waste, rework and errors. So, what does this really mean? Well, Six Sigma identifies a practical problem, that of waste for example, and turns it into a statistical problem. This rigor, this discipline and structure of Six Sigma, in the hands of an experienced improvement expert, assures effective process improvement which may be realized in improved efficiency, reduced costs, improved consistency and so forth. However, as we shall see Six Sigma can be incredibly effective when used to improve IT Service Management processes.


Six Sigma is a demanding, rigorous discipline. It requires you to look at IT as a "production" process and to see it holistically as part of a system. Now remember, when we say production, we may be talking about manufacturing a product or building a service such as Email. You need to see the production process in terms of all the inputs and all the outputs of the service or product you are designing or improving. There are certain variables that may be within your capability to control. There are others you cannot control. There are process inputs and process outputs. Six Sigma requires systems thinking. You need to look at a process as part of a much larger and more complex system and understand how all the inputs, outputs, controllable and uncontrollable variables interact. It’s not at all unlike coordinating all the elements of a concert band or an orchestra. The rigor of Six Sigma forces attention to those variables that you can do something about. Thus, you do not waste time on the uncontrollable variables.

The DMAIC process (D-M-A-I-C), for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, is the logical process used by Six Sigma improvement. Think of it as a filtering process. We start with a very large number of potential inputs and variables known as “Key Process Input Variables”. We then filter these until we get to a manageable number by using the tools, techniques and disciplines of Six Sigma. Six Sigma uses the DMAIC filtering process to drive to the heart of the problem under investigation. Such a structured approach inherently controls scope and keeps the improvement team focused. It also ensures any intervention selected will address those variables offering the most return for the efforts of the team.

Is It Worth the Effort?
Does it pay to learn something about Six Sigma to improve your services? In a simple word, "Yes!" Why? Oh, so many reasons, but here are five:

1. The rigor forces focus
2. The methodology is structured
3. The D-M-A-I-C process directs time, attention and resources toward those variables that most likely underlie the faults
4. Six Sigma is customer-focused
5. The methodology emphasizes measurement.