The time for our May meeting has changed slightly from our usual time!  Please note that Dr. Trivedi will speak at 7:30 p.m. and his presentation will end no later than 8:30 p.m.

Please join us on Wednesday evening, May 11, 2011 to welcome our guest speaker for the month of May, Dr. Abhay Trivedi, PMP, RMP, who will be speaking about "A Primer on Six Sigma and Project Management Integration." Dr. Trivedi, a project management and systems engineering consultant with over 20 years of experience assessing project management needs for complex businesses, holds a Six Sigma Black Belt certification and has trained more than a thousand senior project managers on obtaining various certifications, incluuding PMP, RMP and Six-Sigma Black Belt. This presentation will provide a practical solution strategy for integrating Six Sigma and Project Management Methodologies, along with appropriate templates for defining projects.

To register for this event, CLICK HERE.

Cost of the event, which will be held at the Blair Mansion Inn (7711 Eastern Avenue - Silver Spring, MD 20912), is $35 (payment in advance, or $40 at the door). Sign-in and networking begin at 6:00 pm, dinner is at 6:45 pm, and Dr. Trivedi's presentation begins at 7:30 pm sharp. This event is worth 1.5 PDUs.

No Early Show this month.

Presentation Overview - A Primer on Six Sigma and Project Management Integration (Dr. Abhay Trivedi)

As the field of Project Management matures to a point of process standardization, common cost reduction strategies involving Earned Value, and razor sharp focus on meeting objectives, the need for integration with the Six Sigma methodology becomes increasingly important.  Most of us can easily define the benefits of project management and Six Sigma separately, but seeing the two fields integrated in any practical manner is more challenging. While the focus of project management is to follow experience and processes to handle the challenges of satisfying multiple customer constraints, Six Sigma stands for excellence in problem solving, generally at the product level but increasingly at the process level as well.  Six Sigma involves innovation, while project management involves perception. To bring together innovation and perception requires out-of-the-box thinking along with significant management commitment and understanding.

The Six Sigma methodology follows the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) model to attack a problem.  The logic of Six Sigma is to create fool-proof processes to eliminate any chance of an error.  In order to create fool-proof processes, the problem needs to be well-defined and well-documented.  Attributes of well-defined problems can be measured, analyzed and improved.  The thought process of Six Sigma is linked to a simple assumption: Elimination of errors in any process or product must start from a positive and "certain" attitude.

The project management philosophy generally follows the IPECC (Initiation, Planning, Execution, Controlling, Closing) model proposed by the Project Management Institute.  Management of projects is generally considered an art and a science as processes combine with experience dealing with man-made problems which are generally customer driven.

The integration of Six Sigma and project management methodologies needs to be driven from the overall philosophy of "problem-solving processes."  The overlay of Six Sigma methodology on project life cycle links the attributes of defining a problem to the initiation phase. Collection of requirements needs to be viewed from a Six Sigma perspective of Voice of Customer (VOC). Progressive elaboration of the project needs to be evaluated from the "Measure, Analyze" stage, resulting in definition of the WBS from a systems approach. Acceptance of the project plan by the customer needs to linked to a well-defined acceptance attribute matrix. Executing strategies needs to be evaluated with specific measurable criteria set in the problem definition stage. Monitoring and control activities refer to Six Sigma techniques of error elimination in processes and a host of root cause analysis tools.  Improvement schemes defined in Six Sigma are implemented throughout the project through analysis of the problem definition and traceability matrix structures defined in requirements collection.

This presentation will provide a practical solution strategy for integrating Six Sigma and Project Management Methodologies, along with appropriate templates for defining projects.

Dr. Abhay V. Trivedi

Dr. Abhay V. Trivedi is a project management and systems engineering consultant with over 20 years of experience assessing project management needs for complex businesses, evaluating alternatives, and implementing technology solutions in multiple industries:  automotive, oil & gas, transportation, consumer, electronics and manufacturing, government, banking and services.  His clients have included BP, Xerox, BMW/MG Rover, Visteon, Ford, Intel, Siemens, ABB, and Motorola. He has the unique ability to combine multiple technologies and philosophies to implement cost reduction strategies for large corporations.  Over the years, Dr. Trivedi has also trained more than a thousand senior project managers on obtaining certifications including PMP, RMP, and Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt. In recent years, he has focused on developing advanced solutions in business process assessment, earned value management, lean project management, portfolio management, Visual Project and Risk Management.  He is PMP and RMP-certified by PMI. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and holds a Professional Logistics/Supply Chain Certification from The Logistics Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Trivedi has also received numerous awards, including the Society of Manufacturing Engineers "Educator of the Year" award. He is also a NASA Summer Research Fellow and Oak Ridge National Laboratories Visiting Scientist.