Lately I have been thinking about topic of how best practice frameworks fit together. Whether you follow the PMBOK, ITIL CMMI, COBIT, and the list goes on, a good chance exists that you will find times when the schools of thought overlap as well as contradict one another. It is fair to say that all models inevitably have both evangelists and critics, but it is my belief that all the proclaimed “best practice” models have at least some good takeaways. So, to dismiss any one model altogether is a bit close-minded. It is our job as IT professionals to dissect them and take the best of the best practices. Recently I had the opportunity to attend Six Sigma training offered through Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The hospital has a Six Sigma department staffed with black belts, a six sigma buzzword for process improvement experts. After a week learning their methods, I must say that I am impressed with the maturity of their department and their process improvement endeavors. As part of the training, we are required to complete a project using the DMAIC methodology. Naturally, my instinct was to tie this to ITIL which our Information Systems department has adopted as an IT service management framework. We are now embarking on the first Six Sigma project aimed at improving our incident management process by reducing resolution times of incident tickets. We are just getting underway, but the structure and tools that Six Sigma offers have been well received initially by the project team. It will be interesting to see how this project fares considering it is a yet another best practice that is being introduced. Time will tell how Six Sigma is branded by our department, but I expect it will elicit responses across the spectrum much in the same way that previous models have. Moreover, the opinion will be largely sealed by successes or shortcomings of the project. If you have any experience combining frameworks to achieve process improvement goals, feel free to share your story. I’ll keep you posted on ours! Individual site contributors are solely responsible for the content of this web site.
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