Project Management Articles

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Thursday, 24th January 2008 @ 7:05 PM

Most Six Sigma projects focus on improving just a single business process rather than catering to all processes at the same time. The Need For Initiating Six Sigma Pilot Projects Handling one project at a time may be the logical thing to do, but sometimes even that is not enough, especially when dealing with projects that are huge and complex, and comprised of several smaller sub-processes. Businesses can get help from Six Sigma professionals such as Black Belts and Green Belts, b... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 3:36 PM

Technology has made it possible for customers to come in touch directly with customer service officers. Phone lines, email, fax and other forms of communication have been developing in the past few years and are now being utilized by companies all over the world in providing effective customer service. In the Philippines, contact center agents are becoming a new breed of professionals delivering cutting edge service to customers from all over the world. This has been made possible because... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 1:34 PM

Due to the complexities of the task faced by call center agents, several strategies of managing them have been developed. Agents have to be monitored for quality control. In this regard, there is a set of criteria being used to evaluate the call handling of the call center agents. Such criteria usually include attendance, the average length of time of handling calls, and most importantly, the kind of service provided by the agent to the customer. The advice given by the call center agent should ... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 1:27 PM

You may have heard about the wonders of outsourcing before from colleagues, friends and other professionals that you have come across. Perhaps you have tried to research via google about the outsourcing industry. Yes, your friends are right, they are earning well through the outsourcing industry, enough for them to either quit their jobs or simply become part time employees. You may be wondering how this outsourcing works. You may be a complete ignorant when it comes to the outsourcing in... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 1:27 PM

You made a deal with someone to complete a project for you. When you were talking, the requirements of the job were clear and the contractor said he understands fully what you wanted from him. However, after several weeks into the project, the kinds of job that the contractor gives you, as it turns out, is substandard and falls short of the requirements that you have agreed upon. There are a lot of contractors in the IT outsourcing field that are like this. They say yes to every requirem... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 12:48 PM

The Internet has a lot of uses. For one, it houses a great amount of information, which is very helpful for businessmen, for students, for teachers, and for everyone who desires to get their hands on specific information. Not only that, the Internet has also made it possible for businesses to market their products more effectively. Even prospective customers from across the seas are able to hear about a product from another country. For example, a company in the United States or in Europ... more...

Business » Project Management | By James Stinson @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 12:43 PM

Youve heard about internet marketers and outsourcing contractors who provide different kinds of services from helping out companies with their computer programming to writing marketing copies of the companies. There are also individuals, organizations and websites that offer services in ghost-writing, in hosting websites as well as developing them, auto responding to messages, building links and lists, as well as managing subscription from different services. This is all very good for th... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 13th January 2008 @ 12:06 PM

Gathering, Classifying And Analyzing Data In order to make the most appropriate changes, Six Sigma professionals first gather huge amounts of data related to the business process selected for improvement. The collected data is then sorted out and classified based on the overall value that a particular dataset contributes to the business process. A dataset is simply a part of the collected data relating to a specific sub-process of the given business process. This type of classific... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 13th January 2008 @ 12:03 PM

This is why every organization that aspires to achieve Six Sigma quality levels should devise effective plans and strategies that will help in achieving the shortest possible project cycle times. Identifying And Eliminating Factors That Result In Long Cycle Times The actual factors that lead to long cycle times may differ from organization to organization, but when you look at statistical data, you can easily see that most projects get extended when: -There is not enough r... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 13th January 2008 @ 12:03 PM

The concept of using Six Sigma in the public school system may not have received much publicity in the media, but it is something that is slowly but definitely catching up in educational institutions all across the country. How To Implement Six Sigma In The Public School System Implementing in the public school system may look easy at first due to the absence of complex business processes, but in reality the task is quite difficult as most of the implementations target the human ... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Sunday, 13th January 2008 @ 12:02 PM

The type of coaching provided to employees may differ from organization to organization, but the most common type is Green Belt coaching that caters to employees at the lower level of the organizational hierarchy. These employees may not be a part of the organization's decision-making machinery, but since they are the people who actually carry out Six Sigma implementations, it becomes necessary for the management to provide the proper coaching to them before actually starting the implementa... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 9th January 2008 @ 3:23 PM

The problem is that today's CIOs (Chief Information Officer) and CTOs (Chief Technical Officer), who are mostly delegated the task of managing the implementations, fail to understand the importance and benefits of Lean Six Sigma. Thinking that the implementations will be an unnecessary drag on the organization, they often try their best to convince the top management to postpone or forego the implementations altogether. They do not even realize that such a conservative approach can easily j... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 9th January 2008 @ 3:22 PM

In today's competitive environment, market segmentation is the latest buzzword and is being touted as the next big thing in corporate management, especially marketing and sales. Lean Six Sigma would have failed just like any other quality improvement methodology, but it survived the test of time because it was quick to adapt to the challenges of market segmentation. Scope And Importance Of Market Segmentation Market segmentation is basically a management concept that is utili... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 9th January 2008 @ 3:19 PM

Using Six Sigma Metrics The exact Six Sigma tools and techniques employed may differ from organization to organization depending on specific project requirements, but the basic concept or methodology that is used in most implementation projects is Six Sigma metrics. These metrics are quite effective because they help in selecting the most effective solution for a given problem. The metrics are also used for analyzing the effects that different variables have on the outcome of a suggested ... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Wednesday, 9th January 2008 @ 1:05 PM

Over the past few years, the ITIL has helped many IT companies to form long-lasting and fruitful working relationships with their customers through the use of highly effective tools such as Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs). Both these tools are quite effective, but the problem is that they deliver the desired results only when they are properly implemented. The inability to use the tools in the prescribed manner can render them completely useless - and in t... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 8th January 2008 @ 1:28 PM

Contact centers have benefited so much by implementing Six Sigma that now it is impossible for them even to think that they can manage their operations without it even for a single day. Why Six Sigma Is Better Than Other Quality Initiatives Six Sigma may have been originally devised as a quality improvement tool for use in the manufacturing sector, but that has not stopped it from making its way to the services industry such as contact centers. It is different because it makes use... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 8th January 2008 @ 1:26 PM

To overcome business continuity challenges, a business will be required to formulate emergency or disaster management plans, also referred to as business continuity. Further, businesses also need to ensure that the plans prove effective, for which they can use the highly effective concepts and methodologies of Six Sigma. Six Sigma can certainly help in devising the most effective contingency plans because it follows a statistical approach for solving problems rather than using gut feelin... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 8th January 2008 @ 1:26 PM

High-end services such as web marketing have acquired great significance in recent years due to the substantial increase in online trade. The overall value of online trade deals has become so large that every online company now wants to grab a piece of the pie. This is why more and more companies are opting for professional web marketing services that help in achieving the above stated objective. Attracting Eyeballs Through Effective Web Marketing Web marketing can be defined as a... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Tuesday, 8th January 2008 @ 1:24 PM

Although Six Sigma concepts and methodologies make use of foolproof statistical tools and techniques, the importance of existing work culture and the support and cooperation of employees cannot be undermined - because ultimately it is the employees and the implementation teams who have to work together in order to make the project implementation a success. No doubt, it is top management that is held responsible if anything goes wrong, but if you look closely you will realize that the top... more...

Business » Project Management | By Tony Jacowski @ Friday, 4th January 2008 @ 12:29 PM

Introduction To The IDOV Variant These designs are used for developing completely new product or business processes to meet consumer requirements and specifications or to achieve elite Six Sigma quality levels. IDOV is just one methodology - there are other methodologies as well, like DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control) but they are quite different from each other. DMAIC is used mainly for optimizing any existing business process or product. The Four IDOV Phases<... more...