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Do you use Six Sigma or use some type of innovative/creative process instead? Both have their proper places, and both bring a sense of quality and creativity to the workplace, but you have to know when and how to use each of them. Six Sigma is designed to identify problems or defects, then use rigorous measurement standards to reduce variation and eliminate defects. Without quality programs like Six Sigma, the new Apple iPhone would have cost closer to $5000 if the efficiencies in mass production and defect reduction were not managed. On the other hand, excessively rigid Six Sigma standards would squash the very creativity needed at a large company to dream up an innovative product like the iPhone.

When these types of initiatives become ingrained in a company’s culture, creativity is usually the first casualty; an inventive and imaginative atmosphere is squelched. However, the value of Six Sigma-type programs is to help cut costs and improve quality while cutting down the time it takes to launch a product.

While process excellence demands precision, consistency, and repetition, innovation calls for variation, failure, and a bit of anarchy. Six Sigma is a great process but the right balance of creativity has to survive in the organization as well; otherwise new inventions will never see the light of day. By its very nature Six Sigma fosters a very low tolerance for risk. This is because risk increases variation. Can you imagine the iPhone coming out of a company which focuses primarily on repetition and removal of defects instead of celebrating innovation and creativity? Out-of-box thinking and new ideas cannot prosper in environments where the primary goal is to count defects.

A combination of the two cultures would be ideal for any company’s success. Take design and development. A strong design team needs to innovate and try different things, but a development team could meet disaster if the same approach was taken. A great design can be constructed by taking risks and iterating concepts in the form of live brainstorm. Development, however, needs to be a more repetitive process; it can only be effective if certain methods or concepts can be componentized and streamlined. The beauty of a mixed methodology is clear when you bring both of these worlds together as an innovative, quality product that can be constructed and distributed efficiently.

Process vs. creativity? Maybe you don’t have to make that choice. I would rather think of it as the process of creativity.

Friday, October 19th, 2007 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

By Haley January Eckels