For quite some time a major question has been cropping up in my mind: Is Six Sigma’s application in software development as effective as it is in the manufacturing industry?

The savings and benefits that occur in the software industry due to Six Sigma and other process-improvement activities may not be  significant. I’m not  convinced when I see articles or attend sessions that allege that Six Sigma has yielded rich benefits in terms of cost saving, etc., in software-development projects. For my purposes, “projects” are temporary and unique, and “operations” are ongoing and repetitive.

I have observed people start a project with poor quality-assurance processes or activities, then bring in some process improvements in the middle of the implementation, compare the results with the starting situation, and then publish that they were successful in implementing Six Sigma. This is not Six Sigma. It’s more like my pushing a friend into a pit, helping him get out, and then boasting about my good deed.

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