Six Sigma or ITIL for IT organizations?  We’re often asked this question as if there is a clear choice between the two or that they are mutually exclusive.  While, in fact, both ITIL and Six Sigma have the same goals – to drive process efficiency and effectiveness, they each contribute in a complimentary fashion to achieving these goals. For those IT organizations that have well defined processes in place, Six Sigma tactics can be used to measure the analyze and improve the performance and effectiveness of the process.

But the key is that you have to have something to measure.   For those organizations that have informal or loosely defined processes, this is where ITIL comes in.  ITIL provides a process framework that is accompanied by well-defined inputs, outputs, activities and metrics.  ITIL lays a process foundation that Six Sigma methods can continuously improve upon.  For those organizations who have well-defined, poor performing processes, ITIL, as a recognized leading good practice, can be a place to start in the reengineering effort.

Can you implement ITIL and Six Sigma in tandem?  There should be a well-architected approach to implementing Service Management using ITIL and applying Six Sigma as a continuous improvement methodology.  The process definition needs to come first; but should be defined taking into account current pain points and inefficiencies and supplying concrete measuring points to a Six Sigma program that can continue to assure that it remains or continues to gain efficiency and effectiveness.

Both ITIL and Six Sigma are excellent mechanisms to build an effective, productive, service-oriented IT organization.  The trick is to understand the role that each plays and assure that your implementation approach is designed to produce the maximum benefit.