A Lean Six Sigma online course will differ slightly from other Six Sigma instruction because of its emphasis on speed. This is what is meant by adding "lean" to Six Sigma.

One of the basic tenets of Lean Six Sigma is the importance of satisfying your customers with quality and speed. This is accomplished by facilitating the flow of process stages without compromising quality or adding variation to the process. Courses within this type of methodology will teach you how to seize opportunities that others may miss because they do not know what they are looking for when attempting to adhere to a regimented schedule. Foundational processes are what determine the success of a project and this process educates the layperson on how to streamline these foundational processes in order to optimize quality.

Lean Thinking

As a student taking an online course, you will be taught that Lean thinking requires comprehension of two basic ideas that enhance the knowledge generation process: short, numerous learning stages and deferred commitment. When a project necessitates knowledge creation instead of just repeating the same bits of knowledge used in prior projects, quality and speed arise from facilitating the generation of knowledge. Project processes and practices tend to hinder this natural formation of knowledge by forcing us to make premature choices which reduce the amount of possibilities that could be explored. This could cause much work to be used in obtaining a solution that contains a damaging defect, which would mean we would have to start all over again, which in turn, means a  loss of precious time and resources.

Delayed Decisions

During your coursework in an online study program, the idea of delaying decisions will be reiterated. This means that those lean practices which improve on speed and quality by using certain basic tenets will aid in promoting tolerance towards change and permit the delay of decisions that may be detrimental to a project process. You will also learn about the concept of "refactoring", or the creation of a undemanding design during the initial phases of a project and then augmenting the design later in the project as requirements arise and are discovered by the project implementers. By adding these principles to the process, you'll learn that most of the time, the need to stop and rethink or cognitively analyze a situation impeding the successful completion of a project requires the realization that discipline, speed, and quality excellence are a significant and expected combination which works under specific circumstances.

Lean Six Sigma is implemented by many organizations because of its innovative ideas and commitment to customer satisfaction. Being certified in this process will cause employers to give you a second-look when searching for the right candidate to oversee one of their projects.