Looking to advance your business career by learning about project management or Lean Six Sigma, but not sure which approach is right for you?
UW Professional & Continuing Education offers certificate programs in both in-demand disciplines, so you can gain the skills you want to achieve your professional goals. Here’s a quick primer on the major distinctions — and how you can get started.
The Breakdown: Differences and Similarities
1) How does project management differ from Lean Six Sigma?
Project management applies structured processes, tools and techniques to manage a targeted project effectively and efficiently, from initiation to completion. A project manager ensures that a team meets its project goal while staying within constraints of the budget, schedule and available resources.
“A project is, by definition, a temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end — and usually involves a predetermined solution to roll out,” says Nathan Navarro, a longtime Lean Six Sigma expert and instructor for the UW Certificate in Lean Six Sigma Management: Black Belt.
Lean Six Sigma — named from the combination of the Lean Enterprise Management System and Six Sigma methodologies — is an approach that improves work processes throughout an entire organization, intended to satisfy both customer and leadership requirements. In this discipline, a Lean Six Sigma professional draws on unique skills and approaches to analyze business processes and workstreams to improve efficiency, productivity and quality, while reducing operational costs and process variation.
“In Lean Six Sigma, we want to make sure we understand the root cause of a problem before implementing solutions,” Navarro says. “Also, there's no end to making improvements to daily work. It’s continuous, not temporary.”
2) How are project management and Lean Six Sigma similar?
Both project management and Lean Six Sigma are recognized, industry-standard disciplines that can help reduce operating, administrative and material costs. And both methods follow a structured approach that defines different phases and uses specific tools to track progress and measure outcomes.
I tell my students to learn about both so that they will understand when to use each discipline, and when there’s overlap.
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Nathan Navarro, instructor, UW Certificate in Lean Six Sigma: Black Belt
“There's a lot of overlap,” says Saralyn Smith, who brings project management and Lean Six Sigma knowledge to her work as the managing director of the Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement at UW Tacoma. “A lot of the tools are the same or similar. For example, we use project charters in both disciplines. Often, process-improvement projects are discrete — you want to investigate and address something specific. But they are different mindsets.”
3) What certifications can I earn in these disciplines?
Most project managers who want to earn a formal certification pursue the Project Management Professional (PMP)® credential from the Project Management Institute. This widely respected certification comes up frequently in job listings and other professional contexts.
In the world of Lean Six Sigma, Navarro says there’s not an industry-leading certification. While a number of different organizations offer certifications, he says employers aren’t typically interested in a particular credential; instead, they look to hire professionals who understand the discipline.
“I've had a lot of Lean Six Sigma students who have acquired great continuous improvement jobs and career advancements with their UW certificate, without the need for other certifications,” Navarro says. “I was a hiring manager for years, and when I worked with other hiring managers, we wanted to hire somebody who had the skills to hit the ground running, regardless of whether they had a certificate or certification.”
4) Are project management and Lean Six Sigma skills in demand?
Yes — public and private organizations of all sizes seek out employees who can contribute these skills. Labor-analytics firm Lightcast projects that in the next two years, U.S. demand for skills in Lean Six Sigma will rise 10%, and demand for project management skills will be up nearly 20%.
In fact, Navarro says he’s seen many job postings for project managers that describe both Lean Six Sigma and project management responsibilities.
“I tell my students to learn about both so that they will understand when to use each discipline, and when there’s overlap,” he says. “I also believe AI cannot fully replicate or replace Lean Six Sigma practitioners and project managers because of the human-to-human leadership, problem-solving, change management, employee engagement and workplace cultural transformation skillsets included within these professions.”
Learn More About Project Management and Lean Six Sigma
Check out these UW Professional & Continuing Education courses and certificate programs to find out how you can build your skills for these in-demand business disciplines and related certifications.
Project Management
Lean Six Sigma