Six Sigma Quality

What is Six Sigma Quality and DIAMC?

Six Sigma is a set of techniques invented by Motorola in 1986 to improve business processes. The six sigma processes were later adopted by General Electric, GM, Toyota, Xerox and many other companies. The SMART Quality team (Green Belts) adapted the Motorola six sigma metrics to measure the quality and usability of technical documentation. The sigma (σ) is a Greek mathematical symbol that represents a quality measurement, rated from one sigma to six sigma. A six sigma score is perfect quality.

The acronym, DIAMC indicates the five six sigma processes, Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. The last process (Control) is where the writers use the MAXit Checker to find, control and correct the errors.

How the MAXit Six Sigma reporting works

The MAXit Checker reads a technical document and gathers statistics. The statistics are based on the number and type of errors in the 40 MAXit Error Classes that represent 19,000 AI rules. A weighted average gives the document a score of one sigma to six sigmas.

1. document is poor quality.
2. document is very-low quality.
3. document has too many defects.
4. document needs editing, use MAXit.
5. good quality document, edit MAXit suggestions.
6. PERFECT

MAXit Six Sigma Report - No. 1

This screen shows a Six Sigma report for .xml FrameMaker document.

MAXit Traffic Light - report No. 2

A quick method to get an analysis is the MAXit Traffic Light. A GREEN LIGHT means the document has less than a 2% error rate. An AMBER LIGHT means the text needs MAXit editing. A RED LIGHT means the text is not acceptable.
The traffic light function adds a hidden audit to the document to record and show the writer, date and sigma score.