Purpose Although there is a considerable body of literature regarding the selection of improvement projects, little of it reveals what actually occurs in industry. To answer this question the authors aimed to determine how industry selects Lean and Six Sigma projects in practice. Design/methodology/approach Practitioners of Lean and Six Sigma were surveyed to ascertain the methods and criteria that are used to select projects as well as their attitudes towards these approaches. Findings This paper reveals: significant practitioner dissatisfaction with the approaches used; a gap between strategy formulation and portfolio generation; and that organizations generally use subjective or unstructured approaches and seldom apply the approaches that are advocated in the literature. Practical implications Improved linkage from strategy to portfolio ought to lead to better project outcomes and longevity of the methodology. There are opportunities for better translation of the state of the art to industrial application. Originality/value This paper presents a relatively large sample set ( n =74) that reflects practitioner views on the state of practice in selecting Lean and Six Sigma projects and portfolios.
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