My company has a green belt class starting up and before I start fighting for a spot, I thought I would ask if they are still worth the trouble

When I worked for GE, they loved 6 sigma. My current employer, they couldn't care less.

I would just consider your industry and potential employers because I think it comes down to company preference. If it is an industry standard that you think not meeting would inhibit your career, I'd say go for it. If your skills, aptitude and results speak for themselves you can probably pass.

Pro: The theory is good and I learned some good things in the training and via leading a green belt project, particularly on the planning and coordination side.

Con: In practice there seems to be wasted time and effort that goes along with having an LSS "organization". It also seems to be a bit of a magnet for people trying to fill the gap between their abilities and their ambitions with credentials and jargon. I actually pulled my project out of the LSS program because they were endangering real world deadlines by adding a lot of unnecessary steps and documentation.

Depending on your company and how committed they are, it may be a good career move to participate.

I am planning to move on from my current job in about 8-10 months. I guess I was wondering if this would help with the job search? Or if my training budget would be better spent adding a different bull**** cert to my resume

Getting green belt trained and certified in 8-10 months is pushing it. Might be hard to meet that schedule. Depends on who is certifying and how rigorous they are.

You can only do good and no harm by getting valuable training. especially something as marketable as LSS. I'd do it if I were you. If 50% of companies don't want it you aren't hurting yourself with them. It's the other 50% who might be omitting you from their search or you might be excluding yourself from them by not getting it.

The merits are debatable and opinions widely vary in organizations on its use. I find that more people are using Lean and less Six Sigma. It gets a little wishy washy sustaining improvements and measuring without the six sigma aspect. Continuous improvement is part of many organizations, and lean concepts might be stuff you're very familiar with, even not having been trained. I have heard the phrase "Making common sense common practice" used (there's actually a book with that title). Having the training and the lingo helps bridge a communication gap, even if a skill gap doesn't truly exist.

And, you might even like it!

Lean/Six Sigma is the cross fit of business. The adherents are loyal, it is widely misunderstood, it has enemies due to misapplication, they use funny words, use visual management systems.

Ulrich said:

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Pro: The theory is good and I learned some good things in the training and via leading a green belt project, particularly on the planning and coordination side.

Con: In practice there seems to be wasted time and effort that goes along with having an LSS "organization". It also seems to be a bit of a magnet for people trying to fill the gap between their abilities and their ambitions with credentials and jargon. I actually pulled my project out of the LSS program because they were endangering real world deadlines by adding a lot of unnecessary steps and documentation.

Depending on your company and how committed they are, it may be a good career move to participate.

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your LSS project was hindered by LSS processes? woah now.

I'm LSS black belt certified and have seen the pros and cons. Six Sigma makes a lot of sense in the context of manufacturing. All you are really trying to do is reduce variability. Looking at concepts like improving repeatability (same person getting the same result multiple times) and reproducibility (multiple people getting the same result) and properly setting upper and lower control limits for your processes isn't really that radical. On the lean side, you're just reducing waste. When applied properly, there's nothing radical about that either. Reducing transportation costs, excess inventory, excess process motion, waiting, over production and over processing, and defects is a good thing.

The problem arises when a continuous improvement department has to justify its budget by running endless projects. I've seen a number of companies move well past diminishing returns to the point of negative overall impact because their once lean process has become so bloated through business value add steps. You cut steps out, take it too far, then start adding them back to further six sigma goals and end up a) not really accomplishing much and b) destroying the program's credibility.

So, is it worth it? Sure, if they're paying for it, do it. Can't hurt your resume and some people really like it. On top of that, some LSS principles are really solid and can help you cut down on your day-to-day processes, freeing you up from a lot of non-value add crap. However, an LSS green belt (or black belt, or master black belt) isn't likely to make or break your career. Most companies don't have that many MBB roles and even fewer BB or GB roles.

If it's free, take it.

I personally think 6S and PMP are both crocks of ***** It all depends on the individual. I've got both just because my company paid me to take it. However, I've work with people with both and they couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.

I got mine free via a work program, and it did take a good while. I haven't used it much but the concepts are still good to understand.