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Quality improvement isn’t very infectious, is it? What can we do to make it more contagious? As you can imagine, it can’t take weeks to catch the bug. Here’s a way to spread to idea faster.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I got to thinking about the pandemic: in COVID-19, for every one person that gets in infected, they infect like three other people. That’s why it’s such a problem, right? It’s much more infectious than even the flu is. I thought about that in terms of Quality Improvement. Whether you call it: Lean Six Sigma, Operational Excellence, Process Improvement… I don’t care what you call it, it’s Quality Improvement to me.
Continue Reading "Making Quality Improvement More Contagious"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
SPC software companies keep trying to gain some edge by tweaking the formulas for various statistics, but is the quest for the next decimal place of precision useful? If you’re trying to send a rocket to Mars? Absolutely. If you’re trying to tune up a business process, not really. Here’s why.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software]. I’m going to talk to you about what I call The Next Decimal Place.
“Because I’ve been in the software business, [I’ve seen] people and try and change formulas. Let’s say it’s Cp and Cpk. Well, we used to do the upper spec minus the lower spec over six standard deviations for CP, and guess what?
Continue Reading "The Next Decimal Place"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Statistics.
Over 60 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to use some of the useful features of QI Macros, as well as some of the new features introduced in recent releases of the software.
Some attendees were familiar with the software and already use it, some had only begun to use it; all were interested in learning new ways that QI Macros can help them with their Agile Lean Six Sigma and Quality Improvement efforts. (You can hear him answering questions and comments typed in by webinar attendees.)
If you saw a feature demonstrated in the webinar that might have been added to QI Macros after the version you’re using (for instance, the Templates Wizard, the Fixed Limit indicator or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.
Continue Reading "*Latest webinar: 9/10/20 QI Macros Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Webinar.
One of the challenges of the pandemic is the ongoing uncertainty. We know to wash our hands, mask our face and stay out of crowds. What can we do to take back some sense of control? Here’s what I’ve been doing.
For some of you, this may seem too “woo-woo” to digest. That’s okay. It’s just an insight from my other studies.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but this whole pandemic thing’s getting a little old, but we know two things for certain: 1 – More people will get sick, and 2 – More people will die.
Continue Reading "Using Your Intuition to Stay Safe During the Pandemic"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Recessions are a great time to improve quality. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Now [at first in] the pandemic, everybody projected that this was going to be one of the sharpest recessions in history, and then bounce right back. I think the ongoing concern about Coronavirus and everything else is actually going to slow that down a little bit.
“Well, one of the things I know from going through lots of recessions so far is that is the perfect time to take a step back from your business. When you take a step back from your business you can start to look at it and [think], “How can we make it faster, better, cheaper?
Continue Reading "Recessions Are Good For Quality"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Measure failures not success. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Recently one of our users called up and asked me about showing percent compliance. You know, present success (in this case it was neonatal intubations – this is for healthcare). But the goal obviously is to get to 100% first-time success at intubating a preemie, right? So that would be a good thing.
“Now what most people do is they try and focus on the success side of this, so if you’re down here, you want to get up that-a-way, right?
Continue Reading "Measure Success or Failures"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
You don’t need to know Six Sigma Formulas or decision trees to make improvement. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Agile Process Innovation; Hacking Lean and Six Sigma for Results.”
“Back when I got started in Quality (and maybe many of you), we had to learn formulas to calculate things for control charts and whatever. I spent five days in a control chart class learning how to calculate the formulas for every control chart manually. Now, that did not really teach me anything about the distributions underlying them, it taught me how to calculate them manually. What they didn’t tell us in that class is software can do that for you.
Continue Reading "You Don’t Need Formulas or Decision Trees"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
You don’t practice medicine the way they did 100 years ago.
Why are you implementing Quality Improvement strategies from 100 years ago?
21st Century Quality Improvement needs to be accelerated; fast, responsive and effective. QI Macros for Excel is the easiest to learn, the easiest to use, and the most affordable SPC software to implement across your entire organization.
Watch this short video to see how easy it is to accelerate your Quality Improvement:
Download a FREE 30 day trial at the link below and see for yourself how easy it is to use this powerful, affordable Quality Improvement tool:
https://www.qimacros.com/trial/30-day/
Continue Reading "QI Macros for Healthcare"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros.
This was a webinar Jay presented to ASQ Chicago on 8/12/20: “Agile Lean Six Sigma – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.”
(In addition to the recorded webinar, there is a bonus featuring more on a topic Jay was discussing during the warmup and technical troubleshooting period just prior to the start of the webinar. Enjoy!)
Continue Reading "ASQ Chicago webinar, 8/12/20"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Webinar.
Yankee Spirit (50% reduction in delay, defects and deviation) is easy to achieve. It’s imperative. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“When I first got started in Quality Improvement, our training folks talked about Yankee Spirit as a method of setting a goal. What’s Yankee Spirit? Well, Yankee Spirit is simply a 50% reduction in delay, defects and deviation.
“Well, that just sounds like we’re just taking a dartboard throwing a thing at it, but it was years later that I realized that this is actually scientifically doable. As I started to look at it, Pareto’s rule says 20% of what you do produces 80% of the waste, rework, lost profit, patient harm… whatever you want to call it.
Continue Reading "Yankee Spirit Goal Setting"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
