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My career was dipped in various management methods such as MBO and MBWA. Recently I read a new term: Management by Spreadsheet (MBS). Maybe there’s a better way.
“When I was working at the phone company we had a variety of management fads. I think first there was MBO, or “Management By Objectives.” Of course, that assumed that you know what your objectives were. We had MBWA, “Management By Wandering Around,” so the management team was wandering around all the time and just getting in our way. Recently I saw a different phraseology and I kind of liked it: MBS, which stands for “Management By Spreadsheet.”
“You know, if you think about it, there’s very few people who can actually read a spreadsheet and get intelligence out of it.
Continue Reading "Management By Control Chart"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
There’s still time to register for this afternoon’s FREE QI Macros webinar, January 9th at 1:00PM MST. Sign up by clicking THIS link.
IHI set a goal to reduce healthcare waste by 50% by 2025. Here’s how to do it with the Trillion Dollar Prescription.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals.” We were just out at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference in Orlando, Florida. [There were] like, 4500 medical doctors and nurses and CNO’s and CNMO’s and people all involved in improving healthcare quality. This is their 31st annual conference. (I can tell you based on what I was looking at on the posters, people are not really aggressively going after change…)
“The IHI announced that it’s tackling what they call the “Trillion-Dollar Checkbook.” Their goal is to cut health care waste by 50% by 2025 – that’s five years from now.
Continue Reading "IHI’s Trillion Dollar Aim – Reduce Healthcare Waste by 50% by 2025"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, healthcare, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
More than 50 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: 1/9/20 QI Macros Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
Many people take Six Sigma classes but only do one project. “One and Done” as it’s known in the trade. Make a resolution to start making improvements every month! Here are my suggestions.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur. It’s 2020, and last week I suggested that you go out and learn one new tool in the QI Macros every month. Now I’m also going to suggest that you set a New Year’s Resolution to make one improvement a month as well.
“Set a goal to do one improvement every month and by the end of the year, you’ll have made 12 improvements and dramatically reduced the amount of waste and rework and lost time and overtime and everything else that is involved in your world, right?
Continue Reading "2020 New Year’s Resolution Part 2 – Improve"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Many people tell us that they have QI Macros, but they don’t know how to use it. Make a resolution to learn how! Here are my suggestions.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur and… it’s 2020. How did that happen? A new year; a new decade. Seems like just yesterday everybody was worried about Y2K. Somebody out there is thinking, “What’s Y2K?” That was a thing that happened back in the year 2000… you probably forgot all about it, but I’ve been at this for over twenty years now in the software field around Quality Improvement, so I’ve seen a lot of things.
Continue Reading "2020 New Years Resolution Part 1 – Learn One Tool Per Month"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog.
Take time to celebrate with friends, family and coworkers this holiday season.
“After you’ve made an improvement, after you’ve “Focused,” “Improved,” and “Sustained,” you have to take time to “Honor” your progress. At this time of year, most of us gather together (And I’m going to encourage you to gather together with your friends, family, co-workers, whoever) to celebrate your improvements this year and the things that you’ve accomplished. Take time to celebrate because this is the time to do that.
“I’m honored that all of you invite me into your workspace to listen to these Improvement Insights each week, and that you’ve taken the time to use the QI Macros, (just like I had to teach myself how to use them) to go out and start to make improvements in the world.
Continue Reading "Take Time To Honor Your Progress This Year"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
More than 100 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 or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.
Continue Reading "12/17/19 QI Macros Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros, Webinar.
What do Christus Health, Novartis and Underwriters Laboratories have in common? In the last few years they’ve rediscovered the essence of Agile Lean Six Sigma. Here’s How:
“Every year we go out to these conferences and trade shows and exhibit the QI Macros, and I get a chance to go see some of the presentations that people are doing. About two years ago I started to notice an interesting trend, and so I got some observations out of this whole thing.
“So about two years ago, I was at the Lean Six Sigma conference in Phoenix and Christus Health was presenting about their quality journey.
Continue Reading "Agile Process Innovation Case Studies"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
The September/October 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review asks this question. The answer is obvious, but some people will read this the wrong way. Here’s why:
“This is a September / October 2019 edition of the Harvard Business Review. You can see here it says, “Are Metrics Undermining Your Business?”
“Now the essence of the article is “Bad metrics drive bad behavior.” Well, I think we all know that, but I think too often people who hate metrics will just look at that and say, “There’s proof! See? Measurements are ruining our business. We’ve got to go back to gut feel, common sense and trial-and-error.” Wrong!
Continue Reading "Are Metrics Harming Your Business?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
You have until 12/31/19 to upgrade your 2014 version of QI Macros and take advantage of the upgrade discount.
Click the button below before 12/31/19 to take advantage of the upgrade discount. While the price of a new license is $279, you have until the end of this year to upgrade for $119 per user.
After 12/31/19, your 2014 version of QI Macros will pass beyond our 5-year window of support. You won’t be able to retrieve the download files, you’ll no longer be eligible for support, and an upgrade will no longer work. If you don’t place your upgrade order before 12/31/19 and you want to use the current version of QI Macros, you’ll need to purchase a new license at full price.
Continue Reading "Upgrade your 2014 version today!"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog.
