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Improvement Insights Blog

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*Next Free QI Macros Live Webinar: Tuesday, October 8th, 2024

Register for the upcoming FREE QI Macros Live Webinar, happening Tuesday, October 8th, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MDT.

Learn more about it in the video below, and register at THIS link.



What:  FREE QI Macros – Lean Six Sigma SPC Software for Excel Webinar.

When: Tuesday, October 8th, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. MDT.

Where:  Join online from wherever you are.

How:  Register for the webinar HERE.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

*Latest webinar: 9/10/24 QI Macros webinar

Over 40 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating some of the software’s most frequently used tools and answering questions asked by 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 Improvement Project Wizard or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.

Send an email to support@qimacros.com and we can help, for instance in generating a quote to upgrade all the users at your organization or just guiding you through the purchasing process.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

Jay’s Quality Journey (5 min)

I graduated from UofA in 1973 with a B.S. in Systems Engineering. Here’s my journey through TQM, Lean Six Sigma, QI Macros and beyond.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“I got hired out of out of college by Mountain Bell back in 1973 and I worked for them for many, many years. I spent three years on a rotation out to Bell Labs in New Jersey. I learned a lot of stuff about UNIX and came back.

“In my real college career I was studying Systems Engineering [and] Operations Research, which is the mathematical optimization of systems.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

Blamethrowers and Blame Storming

Have you noticed that most people spend their time trying to place blame rather than fix the problem?



“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“Recently, it seems like whenever there’s a problem, there’s a bunch of “Blame Storming” going on. A Boeing executive has to go in front of Senate councils and explain why there was a problem when they don’t quite know what all the issues were, right? “Blame Storming.”

“And then there are people who throw blame all the time, and I found a word that I think works: “Blamethrowers.”

“And all that blame does nothing to solve the problem.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

Don’t Create Fake Data

Use real data, not fake!



“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I was at a Quality conference and I attended a presentation by a well-known statistician. He was going to demonstrate some things, but he didn’t have any data. He used Minitab to develop some nice normally distributed random data and then to draw charts with that data. I thought, “Oh my God, what did you just do? You just told everybody in this room they can create fake data! They can create fake data that looks real.” Fake data that looks real.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

Our Quality Gurus Are Gone

The quality gurus of the last century are gone. Who will take their place?



“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“One of our longtime sponsors and supporters Jim Harrington passed away recently at the age of 95. I saw him every year at the American Society for Quality conference. He will be missed, but all of our gurus are gone: Deming, Juran, Ishikawa, Crosby… everybody is gone. We’re going to need some new gurus, including you. We’re going to need new people to champion Quality in this century.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

8/13/24 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar

Over 90 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to implement Healthcare Data Analytics to save time, save money, and (most importantly) save lives.



You can view a short two-page illustrated guide to the Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription by clicking HERE.

If you’d like to see a short demo video to see how our software is used in healthcare organizations like yours, click this DEMO link.

If you’ve never used QI Macros and would like to try it out for free, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at THIS link.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog.

Have You Got Addition Sickness?

When processes aren’t working, people try adding to the process rather than subtracting. Doesn’t work. Here’s why:



“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I saw a phrase the other day that I liked, and I think you might get it. They called it “Addition Sickness”; Addition Sickness. What does that mean? Well, you end up adding more policies, procedures, rules, whatevers, workarounds, inspections… whatever it is. You know, Deming hated adding inspection; [he thought] that was stupid, right?

“But we tend to add things to a process to try and counteract whatever is going wrong.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

8/6/24 QI Macros webinar

Over 40 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating some of the software’s most frequently used tools and answering questions asked by 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 Improvement Project Wizard or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version. Send an email to support@qimacros.com and we can help, for instance in generating a quote to upgrade all the users at your organization or just guiding you through the purchasing process.

Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros, Webinar.

Quality Groundhog Day

I’ve been working in quality improvement for 35 years. Why isn’t anything any better?



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“I’ve been at this for over 30 years (Quality Improvement), and I have to ask myself why isn’t anything any better? Why isn’t Quality pervasive? I think it’s because we made it too complex and time-consuming and too hard to do… that’s just me.

“But I have this Groundhog Day experience, right? I feel like Bill Murray. I wake up every morning and it says “same old same old.”

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.