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Latest "Agile Lean Six Sigma" Posts
Getting quality improvement teams to come together and be productive is key to success. Here’s a story and insight into get results quickly.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“When I was a young’un, I was in programming and there was a guy named Tom DeMarco who’s very famous, actually, in… the whole software development environment. And so, one of the things that he told us was a story about how he was bringing a new software team [together] and getting them started.
“So what he did was he invited them all over to his house to make a spaghetti dinner but when they got there he admitted that he didn’t have anything to make a spaghetti dinner.
Continue Reading "Spaghetti Dinner Team Building"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
How do you make improvement countermeasures stick? The answer might surprise you.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, one of the things about countermeasures is when somebody else invents the countermeasure and makes you do it, guess what? You don’t like it very much. So when we were all told to wear masks, wash our hands, stay out of crowds… guess what? Some people really hated that. Now me as a Quality guy, I said “Oh, they know what the countermeasures are. I should wear my mask, wash my hands, stay out of crowds,” but not everyone does that.
Continue Reading "How Do You Make Countermeasures Stick?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
Ever noticed how long it takes people to learn to speak the jargon of Lean Six Sigma and Quality Improvement? Maybe it’s time for a change.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Over my 30+ years in Quality Improvement I’ve learned all kinds of Japanese words like “kaizen” and “gemba” and “Ishikawa.” Nothing’s worse than “statistical process control” because nobody likes statistics, everybody thinks processes are boring and control is something that nobody in the United States of America likes, right? They just don’t.
“So, I think we become jargon-rich and clarity-poor.
Continue Reading "Jargon vs Clarity"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
How do you know when your countermeasures are working? Nothing bad happens. But it’s often difficult to notice unless you look back into past. We all have absence blindness – we can’t see what isn’t there.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Now, I don’t know about you, but I spent the last year and a half wearing a mask, washing my hands and staying out of crowds. Surprisingly enough, I didn’t get COVID and my wife and I went to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and went to Hawaii on vacation, but we didn’t catch COVID.
Continue Reading "Countermeasures Mean the Absence of Pain"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights.
Ever noticed how long it takes for people to analyze a spreadsheet? Too long. How can a smart chart eliminate the delay and accelerate understanding?
“One of the things I’ve learned is spreadsheets… People do a lot of spreadsheets. 54% of the Excel spreadsheets out there have no formulas in them, or anything else for that matter; they’re just little reporty things.
“Now, one of the things for you to think about with a spreadsheet is, it’s an auditory process. You’re reading it cell by cell, by heading by heading, by whatever by whatever, and reading (an auditory thing) is a very slow process.
Continue Reading "Spreadsheets are Slow – Smart Charts Are Fast"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Excel, Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
Watching golf, I’ve had a feeling that there is a pattern to misses by both men’s and women’s professionals. It seemed like most putts missed were below the hole. So this weekend, I recorded the final round of the 2021 LPGA Pure Silk Championship and studied the putts missed.
All greens are curved to challenge golfers. Few putts are straight. I can usually tell by the arc of the putt how it missed the hole. Short ones are easy. With high putts, they arc over the hole, then fall down past the hole. With low putts, they arc before the hole and fall off.
Continue Reading "Pro Golf Missed Putts"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.
Jay Arthur was the featured speaker for the 4/13/21 ASQ Richmond Section 1104 meeting. His topic was “Agile Lean Six Sigma.” You may view the recorded video of Jay’s webinar below:
If you’re interested in learning more about QI Macros for Excel (the software Jay wrote and developed), click HERE and view the demo video in the yellow box. You may also sign up for a free 30 day trial of the software by filling out the form on that page next to the video, or by signing up at THIS link.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jay’s ideas on Agile Lean Six Sigma, you can download a free brief summary of Jay’s ideas in his “Agile Lean Six Sigma Manifesto,” available at THIS link.
Continue Reading "ASQ Richmond Section 1104 – Agile Lean Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.
Jay Arthur was the featured speaker for the 3/25/21 ASQ Kitchener Section 405 meeting. His topic was “Agile Lean Six Sigma.” You may view the recorded video of Jay’s webinar below:
If you’re interested in learning more about QI Macros for Excel (the software Jay wrote and developed), click HERE and view the demo video in the yellow box. You may also sign up for a free 30 day trial of the software by filling out the form on that page next to the video, or by signing up at THIS link.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jay’s ideas on Agile Lean Six Sigma, you can download a free brief summary of Jay’s ideas in his “Agile Lean Six Sigma Manifesto,” available at THIS link.
Continue Reading "ASQ Kitchener Section 405 – Agile Lean Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.
Jay Arthur was a featured speaker for the 3/25/21 Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence Conference. His topic was “Agile Lean Six Sigma.” You may view the recorded video of Jay’s webinar below:
If you’re interested in learning more about QI Macros for Excel (the software Jay wrote and developed), click HERE and view the demo video in the yellow box. You may also sign up for a free 30 day trial of the software by filling out the form on that page next to the video, or by signing up at THIS link.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jay’s ideas on Agile Lean Six Sigma, you can download a free brief summary of Jay’s ideas in his “Agile Lean Six Sigma Manifesto,” available at THIS link.
Continue Reading "TNCPE – Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence – Agile LSS"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.
Jay Arthur was the featured speaker for the 3/10/21 ASQ Lean Enterprise Division Web Meeting. His topic was “Turning Data Into Dollars with Microsoft Excel – Big Profits from Small Data.” You may view the recorded video of Jay’s webinar below:
If you’re interested in learning more about QI Macros for Excel (the software Jay wrote and developed), click HERE and view the demo video in the yellow box. You may also sign up for a free 30 day trial of the software by filling out the form on that page next to the video, or by signing up at THIS link.
Continue Reading "ASQ Lean Enterprise Division 3/10/21 Web Meeting"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Excel, Manufacturing, Webinar.
