Agile Lean Six Sigma Posts for Improvement Insights

Improvement Insights Blog

Latest "Agile Lean Six Sigma" Posts

Jargon vs Clarity

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.

Countermeasures Mean the Absence of Pain

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights.

Spreadsheets are Slow – Smart Charts Are Fast

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Excel, Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

Pro Golf Missed Putts

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.

ASQ Richmond Section 1104 – 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.

ASQ Kitchener Section 405 – 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.

TNCPE – Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence – Agile LSS

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma.

ASQ Lean Enterprise Division 3/10/21 Web Meeting

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Excel, Manufacturing, Webinar.

Herd Immunity to Defects

The pandemic has given us terms like “herd immunity.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could develop herd immunity to defects? Here’s how:



Agile Process Innovation E-Book

“You know, with the pandemic they keep talking about wanting to achieve herd immunity: Herd immunity so that the virus has no place to go. Wouldn’t that be cool?

“But then I started thinking about “Wouldn’t it be great if we could develop herd immunity to defects, mistakes, errors, waste and rework?” What if everybody was immune to that? What if we had different…? We do have vaccines; I mean, we have procedures, methods, tools and everything else to help people achieve a totally “no rework, no waste, no nada” kind of environment.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights.

03/05/21 NCAHQ Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription Webinar

Over 60 people attended this North Carolina Association of Healthcare Quality (NCAHQ) webinar on how to achieve the IHI’s Trillion Dollar Checkbook goal of reducing healthcare waste  by $500 billion/year by 2025.



https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Zero-Harm-Trillion-Dollar-Prescription.pdf 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. 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 Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Lean, Six Sigma, Webinar.