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People ask me if QI Macros can generate random samples or do sampling and I say no. Excel’s Data Analysis Toolpak can already do that. Discover how:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“People call in sometimes and say, ‘Do you have a tool in QI Macros to do random samples of data?’ I say, ‘No, because that’s already built into Excel. I try not to do anything Excel really does naturally.’ Most people are unaware that there’s a Data Analysis Tool Pack and you can add that into Excel and you can do things like create sample data with plus or minus so many standard deviations.
Continue Reading "Discover Excel’s Data Analysis Toolpak"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Software complexity can be measured by the number of decisions and steps in a given module of code. The same is true of processes.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Back when I was in software development way back in the 80s, there was a whole movement among software developers to look at how do we measure programmer productivity, software complexity and so on. There was a metric called McCabe Cyclomatic Complexity that said if you have more than 10 decisions in any given module, it starts to become unmaintainable.
Continue Reading "What’s Your Process Complexity?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
People ask: Should I use a p or u chart, or XmR chart? Which one is right? It depends…
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“One of the things I’ve noticed is I get calls from people and they ask me, “Well, Jay, should we be using a p [chart] and u charts or an XmR chart of ratios?” And I can tell you: that depends on who your statistician leader is.
“If you’re looking at the Healthcare Data Guide, Lloyd Provost and his partner [Sandra Murray] love p and u charts… love them!
Continue Reading "p/u Charts or XmR Charts?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
I took Deming’s workshop back in the 1990s. When asked about Total Quality Management (TQM) Deming said…
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Back in the 1990s when I was first getting involved with Quality, I went to one of [W. Edwards] Deming‘s four-day seminars. Somewhere in there, somebody asked him about Total Quality Management.
“Deming said, ‘I have no idea where the word ‘total’ came from. That’s just wrong. It’s Quality Management.
Continue Reading "Deming on Total Quality Management (TQM)"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
When I was in grade school, we used fountain pens that had cartridges of ink that sometimes spilled or stained. It wasn’t until high school that I got my first ball point pen. Here’s why that’s critical to your business.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I found it interesting that the ballpoint pen was invented in 1938, the decade before I was born. In the 50s and 60s, we used what are called fountain pens: They had these little cartridges of ink, and you would put it in the pen and you could write with it, and sometimes it would spill.
Continue Reading "Ball Point Pens and Innovation"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
If a Six Sigma Yellow Belt can save $10,000 per project, wouldn’t you spend a few hundred dollars to make them more successful? What are costs of not getting them the tools they need?
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I forget that sometimes I can see things that other people can’t see. They’re just intuitive to me. So, Mikel Harry, I saw him maybe a decade ago and he said the next wave of Six Sigma is Yellow Belts… saving $10,000 or $20,000 per project.
Continue Reading "If a Six Sigma Yellow Belt can Save $10,000 per project"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Is it possible to make software more maintainable and testable using software metrics?
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called ‘Measuring Programmer Productivity and Software Quality,’ and strangely enough, it started to be referenced now 35 years later. I see articles; academia sends me things about it. There was a thing in there called ‘McCabe cyclomatic complexity’ which said if the number of decisions in a piece of software exceeds 10 then it starts to become unmaintainable, and when you get to about 49 or 50, it becomes completely unmaintainable and untestable.
Continue Reading "Measuring Software Quality"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Almost everyone I talk to has a Healthcare Horror Story. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I think almost everybody I talk to has some sort of healthcare horror story. Some story about a friend or a loved one who was harmed while in the care of somebody in in the healing profession. It doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a goal afoot to try and achieve zero harm, to create hassle-free healthcare, and it’s possible, right?
Continue Reading "Do You Have A Healthcare Horror Story?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Quality management systems have lots of forms. Don’t complain, just do it.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“When I was at US West (the phone company), it seemed like every week, somebody would come up with some new standardized form that we had to fill out to get something done. Everybody else would bitch and moan about it, and I would just go grind my way through it, and fill it out and be done with it.
Continue Reading "Just Fill Out Those Forms"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
A recent issue of Harvard Business Review had an article about what makes a CEO a top performer. This trait is key to quality improvement and Six Sigma.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I was reading the November / December 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review, and it talks about top performing CEOs. They have people in here like Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Toyota of course, and some other companies as well.
Continue Reading "Top Performing CEOs Share This Trait"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
