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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.
10-15 people out of 100 are misdiagnosed leading to waste, rework and patient harm. It’s a mistake to say “To Err is Human.” Blame the System, not the person. 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 was recently at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference, and I went to a session where they talked about diagnostic error. It turns out that 10 to 15 people out of every hundred are misdiagnosed, which means they are treated with the wrong stuff and they don’t get better and they might have other complications from the treatment.
Continue Reading "Diagnostic Error – Blame the System"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Is it possible to vaccinate your healthcare facility, your hospital against mistakes and errors that cause patient harm?
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].
“You know, people resist getting vaccinations. But why do hospitals resist using Smart Performance Charts (control charts, Pareto charts, histograms) to start to improve the quality of care?
“You know, a control chart is like a heart monitor… you know, it measures the performance of the heart.
Continue Reading "Vaccinate Your Hospital Against Mistakes and Errors"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Seems like everywhere I shop, employees are more comfortable fixing stuff than fixing the process. Does this sound familiar?
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].
“Have you ever gone somewhere and watched how the business works and [thought], “Why? Why do they do it that way? That’s sort of silly. Why don’t they do it a faster, better, simpler, cheaper way?” But people seem to be more attracted to spending their time continuing to fix things that are broken.
Continue Reading "Are You Too Comfortable Fixing Stuff That Shouldn’t Be Broken?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
