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Latest "Improvement Insights" Posts
At the IHI conference, many people told me stories of their crazy, cool improvement projects done with QI Macros. I asked them a simple question for which they had no answer. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I was at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference out in Orlando at the beginning of December. I was there and people were coming by and they were talking about QI Macros at the exhibit booth. You know, a number of them came up and told me a story.
“This one guy came up and said, “I’ve been using QI Macros’ histograms to plot ‘Incision to Close Time’ and comparing all the doctors in our hospital.”
Continue Reading "Crazy Cool Improvement Projects"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
I was rereading Deming’s book “Out of the Crisis,” and discovered a way to use control charts that is new. Deming uses control charts to compare individual worker performance. Deming often asked leaders to drive out fear, but comparing individuals seems like a way to create fear unless you use the results to help train individuals to higher standards of performance. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I go back and re-read books about Quality. I’ve been getting back into Deming.
Continue Reading "Deming’s Insights on Control Charts for Workers"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Statistics.
Traditional Form-Storm-Norm-Perform models of team development take too long. Here’s how to collapse the time and skip right to perform.
“I was looking at myASQ, and somebody was asking about the four steps of Team development: Form, Storm, Norm, Perform. You know, if you do it traditional (how it usually was taught), it takes a long time for a team to form (come together), storm (fight each other a little bit), normalize their behavior (so they get productive).
“Well, I found that that takes too long. I can’t get to results that way. What I discovered was if I could do the analysis and figure out how to pinpoint where the problem would be, then I can figure out who ought to be on that team to solve that problem.
Continue Reading "Form Storm Norm Perform Takes Too Long!"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Traditional Lean Six Sigma wisdom says to start top down, but that’s a sure fire way to fail. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“I think there’s a lot of conventional wisdom in in Six Sigma and Lean and Six Sigma that says, “Oh, you must start with the leadership team.” Well, I was reading this book that was recommended to me, “Creating A Lean Culture.” This was used by Virginia Mason up in Seattle to transform how they deliver health care. I thought this was interesting about how Lean typically starts and grows.
Continue Reading "Lean Six Sigma Implementation – Top Down or Middle Out?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, Six Sigma.
People make 30,000 decisions a day! Too many choices makes decisions even more difficult. Knowing too much about Lean Six Sigma can hinder your success at problem solving. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, you probably have experienced this, but we all make something like 30,000 decisions a day… a day! Oh my gosh, right? My friend Bob Wendover wrote a book called “Beating Burnout,” how top thinkers overcome overwhelm. He talks about what he calls “decision fatigue,” when you start making poor choices because your brain is overloaded due to the overwhelming demands of modern life.
Continue Reading "Is Decision Fatigue Hindering Your Improvement Projects?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
I found a discussion on MyASQ’s Website about Cpk formulas. Why is anyone talking about how to calculate formulas by hand? It’s a waste of time. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“This morning I was out on the myASQ website, and there was a question about Cp and Cpk and Ppk formulas and stuff like that. And there was, you know, “Well, standard deviation” and “Why do we have to do R Bar over D2?” or whatever it was, you know. The answers were like, “Well, you know, standard deviation is pretty close to whatever…”
“I was [thinking], “What is the question here?
Continue Reading "Why Are We Still Talking about Cp/Cpk and Pp/Ppk Formulas?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Statistics.
Absence blindness means that you can’t see what isn’t there. The tools of quality can help you see the invisible so that you can do something about it. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“There’s a concept called “absence blindness,” and basically what that says is you can’t see what isn’t there. That’s why it’s kind of difficult to see things that are working well, because they just work well, but a defect or some sort of complication or issue raises this ugly head and you can see that one.
Continue Reading "Seeing the Invisible"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, Six Sigma.
Ever had a light bulb burn out and wish you had another one? You can with light bulb kanban. And there’s other opportunities to Lean your life.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“In my bedroom, I have a little reading light over the bed so that I can read books at night. It helps me sleep. But every so often one of those burns out. The thing that I’ve learned is I could use a little Kanban. I could have a light bulb ready right next to my bed in the stand there, so that if that one burns out, I can just pull it out, plug in a new one.
Continue Reading "Light Bulb Kanban"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Ever seen a heart monitor at a hospital? Control charts perform the same function with almost every aspect of your business.
“If you’ve ever been to a hospital, you may have noticed somebody hooked up to a heart monitor, and it’s going [gestures]. Right? So that monitors the heart rate of that patient, and you can tell if it’s getting crazy or it’s starting to trend down, which means you need a rapid response team to come in and make sure they’re not dying.
“So that’s the idea of a heart monitor, but that’s what a control chart is. It’s like a heart monitor for a hospital (or any other business).
Continue Reading "Control Charts are Like Heart Monitors for Your Business"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The postal service in my neighborhood is a hit-or-miss affair. And it started with a change in leadership. If you’re waiting on leadership to embrace quality, think again.
“I don’t know how the postal service is in your neighborhood, but some days it doesn’t come at all, some days we get mail on Sunday, sometimes the postal workers are not wearing a postal shirt and it’s like, “Who the hell’s walking up to my house to drop off the mail?”
“They recently changed the Postmaster General. He’s really proud that he’s cutting costs, but he’s killing his service.
Continue Reading "The Postal Service is Kaput"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
