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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.
Six Sigma can go wrong. An article I read suggested at least five limitations of 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 an article that was published talking about the limitations of Six Sigma. It had a bunch, but here’s five that I thought stood out for me.
- High failure rate. That’s right. A lot of these implementations don’t work, and it puts a bad color on Six Sigma.
- The high cost of implementation.
Continue Reading "Five Limitations of Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Six Sigma dogma says you need Green and Black Belts, but you might be a lot better off with Yellow Belts. 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 Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, there seems to be a lot of discussion in Six Sigma about whether you need Green Belts or Black Belts or Yellow Belts. I believe the correct answer is Yellow Belts.
“I just spoke with a company, a worldwide manufacturing company, and they train people.
Continue Reading "Yellow Belts or Green and Black Belts"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
People come up to us at improvement conferences and say: I wish I’d known about QI Macros when I was doing my Green Belt, Black Belt or DNP project. It would have saved a lot of time. It can save you time too.
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].
“Every year we exhibit at conferences and we’re demonstrating the QI Macros, and lots of people tell me, “Oh, I wish I’d known about this when I took my Green Belt training,” or my Black Belt training or my Director of Nursing Practice training or whatever it is.
Continue Reading "I Wish I’d Known About QI Macros When Doing My Project"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
