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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.
“I want to encourage all of you that if you’re doing something like ISO or stuff, there’s going to be forms and systems and standardized work and you may hate that standardized work, but get over 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. But they found that top performing CEOs, unlike their cohorts, don’t focus on what the company does, they focus on how they do it, and they’re obsessed.
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.
Want to speed up Lean Six Sigma training? Automate the hard stuff that confuses everyone. Here’s 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].
When I think back, I spent five days in a control chart class learning how to do hand calculations for control chart limits. You know, with QI Macros, I could have gotten that done in a couple hours and started analyzing some real data. Before that, I’d taken ‘Team Leader Training,’ which was 5 days.
Continue Reading "Automate Lean Six Sigma Training"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
A new leader can kill a company in 18 months. Here’s how:
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 when I was in the phone company, I noticed some patterns that occurred. I was in the IT department and after divestiture in 1984, the company decided that we needed to create our own Bell Labs, our own research and innovation thing. They brought in all new leaders to do that, and they built a new building up in Boulder, Colorado.
Continue Reading "Leaders Kill Companies"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
