Improvement Insights – Lean Six Sigma Moneybelt

Improvement Insights Blog

Latest "Improvement Insights" Posts

Yellow Belts or Green and Black Belts

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

I Wish I’d Known About QI Macros When Doing My Project

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Automate Lean Six Sigma Training

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Leaders Kill Companies

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

What’s a Lean Six Sigma Project Worth?

A study in Texas found that Lean Six Sigma projects save an average of $150,000 per project. How can you hack Lean Six Sigma to get those kinds of results? It’s easier than you think.

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 recently found an article online where in Texas, they’ve done an analysis of Lean and Six Sigma projects. They found that, on average, Lean and Six Sigma projects saved $150,000 a project. Now, obviously, there were some high ones and some low ones, but $150,000 a project.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Lean Six Sigma Vanity Metrics

Companies often implement Lean Six Sigma metrics that have nothing to do with success. 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].

I was mentioning Eric Ries’ book ‘The Lean Startup,’ and he talks about the problems with vanity metrics. Vanity metrics, as opposed to actionable metrics, right? You can measure things that make you feel good but don’t really do you any good.

“In Lean and Six Sigma that’s like ‘number of people trained,’ ‘number of teams started.’

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

How to Save $5,000 with QI Macros

There are at least four ways to save $5,000 quickly with QI Macros, not including all of the improvements you can make. 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]. I want to give you some ideas about how you could save $5,000 for your company.

“First off, if you’re using Minitab, they increased their price to $1,850 a year. Over a three-year period, that’s over $5,500. Right now, you could buy QI Macros for under $400 and save $5,000.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Simple It UP – Don’t Dumb It Down

People often accuse me of trying to take Six Sigma and dumb it down. No. I’m trying to Simple It UP. Here’s why:

Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.



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 often accuse me of trying to ‘dumb down’ Six Sigma. I’m not; I’m trying to ‘simple it up.’ Huge difference. ‘Dumbing it down’ pretends that people are dumb. ‘Simpling it up’ means I’m trying to make it so that everyone can access it.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Your Business Is Not Unique or Different

People like to pretend their business is different or unique. They use it as an excuse to avoid Lean Six Sigma. You are not unique. 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].

“Over the years, whenever I talk to people about Lean and Six Sigma or whatever, they very often say, “Oh, we’re not in manufacturing.” This is what is known as ‘uniqueness bias.’ Everybody thinks their business is different from everyone else’s.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Control or Sustain to Ensure Improvement Sticks

Teams often fail to implement the Control Phase of DMAIC. That results in waste on a grand scale. 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 don’t know about you, I talk to people all the time and they say “Jay, I made this great improvement and 6 months later it was gone…” Made this great improvement; six months later, it was gone. I say, “Did you implement the Control phase of DMAIC?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.