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People are often confused about the difference between variable and attribute data. Here’s a simple way to tell which is which:
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].
“Over the years, I’ve found one of the things people get confused about is what’s ‘variable’ and what’s ‘attribute.’ Those words, for some reason, strike terror in the hearts of newbies, so I’m going to give you my short way of figuring this out: It has to do with decimals and integers.
Continue Reading "Confusion about Variable and Attribute Data"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Feel like you’re working in a Soul-Sucking Job? Here’s what to do about it:
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].
“My wife and I were talking, and a lot of people talk about how they don’t want to work in a soul-sucking job… a soul-sucking job. And I will tell you, the only soul-sucking jobs I ever had were working for a manager that I just couldn’t get along with, or I was being forced to do something, that was contrary to serving the customer I was supposed to be serving.
Continue Reading "The Antidote to a Soul-Sucking Job"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The time and effort we spend on something seems to make us value it more. But what if there’s an easier way? It applies to Six Sigma more than you might think.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, we celebrate Labor Day, and it’s all about workers. I was reading a book called ‘The Friction Project,’ which was recommended by a friend; [in that book] they talk about ‘the Ikea effect.’ If you know anything about Ikea, you go in, you shop around, you look for something, you see a nice bed… well, you buy a kit and then you assemble it.
Continue Reading "The IKEA Effect"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
All too often companies waste too much money, time and resources on waste and rework. Maybe it’s time to whittle it down.
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].
“When I was a kid, my mom and I went back to visit her mom and dad, my grandma and grandpa in Fairborn, Ohio, right outside of Dayton. My grandpa would sit on the front porch, and he would take twigs, and he would just sit there and whittle those twigs down.
Continue Reading "The Essence of Waste and Rework"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Ever used a microwave? Easy, isn’t it? Six Sigma should work the same 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 grew up in the 50s and 60s, and if my mom wanted to reheat leftovers she had to turn on the oven, put the food in the in the oven and wait 15-20 minutes for it to come up to temperature. I don’t know about you, but I use a microwave; I use it almost every day.
Continue Reading "Six Sigma as Easy as Using a Microwave"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
In Seoul, South Korea, I realized I was born during the Korean war. WWII affected my life. Having been to the sites of major attacks, there are lessons to be learned. Here are my thoughts.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I’m here in Seoul, South Korea. We just finished up a cruise of Japan, which was very interesting. I realized my wife and I were both born in 1951, which was right in the middle of the Korean War. That was 70-plus years ago. I think because we were born 6 years after World War II, it was very impactful for me, anyway; I don’t know about my wife.
Continue Reading "Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80th Anniversary"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
You don’t always need to do a big Lean Six Sigma project. Maybe it’s enough to make things faster and easier, but in some cases, slower and harder. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“A friend of mine recommended this book called “The Friction Project,” and they talk about how in companies… Arthur’s Law [applies]: ‘The unexamined process gets even slower, [more] sluggish, more error-prone with time.’ They talk about the idea of becoming a friction fixer.
“Now, this isn’t like the deep nested stuff that we would think about in Lean Six Sigma, but it’s how we think about every day; every day when we’re working with someone.
Continue Reading "Become a Friction Fixer"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Arthur’s Law: The unexamined process becomes increasingly sluggish and error-prone.
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 want to introduce you to what I call ‘Arthur’s Law.’ That’s my law, which is ‘The unexamined process becomes increasingly sluggish and error-prone.’
“Things don’t just stay [static], they just get more sluggish and more error-prone. People add more workarounds, and the workarounds cause more defects and mistakes and errors and waste and rework and lost profit and patient harm and whatever it is.
Continue Reading "Arthur’s Law of Process Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
After a hundred years, people still aren’t using control charts. Here’s why:
Download my free eBook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Control charts just turned a hundred years old, but if you look at the adoption rate for control charts it’s been pretty flat. You see it mainly in manufacturing, you don’t see it much in healthcare.
“We attend two big healthcare quality conferences: At the Magnet conference, out of hundreds of posters, 89% use line and bar charts (which I consider to be last-century technology).
Continue Reading "Why Aren’t People Using Control Charts? A Root Cause Analysis"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
What do you need to win 80% of the time? Here’s a surprising answer from analysis of top tennis pros.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I get the… American Statistical Association’s magazine, and they had kind of an interesting article about tennis, of all things. It turns out that people like Federer and Nadal and Djokovic and everybody else win 80% of their matches, but they only win slightly more than half of the points they played. So Federer and Nadal and Djokovic, their win percentage were 54% of the points; Andy Murray: 53%; Pete Sampras: 54% and Andre Agassi: 53%.
Continue Reading "Business Lessons from Tennis Pros"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
