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Learning Lean Six Sigma is slow and often confusing. How do you overcome the frustration barrier?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified,” “Agile Process Innovation” and QI Macros [software].
“In the book “The First 20 Hours” Josh Kaufman talks about how in any learning thing there’s a frustration barrier, and it can take 20 hours to break through that frustration barrier.
“I see that very often in Lean and Six Sigma where you’re learning this stuff and then starting to apply it. There’s a frustration, right? Learning how to use some tools, there’s a frustration barrier.
Continue Reading "Overcoming the Frustration Barrier"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
My local Taco Bell uses one-piece flow, but is it working for customers?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, in Lean we talk about the idea of “One Piece Flow”: You have one thing and it gets all the way through the process. I noticed this in action at my local Taco Bell, and I think it may not be the best way to go about it.
“When you come in, if you place an order at the drive-through window, if there’s somebody in front of you they fill that order before they take your order.
Continue Reading "Taco Bell One-Piece Flow"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The book, The Lean Startup, explains how to startup a business, but what then? How do you stay up?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Years ago there was a book that came out about the “Lean Startup,” or how to start up a business using kind of a Lean principle. You know, bootstrapping everything.
“I want you to think about the idea of a “Lean Stay Up.” Once you’ve started a business and it’s going, you’re going to need to Lean the thing out. You need to simplify, streamline, optimize the whole thing to stay up, right?
Continue Reading "The Lean Stay Up"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Should you implement Six Sigma top down or middle out? HBR says:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“If you know anything about Six Sigma, everybody’s always talking about “top-down” and… you know… blah blah blah blah blah… But there was a very interesting article in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review and it found some interesting things: “Only 12% of major change efforts produce lasting results…” … produce lasting results. I’ve seen a lot of data here and there, but most Six Sigma programs do not survive more than about three years.
Continue Reading "Middle Out, not Top Down"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
What can two landscaping guys teach us about customer service?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Last year I needed some yard work done and one of my tech support guys, Nick, said, “Oh, I’ve got a guy for you.” He gave me Doggo’s number, and I called up Doggo. Doggo showed up that afternoon. The thing I wanted him to do was take out a bunch of buffalo grass and put in rock; I’m trying to get rid of all the green stuff so we don’t use as much water.
Continue Reading "Doggo and Jose on Customer Service"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are You Using Stone Age or Space Age Charts for Quality Improvement?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I go to all these conferences and I see all these poster presentations and what do I see: Line and bar charts. Those are from the Stone Age. That’s from the birth of Microsoft Excel back in the 80s. Those are Stone Age charts.
“Control charts have been around for almost 100 years, but they are Space Age charts. So are you going to stick with Stone Age charts or you going to move up into Space Age charts?
Continue Reading "Are You Using Stone Age or Space Age Charts?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are you just using Excel for spreadsheets or line and bar charts?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Most of the people I see out there are using Excel kind of like as a paperweight or something. Nobody wants to read your spreadsheet but people keep inventing spreadsheets. They use merge and center to center titles and stuff like that, and they type all their numbers in here. You can do that on Google Sheets. If that’s all you want to do, use Google Sheets.
“But Excel is a power tool.
Continue Reading "Are You Using Excel as a Paperweight?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
There’s IQ, EQ and QI. Do You Have QI (Quality Intelligence)?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Back when I was a kid, there was a lot of talk about IQ: Intelligence Quotient. Little tests and things to determine if you were this or that or the other thing. MENSAs were way up there, right? And then recently, along came EQ: Emotional Intelligence. How good are you with people?
“I want you to think that maybe another acronym for QI is not just “Quality Improvement,” but “Quality Intelligence.”
Continue Reading "Do You Have QI (Quality Intelligence)?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Many people consider QI Macros to be the most intuitive Six Sigma Software. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I left the phone company in 1995; I started doing some Quality Improvement consulting work and I needed some tools to be able to do what I needed to do. Back then I had a Macintosh Power Mac and Excel was running on that. Excel at that time had Excel for Macros and I know how to program, so I used that code to create some things like a Pareto chart.
Continue Reading "Is Your Six Sigma Software Intuitive?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
In any process, what’s more important? Steps in the process or the delays between steps?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified,” “Agile Process Innovation” and QI Macros [software].
“Most of you have probably seen this: They would have you hold up your hand, right? This is like a process, and you can see the steps in the process {pointing at fingers}.
“But most of the delay is in the space in between {pointing between fingers}. It’s not… it’s not in here {pointing at fingers}, right? You can’t really speed up a thumb, but you can reduce the gaps between the fingers so that everything happens more quickly.
Continue Reading "The Space Between Your Fingers"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
