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Latest "Improvement Insights" Posts
DMAIC suggests that we need to Define and Measure something. Doing it manually won’t work long term. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I have an Apple iPhone and I carry it along and it has a little Health app in it. At the end of the day I can open it up and see how many steps I did that day: 3,000, 5,000, 8,000… whatever it is. It’ll tell me if it was above or below what I’ve done for the last weeks or so.
Continue Reading "Automate Measurements to Sustain Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Is it possible to learn anything quickly? To go from Zero to Hero in just a few hours? Yes, I believe so. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I may have told this story before, but it bears repeating again. About eight years ago I was in Hawaii and I found out there was a free ukulele class next door taught by a guy named Jason: Jason Jerome [with] Lahaina Music. Now, Lahaina Music just burnt down [in the 2023 wildfires] but Jason is still teaching classes up and down West Maui.
Continue Reading "Zero to Hero"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
In Six Sigma we keep hearing the same messages over and over. Are they wisdom or just tradition?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I saw a quote the other day that I really liked, which said, “Traditional wisdom is often more tradition than wisdom.” I think around the Quality Improvement world we keep hearing the same old stuff: “You must have top leadership commitment.” That’d be great, but that doesn’t mean that that’s what you’re going to get. You need to be the one doing the Quality Improvement stuff.
Continue Reading "Traditional Wisdom"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Don't waste time on simple problems. Start with the worst first!
Continue Reading "Start With The Worst First"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
I gave away copies of my Agile Process Innovation book at ASQ’s 2023 Lean Six Sigma conference. One recipient was a man from Norway who told me he “scoffed” at the idea of training people and getting results in a day or two. I was surprised when I saw him again at ASQ LSS 2024. I was even more surprised when he told me what he’d learned!
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software]. I also wrote a book called “Agile Process Innovation.”
“I went to the American Society for Quality Lean Six Sigma conference back in February of 23 (so, over a year ago).
Continue Reading "Agile Process Improvement Discovery at ASQ Lean Six Sigma Conference"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are you asphyxiating people with Jargon Monoxide? Maybe you need some oxygen language.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I ran across an interesting phrase and I loved it, it was great. They said, “Everybody suffers from… jargon monoxide.” (There, I finally said it!) Jargon monoxide: The asphyxiation through jargon.
“I think Six Sigma is burdened with it from the very start. The words “Six Sigma” make everybody blanch from the get-go. “Sigma? Oh my gosh, that’s statistical! I don’t underst… oh my gosh!” Right? They start to asphyxiate and can’t breathe.
Continue Reading "Have You Got Jargon Monoxide?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Ever wondered how much poor quality is affecting your bottom line? It’s often a third or more of total revenue. What are you doing to recover it?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Let me ask you: Your company… what’s your gross revenue? If it’s a million dollars or 10 million or 100 million or a billion or whatever it is, I want you to take 35% of that. So one third of a million dollars would be 333,000 and some odd dollars, right? According to Joseph Juran if you’re not doing Quality Improvement, that’s how much money you’re losing every year.
Continue Reading "What Are Your Opportunity Costs of Quality?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Too many companies use management by spreadsheet which just doesn’t work anymore. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I think far too many companies do management by spreadsheet or leadership by spreadsheet: They look at spreadsheets and they think, “Why’s this number up? Why’s this number down?” Blah blah blah blah blah… They don’t really understand that it’s all in statistical process control and you should stop talking about it. Right? Stop chasing Wild Goose chases, all right?
“So what do we want to do? We want to go from this ‘hindsight spreadsheet mentality,’ where they have heat maps and they think, “Well, this one’s too high, this one’s too low, this one’s below our target…” Right?
Continue Reading "Management by Spreadsheet"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Ever had the urge to develop your own Excel templates for quality? It’s a waste of time. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You may not know this, but I played rock guitar and lead guitar in bands back in high school and college. That kind of went away, but I still play a little bit.
“Way back when, I was a kid. I was on a newspaper route. I didn’t have a lot of money and I needed an amplifier. Well, amplifiers were expensive, and back then there was a company called Heathkit that made kits where you could actually buy the kit and put the amplifier together yourself.
Continue Reading "Don’t Do It Yourself"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
You don’t really Learn Quality Improvement or Lean Six Sigma in a classroom. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, I’ve discovered that you don’t really learn Quality Improvement in a classroom, you learn it afterwards. It’s more like an apprenticeship where you go out and start to try stuff and figure things out. If there’s somebody around, you get a little help with that. When I started, there was nobody around to help me with that, so I kind of stumbled for a while but then I figured it out.
Continue Reading "You Don’t Really Learn QI/LSS in a Classroom"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
