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At a recent Magnet Nursing conference, I heard this phrase many times: Quality Improvement is “over my head.” These are smart people with advanced degrees! What’s going on?
Agile Lean Six Sigma is within your grasp. https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Agile-Process-Innovation.pdf
Continue Reading "Is Quality Improvement “Over Your Head?” “Beyond You?”"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
Still practicing last century quality improvement? The economy has changed. Current trends demand an Agile approach to Six Sigma. Isn’t it time to embrace 21st Century Quality?
Learn Agile Process Innovation – 21st Century Quality Improvement
https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Agile-Process-Innovation.pdf
Continue Reading "Trends Facing Lean Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
QI Macros exhibited at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) conference in Orlando this week. There were over 500 improvement posters. Like prior years, I used a checksheet to collect data about the tools used. Once again, the results are disappointing. Quality tools–control charts, Pareto charts, and Fishbone diagrams–are still a small percentage of tools used, unchanged since I started collecting data in 2015. Bar and line charts still dominate posters; I call them Dumb and Dumber charts.
The quest for Zero Harm using high-reliability methods and tools (i.e., Lean Six Sigma, control charts, Pareto charts, histograms, etc.) is gaining momentum.
Continue Reading "IHI Quality Tool Usage in Poster Presentations"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
Too many quality professionals are clinging to the way things have always been done. There’s some sort of taboo about doing things quickly and easily. What are the differences between 20th and 21st Century Quality? Watch and find out:
Continue Reading "20th vs 21st Century Quality"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Statistics.
20th Century Quality needed big Six Sigma implementations because you had to learn things that aren’t necessary any more. Take a 21st Century, Agile approach to Six Sigma to start getting results immediately.
Continue Reading "Don’t Implement Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
A QI Macros customer called to ask how he could figure out the specification limits to give him a Cp/Cpk of 1.33. What’s wrong with this question? The answer is obvious isn’t it?
Continue Reading "Who Sets Your Specification Limits?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
Is the foggy complexity of Lean Six Sigma preventing widespread adoption? I think it is:
Learn more about Dan Roam’s Blah Blahmeter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6kmObnh2jo
Continue Reading "Lean Six Sigma Meets the Blah Blahmeter"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Does Your Root Cause Analysis Fail The Last Why Because It Presupposes A Solution?
Continue Reading "Solutions Masquerading as Root Causes"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
The Nov-Dec 2018 HBR reports that Lean, Six Sigma and Agile “always work well initially, but often the gains fade quickly.”
- 21% of improvement projects failed to yield any improvements
- Only one-third of improvements continued to yield results after two years.
What’s needed to sustain improvements?
- Consistent measurement and monitoring (i.e., control charts)
- Leadership support and coaching
- Avoid initiative fatigue caused by jumping from one improvement initiative to another.
Start monitoring your improvement projects using QI Macros control charts.
Download a free trial at https://www.qimacros.com.
Continue Reading "Making Process Improvements Stick"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.