Six Sigma Blog by Jay Arthur

Improvement Insights Blog

Latest "Six Sigma" Posts

Agile Scaling Up In Corporations

HBR’s article on Agile At Scale predicts the future of business and Lean Six Sigma. Here’s what I learned:

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Agile Process Innovation

I’ve lived through Business Process Reengineering which often stumbled because it was impossible to take a complex system and “reengineer” it. The only method I’ve found that works consistently is Agile Process Innovation. Here’s how it works:

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Team Communication Costs

People often ask me, how big should an improvement team be? My answer: as small as possible.

In Fred Brooks’ Mythical Man Month, he points out that communication pathways increase in a nonlinear fashion. The formula is simple:

(n2-n)/2

Where n is the number of people on a team.

  • 2 people = 1 connection (4-2)/2
  • 3 people = 3 connections (9-3)/2
  • 4 people = 6 connections (16-4)/2
  • 5 people = 10 connections (25-5)/2
  • 6 people = 15 connections (36-6)/2
  • 7 people = 21 connections (49-7)/2

The bigger the team, the more time is spent on discussion and communication, not progress.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, Six Sigma.

DMAIC from Waterfall to Agile

DMAIC is similar to software’s Waterfall methodology that has been replaced by Agile.

We can do the same thing with DMAIC. Here’s how.

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

The Quality Hero’s Journey

Most movies follow a standard arc of discovery and transformation.

The Quality Hero’s Journey follows a similar arc. Here’s how:

Just for fun, watch Kurt Vonnegut’s presentation of the Hero’s Journey.

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Agile Lean Six Sigma

hbr cover image

The cover of the May-June 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review highlights “Agile” as the future of business. This is the way business is going to stay competitive in the future. Speed is the killer app!

Lean Six Sigma can no longer cling to its old-fashioned way of doing things: weeks of training, months for improvement teams. Here’s why:

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Forgetting The Control Phase?

Are you making one of the most common mistakes in Six Sigma? Are you forgetting the control phase?

If you do forget to implement a control plan and control charts to monitor and corrective actions, you might just as well have not wasted everyone’s time.



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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Going In and Out of Lean Six Sigma?

Do you know people who only dabble in Lean Six Sigma? They get in, get certified and get out?

You can use the tools of quality everywhere in your life and work for the rest of your life.

Why stop?

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Is Cognitive Dissonance Stopping Your Six Sigma Projects?

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.

Confirmation Bias In Lean Six Sigma Implementation

Are we in the quality community letting our past dictate our future? Is our bias stopping us from seeing the possibilities?

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Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.