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Latest "Six Sigma" Posts
How do you make improvement countermeasures stick? The answer might surprise you.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, one of the things about countermeasures is when somebody else invents the countermeasure and makes you do it, guess what? You don’t like it very much. So when we were all told to wear masks, wash our hands, stay out of crowds… guess what? Some people really hated that. Now me as a Quality guy, I said “Oh, they know what the countermeasures are. I should wear my mask, wash my hands, stay out of crowds,” but not everyone does that.
Continue Reading "How Do You Make Countermeasures Stick?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
Ever noticed how long it takes people to learn to speak the jargon of Lean Six Sigma and Quality Improvement? Maybe it’s time for a change.
“Hi I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Over my 30+ years in Quality Improvement I’ve learned all kinds of Japanese words like “kaizen” and “gemba” and “Ishikawa.” Nothing’s worse than “statistical process control” because nobody likes statistics, everybody thinks processes are boring and control is something that nobody in the United States of America likes, right? They just don’t.
“So, I think we become jargon-rich and clarity-poor.
Continue Reading "Jargon vs Clarity"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Ever noticed how long it takes for people to analyze a spreadsheet? Too long. How can a smart chart eliminate the delay and accelerate understanding?
“One of the things I’ve learned is spreadsheets… People do a lot of spreadsheets. 54% of the Excel spreadsheets out there have no formulas in them, or anything else for that matter; they’re just little reporty things.
“Now, one of the things for you to think about with a spreadsheet is, it’s an auditory process. You’re reading it cell by cell, by heading by heading, by whatever by whatever, and reading (an auditory thing) is a very slow process.
Continue Reading "Spreadsheets are Slow – Smart Charts Are Fast"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Excel, Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.
Have you ever noticed that some leaders and managers aren’t that excited about quality improvement? Do they actively resist improvements? Here’s why:
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, I like to read thriller novels. I just find them fascinating, and there’s always a good guy trying to defeat a bad guy. But the good guy isn’t just fighting the bad guy, the good guy invariably has to deal with the bureaucracy and somebody in their own organization who’s a problem, who’s trying to slow things down, stop things, or interrupt things, and they have their own personal agendas.
Continue Reading "Leaders and Managers May Not Be Your Friend"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Is Lean Six Sigma stuck in last century thinking? Maybe we just can’t see it. Here’s what I discovered recently.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Recently, I discovered something and it got me thinking. Now, if you know anything about calculating formulas for an XbarR chart, you know that what you do is if you have some numbers like a subgroup, maybe they got 3.3 and 3.4 or something like that, what you do is calculate for this subgroup what’s the average of the X’s. Well, in this case it’d be 3.3.
Continue Reading "Is Lean Six Sigma Mired in Old Think?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma, Statistics.
Thanks for attending the 2021 ASQ World Conference on Quality & Improvement. Click below to see a quick demo of how QI Macros can help you prevent waste, rework and lost profit.
Continue Reading "QI Macros Software Demo"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
I’ve been in quality improvement for 30 years. Why aren’t things getting any better?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I started in quality back in 1989 or 90, so I’ve been at this for 30-odd years. The other morning I was sitting there and I was just kind of depressed. I thought, “Why aren’t things any better?” Right? It still seems like there’s things that are missing, things that don’t work. You can’t get the right order at your fast food restaurant, if you order something at a restaurant sometimes it isn’t what you ordered, it wasn’t cooked properly… oh my gosh.
Continue Reading "Why Aren’t Things Getting Any Better?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Most people are terrified of “statistical” anything. Do you think SPC is too complex? You may not like the alternative.
“Whenever I talk to people about Statistical Process Control, first the word “statistical” scares the living crap out of them. But they say, “Well, you know, uh… I’m not that good with math and formulas,” and I say, “Well, you don’t have to know math and formulas. We’ve got software that’ll do all that for you. What you have to do is know what the chart tells you about what you should do about your process. They’re all a little surprised.
Continue Reading "Think SPC is Too Complex?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma, Statistics.
Over 60 people attended this North Carolina Association of Healthcare Quality (NCAHQ) webinar on how to achieve the IHI’s Trillion Dollar Checkbook goal of reducing healthcare waste by $500 billion/year by 2025.
https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Zero-Harm-Trillion-Dollar-Prescription.pdf If you saw a feature demonstrated in the webinar that might have been added to QI Macros after the version you’re using (for instance, the Templates Wizard, the Fixed Limit indicator or the automated Process Change Wizard), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version. Send an email to support@qimacros.com and we can help, for instance in generating a quote to upgrade all the users at your organization or just guiding you through the purchasing process.
Continue Reading "03/05/21 NCAHQ Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Lean, Six Sigma, Webinar.
ASQ Membership is mainly manufacturing which is only 13% of US employment. How can we start helping the underserved?
Download my “Agile Process Innovation” E-Book
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I was looking at one of ASQ’s media kit things and I was kind of surprised (but not really) when I looked at it and noticed that about 80 percent of the membership is manufacturing but only 13 percent was healthcare or other service-related things.
“The funny thing about that is that’s not how America is employed, right? 80% of America works in service industries and only 13 percent work in manufacturing.
Continue Reading "ASQ Is Missing Out on a Huge Market for Quality"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Manufacturing, Six Sigma.
