Improvement Insights Blog
Does QI Macros® Compete with Minitab?
People often ask if QI Macros is in competition with Minitab. No, I tell them. We are both in competition with a common enemy. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I was at the American Society for Quality Lean Six Sigma conference, and my booth for QI Macros was right next to Minitab. You know, people are always asking me, “Jay, do you guys compete with Minitab?” I say, “No, we compete with ignorance and apathy.”
“Number one, people don’t know how these tools could help them, whether it’s me or Minitab. They’re just apathetic; they don’t want to go out and learn how to use the tools to make their life better, their business better, their… whatever.
“I got this idea from Guy Kawasaki; he was talking about back when Macs and PCs first came out. He said “We’re not in competition. Macs and PCs aren’t in competition. We’re in competition with ignorance and apathy.” People don’t know what a personal computer could do for them, and [they think] “I don’t want to spend a bunch of money to buy one.” My first IBM PC was like $3,600, which is a lot. Now for $500 you can buy some high-speed machine that’ll go do stuff. Macs are a little bit more expensive, but either way I can get a tool now that’ll do a thousand times more stuff for a lot less cost because that’s Moore’s law: Everything keeps getting cheaper every year. They thought it would stop; no, it doesn’t stop. Ultimately, it’ll all be free, I hope.
“So that’s kind of my observation. People are afraid. I go to these conferences and people are still using line charts with trend lines, or bar charts, or a pie chart… oh my gosh. Okay, that’s apathy.
“Go out and learn the tools of Quality, start using them and make improvements. You can buy [QI Macros], buy Minitab, you can buy somebody else[‘s software]. I don’t care, but start using the tools of Quality, right? Don’t just go get certified and take a little test so that you’re now a… whatever. Start using the tools of Quality to make improvements.
“That’s my Improvement Insight for this week. Let’s go out and improve something. Let’s use the tools of Quality, and let’s make dramatic improvement, because I know it’s possible.”
