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In Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain describes the essence of a chef’s station, which could apply to any lean cell design.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I was reading Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential, which is about the high-end cooking business out there, but I found a passage that I think applies to Lean Cell Design. I’ll read that to you:
‘As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system – it is profoundly upsetting if some other cook or, God forbid, a waiter – disturbs your precisely and carefully laid-out system.
Continue Reading "Lean Kitchen Confidential"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
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.
Over 100 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to implement Healthcare Data Analytics to save time, save money, and (most importantly) save lives.
You can view a short two-page illustrated guide to the Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription by clicking HERE.
If you’d like to see a short demo video to see how our software is used in healthcare organizations like yours, click this DEMO link.
If you’ve never used QI Macros and would like to try it out for free, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at THIS link.
Continue Reading "5/21/24 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Excel, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.
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.
Over 40 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating some of the software’s most frequently used tools and answering questions asked by attendees.
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 Improvement Project Wizard 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 "5/7/24 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
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.
