Home »
Blog » Page 2
Improvement Insights Blog
Latest Posts
A restaurant refused to add two people to a reservation. What did our daughter Tina say? What can you learn from this?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Our daughter Tina… one of our granddaughters graduated from college at DU and Tina had scheduled a lunch at a local restaurant, but she needed to add two people. She’d [made the reservation] online; she called in and said, “I’d like to add two people.” They said, “We can’t do that.” She said “What?” “We can’t do that because you made it online so we can’t adjust it here.”
Continue Reading "You’re Dead to Me"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
In college, I spent four years studying Systems Engineering. The methods and tools of quality improvement are what I use instead. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“When I went to college I studied systems engineering, which is the mathematical optimization of systems, operations research (things of that nature), which is for solving very complicated problems like transportation or whatever. It wasn’t until I got into Quality Improvement, where I found a simplified set of tools that I could use in everyday life, that I really started to figure out how best to start to simplify, streamline and optimize systems: Better, faster, cheaper; free, perfect and now.
Continue Reading "You Can Use the Methods and Tools of Quality Improvement Anywhere"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Learning Lean Six Sigma is slow and often confusing. How do you overcome the frustration barrier?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified,” “Agile Process Innovation” and QI Macros [software].
“In the book “The First 20 Hours” Josh Kaufman talks about how in any learning thing there’s a frustration barrier, and it can take 20 hours to break through that frustration barrier.
“I see that very often in Lean and Six Sigma where you’re learning this stuff and then starting to apply it. There’s a frustration, right? Learning how to use some tools, there’s a frustration barrier.
Continue Reading "Overcoming the Frustration Barrier"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
My local Taco Bell uses one-piece flow, but is it working for customers?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, in Lean we talk about the idea of “One Piece Flow”: You have one thing and it gets all the way through the process. I noticed this in action at my local Taco Bell, and I think it may not be the best way to go about it.
“When you come in, if you place an order at the drive-through window, if there’s somebody in front of you they fill that order before they take your order.
Continue Reading "Taco Bell One-Piece Flow"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The book, The Lean Startup, explains how to startup a business, but what then? How do you stay up?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Years ago there was a book that came out about the “Lean Startup,” or how to start up a business using kind of a Lean principle. You know, bootstrapping everything.
“I want you to think about the idea of a “Lean Stay Up.” Once you’ve started a business and it’s going, you’re going to need to Lean the thing out. You need to simplify, streamline, optimize the whole thing to stay up, right?
Continue Reading "The Lean Stay Up"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Should you implement Six Sigma top down or middle out? HBR says:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“If you know anything about Six Sigma, everybody’s always talking about “top-down” and… you know… blah blah blah blah blah… But there was a very interesting article in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review and it found some interesting things: “Only 12% of major change efforts produce lasting results…” … produce lasting results. I’ve seen a lot of data here and there, but most Six Sigma programs do not survive more than about three years.
Continue Reading "Middle Out, not Top Down"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
What can two landscaping guys teach us about customer service?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Last year I needed some yard work done and one of my tech support guys, Nick, said, “Oh, I’ve got a guy for you.” He gave me Doggo’s number, and I called up Doggo. Doggo showed up that afternoon. The thing I wanted him to do was take out a bunch of buffalo grass and put in rock; I’m trying to get rid of all the green stuff so we don’t use as much water.
Continue Reading "Doggo and Jose on Customer Service"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are You Using Stone Age or Space Age Charts for Quality Improvement?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I go to all these conferences and I see all these poster presentations and what do I see: Line and bar charts. Those are from the Stone Age. That’s from the birth of Microsoft Excel back in the 80s. Those are Stone Age charts.
“Control charts have been around for almost 100 years, but they are Space Age charts. So are you going to stick with Stone Age charts or you going to move up into Space Age charts?
Continue Reading "Are You Using Stone Age or Space Age Charts?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are you just using Excel for spreadsheets or line and bar charts?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Most of the people I see out there are using Excel kind of like as a paperweight or something. Nobody wants to read your spreadsheet but people keep inventing spreadsheets. They use merge and center to center titles and stuff like that, and they type all their numbers in here. You can do that on Google Sheets. If that’s all you want to do, use Google Sheets.
“But Excel is a power tool.
Continue Reading "Are You Using Excel as a Paperweight?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Over 70 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 "10/10/24 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Excel, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.
