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Improvement Insights Blog

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2/14/23 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar

Over 140 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’ve never used QI Macros and would like to try it out, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at THIS link. If you are a QI Macros user with an older software version, and 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.

Deming on Quality Improvement in Services

Almost 40 years ago, Deming knew that Quality Improvement in service industries was key. Here’s why:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“You know, I’ve belonged to the American Society for Quality for over 30 years, and predominantly the membership is people in manufacturing who work on factory floors. However, again, I was picking up my Deming book “Out of the Crisis.” This was published in 1986… 1986. That’s about four years before I got started in Quality Improvement. Here’s what he has to say

“Based on the census, 75 people out of 100 are employed in service organizations.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

2/7/23 QI Macros webinar

Over 30 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

Fixing Special Causes is NOT Improvement

I have noticed that many Quality Improvement teams focus on special causes, not common causes. That’s not Quality Improvement. Here’s why:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I was out working with one brewery, and they brought me into where the team was, and the team talked about all their little projects and everything else, but guess what? They were all doing special cause analysis.

“Workarounds are anti-improvement, focusing on nothing but special causes. That’s not improvement, that’s just dealing with day-to-day chaos. Improvement is when you start to reduce defects and errors, or increase patient satisfaction, or do something else.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

Deming on Spec Limits vs. Variation

Deming contrasted US and Japanese focus: spec limits vs variation. Here’s the essence:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I go back and read through books that I’ve gotten in Quality over the years. I went back into Deming’s “Out of the Crisis.” It was very interesting. There’s a thought he put in here and I’ll read it to you: “We in America have worried about specifications: meet the specification. In contrast, the Japanese are worried about uniformity, working for less and less variation around the nominal value…”

“What does he mean?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

Crazy Cool Improvement Projects

At the IHI conference, many people told me stories of their crazy, cool improvement projects done with QI Macros. I asked them a simple question for which they had no answer. Here’s why:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].

“I was at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference out in Orlando at the beginning of December. I was there and people were coming by and they were talking about QI Macros at the exhibit booth. You know, a number of them came up and told me a story.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.

1/17/23 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar

Over 250 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’ve never used QI Macros and would like to try it out, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at THIS link.

If you a QI Macros user with an older version, and 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.

Deming’s Insights on Control Charts for Workers

I was rereading Deming’s book “Out of the Crisis,” and discovered a way to use control charts that is new. Deming uses control charts to compare individual worker performance. Deming often asked leaders to drive out fear, but comparing individuals seems like a way to create fear unless you use the results to help train individuals to higher standards of performance. Here’s how:



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

“I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I go back and re-read books about Quality.

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

1/10/23 QI Macros webinar

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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

Form Storm Norm Perform Takes Too Long!

Traditional Form-Storm-Norm-Perform models of team development take too long. Here’s how to collapse the time and skip right to perform.



“I was looking at myASQ, and somebody was asking about the four steps of Team development: Form, Storm, Norm, Perform. You know, if you do it traditional (how it usually was taught), it takes a long time for a team to form (come together), storm (fight each other a little bit), normalize their behavior (so they get productive).

“Well, I found that that takes too long. I can’t get to results that way. What I discovered was if I could do the analysis and figure out how to pinpoint where the problem would be, then I can figure out who ought to be on that team to solve that problem.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.