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Most companies start their Six Sigma implementation by training a few Green and Black Belts. That works some of the time, but it’s the wrong way to go. Start with Yellow Belts. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, a lot of companies start up their [Quality Improvement program] and they go out and they train a Black Belt and a few Green Belts and try to get things going. Then like many companies, they discover that they’re not getting the results that they want.
Continue Reading "Would You Rather Have 100 Yellow Belts or 2-3 GBs or BBs?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Over 50 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 "2/11/25 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog.
I’m lazy and that’s a good thing. It might be good for you too. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I want to tell you: I’m lazy. I don’t want to spend any more time doing anything that I have to, right? When we started up, [the standard was] week-long trainings for teams. I eventually boiled that big binder down into about a 16-page handout (which I now use) and train people in in a day or less and get results. I wanted to collapse the curve between learning and implementation of results so that people got that hit of “This is what we can do quickly.”
Continue Reading "I’m Lazy and That’s a Good Thing"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
There’s a lot of acronyms in mental health. Here’s one for business. Do You Have APDF?
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, we’ve heard people talk about ADD or ADHD… all these little acronyms for sickness. I think too many companies have APDF.
“APDF, which stands for Analysis Paralysis Decision Fatigue… Analysis Paralysis Decision Fatigue. They hesitate to look at their data and do anything, and then they get tired of trying to make decisions and they don’t make any progress.
“Does your company have APDF? I wish it was a better acronym, but Analysis Paralysis Decision Fatigue.
Continue Reading "Do You Have APDF?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Struggling to get a good Cp and Cpk? It might be your data. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“We had a guy call in the other day and he was trying to determine the capability of his process. Unfortunately, he’d taken [measurements of] everything from his startup to his shutdown scrap and ran that as a capability study, and he wasn’t capable. I said, “Well, there you go…” But if you run a control chart of that, you can see the wiggly startup and the wiggly shutdown and then there’s this nice stable process in the middle.
Continue Reading "Capability Analysis Issues"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are you still using last century tools in the 21st Century?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“When I was a kid growing up in in the 60s, my mom had this old wringer washing machine. Back in the day, there was a washing machine where you washed all your clothes and there was a wringer on top. You would take the clothes out and you’d feed it in the wringer, which would squish all the water out of it. There weren’t any electric dryers… I’m sorry. She would wring her washing and then she would go out and hang it on a clothes line where it would dry in the Tucson sun, and then she’d bring them in fold them and whatever.
Continue Reading "Mom’s Wringer Washing Machine"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Over 200 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to teach Lean Six Sigma in one day and generate results, while also answering questions asked by attendees.
Jay Arthur is the author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” which is now in its 2nd edition.
You can learn more about Jay’s Agile Lean Six Sigma Trainer Training by clicking HERE.
If you’re interested in learning more about Jay’s ideas on Agile Lean Six Sigma, you can download a free brief summary of Jay’s ideas in his “Agile Lean Six Sigma Manifesto,” available at THIS link.
Continue Reading "1/16/25 Agile Lean Six Sigma Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog.
Over 40 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.
Here are the books Jay mentions in the video:
You can view a short two-page illustrated guide to the Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription by clicking HERE.
Continue Reading "1/14/25 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Excel, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.
Harvard Business Review (Jan 2025) argues for a renaissance, a rebirth of process management and quality improvement. Here’s why:
You might want to order reprints of these articles and forward them to your leadership. (HBR Reprint S25011)
Download my free eBook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“In the most recent issue of Harvard Business Review (I think this is January 2025), shockingly enough, what did I discover? An article about Process Management! Oh my gosh!
“The closing argument in here from these folks is:
“It’s time for senior management to put process back on their radar screens and begin to sort out how to make it better in their departments.”
Continue Reading "Process Management Rises from the Ashes"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Don’t try and invent new data. There’s a lot of data out there you can use right now, today, to make an improvement. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“All too often, I see people try to follow DMAIC: “Well, we’re going to Define, and then we’ve got to go find some Measurements and spin up some measurements…”
“I’m telling you that every company in this world is awash in data about how things work. There’s tons of data out there, okay? Go find data that exists about a problem that you have, and use the data that’s already there to solve [that problem] and improve that process.
Continue Reading "You Already Have All The Data You Need"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
