Home »
Blog » Agile Lean Six Sigma » Page 4
Improvement Insights Blog
Posts tagged "Agile Lean Six Sigma"
Are you skipping Six Sigma stones across the surface of your business or are you finding people who take to it like a duck to water. People who can dive beneath the surface to find the invisible low-hanging fruit?
“Have you ever skipped a rock across a lake? Maybe the first time you threw it out there it just went “sploosh.” Then you figured out that flatter rocks skip better, so you started throwing them out and they’d go “skip-skip-sploosh,” or maybe get three or four or five “skip-skips” and “sploosh.”
“Then a duck came flying in, put out its landing gear and just kind of eased into the water.
Continue Reading "Skipping Stones or Diving Beneath the Surface of Your Business?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t keep doing things the same old way. The status quo isn’t working for us anymore. We have to stop projecting the past (the way we’ve always done it) into the future. The future doesn’t have to be an endless rerun of the past.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Agile Process Innovation” and QI Macros [software]. Here’s my Improvement Insight for this week: Stop projecting your past into your future.
“Way too many people do this, right? We start thinking, “Well, we’ve always done it that way so we have to always do it that way.”
Continue Reading "Stop Projecting the Past Into the Future"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Should a project take 4-16 months or 4-16 hours? Should you measure projects with a calendar or a stopwatch? I think the answer is obvious, but here’s my take on it.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur. Every year, we exhibit at lots of conferences with QI Macros so I get to go to presentations by all kinds of folks. Now, last year I saw a presentation by some consultants who said they’d done some research into how long Six Sigma projects take. They found Six Sigma projects take anywhere from four months to 16 months.
“I [thought], “What? How’s that possible?” That makes no sense to me, because I’ve done multimillion-dollar projects in between 4 and 16 hours.
Continue Reading "How Long Should Lean Six Sigma Projects Take?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Improvement Insights, QI Macros.
COVID-19 has slowed business for much of the nation. Here’s how you can make use of the time:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but with this COVID virus thing going around, business has slowed a little bit, but that’s great! That gives us an opportunity to start to focus and work ON our business, not IN our business. Now is the time to start to find ways to simplify, streamline, optimize everything that you do so that when things come back on you’ll be ready for it and you’ll be faster, better, cheaper than you ever were before.
Continue Reading "Work ON your business, not IN it."
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights.
If you’ve ever been sick, you know that the only thing you can do is wait it out. Here’s what we’re going to have to do:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“I know all of you have had some sort of cold or flu or been sick for a while. The day before Thanksgiving in 2014, I had this really heavy cough that came from the darkest recesses of my lungs and I said, “That’s not good.” Then I felt a little worse on Thursday, and on Friday I was diagnosed as having the flu.
Continue Reading "The Economy is Sick"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Improvement Insights, QI Macros.
Out of Work? Need a job? Want to become indispensable to your employer?
Learn the data analysis skills for problem solving (a.k.a. Lean Six Sigma). Do it now. It’s Free!
Click here to get started: www.lssyb.com
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“I don’t know about you, but right now, I’m staying home because of the directives around COVID-19. I know there’s a lot of people out there who have been displaced and are out of work, and now might be a good time to learn a new skill. I can tell you: being able to do some data analysis that results in problem solving is a skill that every, every, every business wants.
Continue Reading "Learn Data Analysis for Problem Solving"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Lean, Manufacturing, QI Macros, Service, Six Sigma.
These are uncertain times. What’s the best way (both psychologically and as a group) to get though this? By you continuing to do what you do, whether it’s writing, coding, or continuing to improve the quality of the processes around you.
(And just to be clear, when I say, “Go out and do what you do,” I don’t mean to literally “go out” if you don’t have to… it’s just an expression. Please continue to take whatever steps are necessary to keep yourself and the people around you safe.)
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
Continue Reading "What do we do? Do what you do."
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Coronavirus means that we can’t wait weeks for training and months for improvements. Healthcare has to embrace Agile Lean Six Sigma to handle an infection that could overwhelm existing care facilities. (Hint: This has nothing to do with doctors and nurses, but everything to do with the patient.) Here’s how to do it:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software]. You know, I think we’re at this place in time where we can no longer wait two to four weeks for training and four to six to twelve months for projects to get done.
Continue Reading "Agile Lean Healthcare Now"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Sometimes you’ll hear people say that software isn’t necessary for Quality Improvement. Let me demonstrate how much time you’re wasting if you create ONE Pareto chart by hand, instead of using software.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“If you’ve listened to any of my Insight videos or seen me present at conferences or [had me] train you in a workshop, you know that I don’t believe you can do Quality Improvement without software. We have to stop doing Quality Improvement the 20th century manual, slow way. We have to start doing it the 21st century way, and we have to start doing it quickly.
Continue Reading "Making Pareto Charts by Hand?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, QI Macros.
Nobody wants to look bad, which can make it impossible to make improvements. Here’s why:
“One of the things I’ve learned in all these years working in Quality Improvement is nobody, but nobody, wants to look bad. With the recent coronavirus [outbreak], the doctor who found that and [leaked news] out to the world, the Chinese government tried to shut him down, tried to keep that bit of information inside because they didn’t want to look bad.
“Well, this isn’t just a Chinese or Asian thing – saving face. In any business you walk into, somebody is in charge of how things are working and they’re in charge of trying to make it better, faster, cheaper.
Continue Reading "Nobody Wants to Look Bad"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
