Home »
Blog » Improvement Projects
Improvement Insights Blog
Posts tagged "Improvement Projects"
You don’t really Learn Quality Improvement or Lean Six Sigma in a classroom. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, I’ve discovered that you don’t really learn Quality Improvement in a classroom, you learn it afterwards. It’s more like an apprenticeship where you go out and start to try stuff and figure things out. If there’s somebody around, you get a little help with that. When I started, there was nobody around to help me with that, so I kind of stumbled for a while but then I figured it out.
Continue Reading "You Don’t Really Learn QI/LSS in a Classroom"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Are you afraid to tackle the biggest problem facing your company? Don’t be. Here’s why:
“I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I have to admit I’ve never read Moby Dick. I’ve never gotten beyond ‘My name is Ishmael,’ but I think each one of us in our organization has a white whale. There’s some big hairy pressing problem that is so scary that we’re afraid to tackle it… afraid.
“Now, I’ll never forget when the head of Finance called me in and said “Postage costs have gone up $20 million this year.” I worked at US West, the phone company.
Continue Reading "What’s Your White Whale?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
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.
Continue Reading "Crazy Cool Improvement Projects"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Have you ever noticed that no one wants to admit the problems in their life or work? It’s time to start airing our dirty laundry and here’s why:
“You know, I grew up in Tucson, Arizona and I think Tuesday was wash day. We had this washing machine that sat out on the back porch because it never got cold enough to freeze the hoses for the thing. It was a roller washing machine, so you had a big tub about the size of a keg of beer and it would do the wash, but then there was a set of rollers on top.
Continue Reading "Airing Your Dirty Laundry"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Healthcare, Improvement Insights, Manufacturing.
All too often, improvement teams fail to question the default approach to doing business. They come up with countermeasures that simply parrot the status quo. I recently saw a TED talk on creativity. The presenter said: Doubt the Default. Sage advice. Here’s why:
“I saw an interesting TED talk this weekend. The professor was talking about creativity, and he used a phrase that I kind of liked. It’s “doubt the default.” Doubt the default. So whatever you’re doing right now is the default; doubt the default.
“Steve Jobs said “Hmm… you know, I don’t like these little tape cassette recorders.
Continue Reading "Doubt the Default Solution"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Improvement Insights, QI Macros.
If you believe that Quality Improvement is all about finding and fixing special causes, you’re just part of the Fix-It Factory. Become part of the Prevention Factory.
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur. I’m here on Ka’anapali Beach in Maui taking a little vacation, but I was thinking about this: “I’ve talked to a lot of people and they seem to think that that they have all these meetings where they fix special causes and they think they’re doing Quality Improvement. They’re not. If you’re just fixing special causes, that’s part of the Fix-It Factory. You want to become part of the Prevention Factory.
Continue Reading "Become Part of the Prevention Factory"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
When I started in quality improvement, everyone preached Total Quality Management (TQM). Before that it was quality circles. I’d like you to consider that the gospel of Six Sigma is holding back progress. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“The other day I was [presenting] a webinar for one of the ASQ sections; I’ve been doing Agile Lean Six Sigma webinars for the Agile sections that want something to do during this pandemic. One of the guys said, “Well, you’re sort of telling me that that we don’t need Green Belts and Black Belts to do a project.
Continue Reading "Six Sigma Dogma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
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.
Almost 50 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to use some of the useful features of QI Macros, as well as some of the new features introduced in recent versions of the software.
Some attendees were familiar with the software and already use it, some had only begun to use it; all were interested in learning new ways that QI Macros can help them with their Agile Lean Six Sigma and Quality Improvement efforts. (You can hear him answering questions and comments typed in by webinar 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 “Find Tool” search feature or the automated Value Stream Map), you may need to purchase an upgrade to bring your QI Macros to the current version.
Continue Reading "1/8/19 QI Macros Webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
The Nov-Dec 2018 HBR reports that Lean, Six Sigma and Agile “always work well initially, but often the gains fade quickly.”
- 21% of improvement projects failed to yield any improvements
- Only one-third of improvements continued to yield results after two years.
What’s needed to sustain improvements?
- Consistent measurement and monitoring (i.e., control charts)
- Leadership support and coaching
- Avoid initiative fatigue caused by jumping from one improvement initiative to another.
Start monitoring your improvement projects using QI Macros control charts.
Download a free trial at https://www.qimacros.com.
Continue Reading "Making Process Improvements Stick"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Jay Arthur Blog, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
