Improvement Tagged Posts on LSS Blog

Improvement Insights Blog

Posts tagged "Improvement"

Don’t Bend the Data

Ever noticed that some people would rather bend the data than fix the process? That’s a bad idea. Here’s why:



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

“I was out at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference and I was talking to somebody, and they mentioned that over in Britain they had certain requirements for how you perform in hospitals. One of the hospitals decided to bend the data to match what the NIH wanted. Those managers ended up going to jail.

“Have you ever noticed that some people want to bend the data to look good, not use the data to improve so that everybody looks good?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

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.

Be Like the Ocean’s Waves

Ever watched the ocean? Waves just keep coming back again and again, rearranging the coastline. You can too!



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

“My wife and I like to go out to Maui to take vacations because it’s just restful, and we spend time on Ka’anapali Beach. We’ve been there different times of year, and it’s very interesting because at one point in time the waves move the sand southward and they pile up by Black Rock. Then other times of year it moves the sand along the beach to the north and a lot of things, rocks and things get exposed over by Black Rock.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

SSOI – Simplify, Streamline, Optimize and Innovate

The best approach I’ve found to ongoing improvement and innovation. Use SSOI-the Agile Process Innovation methodology.



“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Agile Process Innovation: Hacking Lean And Six Sigma For Maximum Results.”

“Now in here I describe my process and I’ll call it “soy”: S.S.O.I. which stands for “Simplify, Streamline, Optimize and Innovate.”

“Now to Simplify, what do we use: 5S. Go clean all the debris and stuff that’s collected over the years and get all that junk out of the way.

“After we Simplify, we Streamline, so we use Value Stream Maps and Spaghetti Diagrams to figure out how to simplify flows, connect them better so we get rid of all the delays that are slowing us down and slowing down customers and making them unhappy, right?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights.

Where are the Quality Tools at ASQ WCQI?

Having reviewed the quality tool usage in posters at ASQ WCQI, I have to ask: Where are the Quality Tools?

 

 

“Hi, this is Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].

“I was at the ASQ World conference and I looked at the team posters – you know, the improvement posters that were located in the exhibit hall. Surprisingly, out of all of all these little posters that were out there were there only two control charts, there were about five fishbone [diagrams], maybe one Pareto chart, but most the rest of it was line and bar charts.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros.

Are Limiting Beliefs Stopping Your Improvement Projects?

Everyone has limiting beliefs and they could be stopping your improvement projects. Here’s why and what to do about it.  

“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software]. I want to talk to you about something that sounds a little bit out of the Six Sigma ballpark.

“One of the things I’ve noticed is people will develop limiting beliefs about what’s possible. They’ll say, “Well, I can’t fix that because…” or “I can’t do this because my boss won’t let me,” or “I can’t do this because management doesn’t understand control charts, performance charts,” …or whatever.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.

Are You Hesitating to Improve?

Lots of people hesitate to get started on improvements. Here’s why and what to do about it.

“Hi, this is Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].

“I have noticed that a lot of people, when they get trained in Six Sigma or whatever, they hesitate to get started. You know it’s like, “I’m afraid of not doing it right,” or “I’m afraid of not tackling the right problem,” or “I’m afraid of somebody [making me feel] stupid or somebody criticizing what I’m doing,” or whatever it is…

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but you have to be bad to start, right?

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Six Sigma.

The Elephant in the Room

At the 2019 ASQ Lean Six Sigma Conference in Phoenix, a number of Black Belts from major companies told me about the Elephant in the Room that they were afraid to discuss with management even though it was harming their Lean Six Sigma effort. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this story in companies ranging from manufacturing to healthcare. Watch now to find out what it was.

“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software], and I want to talk to you about the elephant in the room: The thing that I think is actually impeding Six Sigma.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Find the CEO of the Problem

Maybe you can’t get your CEO on board, but you don’t need top level commitment. You need to find the CEO of the problem!

Become the CQO (Chief Quality Officer) of your workplace: https://www.qimacros.com/pdf/Agile-Process-Innovation.pdf

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.