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Posts tagged "Mistake Proofing"
John, a senior executive who went to Japan, told this story of using the “Weapon of Quality” to help out a cabinet making business:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“I’ve been telling you my story about John, who was a senior executive at a lumber and wood company. It was interesting to me just listening to him talk.
“Once he retired, he was just sitting around and one of his friends who ran a cabinet making business gave him a call and said, “Can you help me out?
Continue Reading "Cabinet Making Quality Story"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Some people think humans will always make mistakes and there’s nothing we can do about it. I disagree. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“Back in 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a book called ‘To Err is Human’ which showed that healthcare kills about a hundred thousand people a year unnecessarily. Since then, we’ve gotten better at measuring that, and it’s probably three to five times that much, give or take a few hundred thousand… But my thing about this was it presupposes that humans will make mistakes and that’s not preventable; not preventable.
Continue Reading "To Err is Human?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
On a recent vacation, my wife and I missed two connecting flights because of missing paperwork. It’s the 21st century. How much of your customer’s time are you wasting looking for paperwork?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“My wife and I finally took a trip we were going to take to Europe in 2020; we took it this year. We got off at the airport and of course, our airplane was late arriving. We had a pretty tight connection in Frankfurt, Germany. Anyway, United loads us all in the plane and the pilot came on and said, “We’re waiting for the manifest so that we can fly to Germany, because without the manifest we can’t land there.”
Continue Reading "Mistake Proof Paperwork"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
People are error prone. If you want to lock in improvements, use your existing technology to mistake-proof the change. Here’s how:
“I was working with one group of folks in a hospital, and they were complaining about the fact that the doctors were doing these electronic medical records, but they couldn’t get them to complete all the forms and all the fields that were needed to be able to bill the insurance company for the services provided. I was listening to them talk, and they were talking about how they were going to try and train the doctors to do all these things and do all this stuff, and I said, “Wait.
Continue Reading "Use Technology to Lock In Quality Improvements"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros.
Just because you don’t know how to fix something, doesn’t mean that it can’t be fixed. It’s possible to mistake-proof anything. Fix that leaky faucet.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“If you have a leaky faucet, you don’t say, “Well, I can’t fix that” just because you don’t know how to fix a leaky faucet. You might hire somebody to do it, you might watch a YouTube video and you might go out and then figure out how to fix it and replace whatever the gizmo inside that’s causing it to leak.
Continue Reading "Fix that Leaky Faucet"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Leaders, managers and programmers sometimes get frustrated with software systems and try to rewrite them. This usually fails. It is possible to use Six Sigma and the 4-50 rule to find and fix the few code modules that have the most bugs and require the most enhancements. This delivers software quality without the high cost and risk. Here’s how:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and the QI Macros [software].
“Today I want to talk to you about software. Now, some of you may work in software, some of you may use software… (If you have a phone, you’re using software) There’s lots of software around, and sometimes there’s bugs and stuff like that, and sometimes we’re enhancing things.
Continue Reading "Accelerating Software Quality Using the 4-50 Rule"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, QI Macros, 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.
While some European cities were devastated by fire, Holland has had to deal with flooding. What have they done to mistake-proof flooding since 1953?
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software]. “I recently had an Improvement Insight video about how they were burning down the capitals of Scandinavia repeatedly until the king said “Thou shalt build thy buildings out of stone” and so that stopped the fire problem. I discovered there was a 60 Minutes article on a recent Sunday, and they were talking about Holland.
“Back in the 50s there was a massive flood and it tore down a lot of barriers because a lot of Holland is below sea level.
Continue Reading "Flood-Proofing in Holland"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Spending too much time fighting fires in your business? Maybe it’s time to fireproof your business. Here’s how:
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“My wife and I recently cruised Scandinavia, and in almost every city where the tour guides took us around they told us the same story: “So Oslo (Stockholm, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg) back in the 1700s, the city had built up but they were all built out of wood, and of course they heated everything with wood or coal or something, and…” You know: Boom.
Continue Reading "Fireproof Your Business"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
The September, 2018 Money magazine article about Bethenny Frankel opens with a rant about Postmates. Frankel ordered a muffin, bagel with cream cheese and a coffee for delivery. The muffin and bagel made it, but without cream cheese or coffee.
Welcome to Hassle America where even simple things seem to be impossible.
We order lunch once a week at the office, but hardly a week goes by without some problem. Last week, Grubhub cancelled our order without telling us. Some weeks the chicken salad comes without chicken. Some weeks we’re missing a dish that was ordered.
Welcome to Hassle America.
Continue Reading "Hassle America – Bethenny Frankel"
Posted by Jay Arthur in QI Macros, Six Sigma.
