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Most companies follow the waterfall method of implementing Lean Six Sigma. A Agile approach will deliver results more quickly and help ensure success.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I also wrote books on software engineering; I grew up in the world of software engineering. I actually worked at Bell Laboratories, and the model at the time of software development was called the ‘Waterfall’ model. You start with requirements, and design and code and test, and eventually you deliver a project.
Continue Reading "Waterfall or Agile Lean Six Sigma?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
The ANCC Magnet Conference 2025 brought together 13,000 nurses seeking to transform healthcare using evidence-based practice (EBP). After a decade of tracking the tools used in Magnet improvement posters, I can tell you that they are still using antiquated tools that won’t get healthcare to Zero Harm and Hassle-free Healthcare. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I’m here at the American Nursing Association’s Magnet conference in Atlanta 2025. It’s October, and once again I went through all of the posters; 90% of the charts are line, bar, and pie charts.
Continue Reading "Lessons from ANCC Magnet Conference 2025"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Trainers often use trial versions of QI Macros to train their students. That comes with a huge cost. Here’s Why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I have found that a lot of training companies and universities and [others], when they teach Lean and Six Sigma they want to use our 30-day trial to train people. I have to ask you a question: Maybe you think you’re saving money, or you’re saving the patient money, or [saving] the student money, or you’re saving something, or you’re keeping your cost lower so you don’t look like an more expensive training [option] so you get more business… I don’t know what it is, but what’s the cost of NOT buying that software for that student?
Continue Reading "The High Cost of Not Buying Six Sigma Software"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Stop Using Excel Spaghetti Charts. Start using Smart Performance Charts (SPC). Here’s how:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I was recently in a presentation, and a person was putting up line charts and there were multiple lines on each chart. I know charts and I was still having trouble following the presentation. This person acted like everybody in the room was getting everything that he said. Nonsense.
“Nobody wants to read your ‘spaghetti chart.’
Continue Reading "Stop Using Excel Spaghetti Charts"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Denver requires emission testing for cars over a certain age. But it may not be necessary. Here’s why:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I live in Denver, Colorado. You know, we used to get in the winter… we’d call it ‘the brown cloud,’ right? So they decided that we had to test every car every few years just to try and do emission testing and figure out which ones were polluting. But there was a guy here that invented a little tool that could detect cars that are polluting as they drive by.
Continue Reading "The 4-50 for Emission Testing"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
At the Colorado Lean Network (CLN) Conference, Children’s Hospital put up seven outstanding improvement project posters. They all used control charts, histograms and the tools of quality to tell the story. There were more control charts on those seven posters than in the 100s at last years IHI–Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference.
Some exemplar hospitals are using the tools of quality to improve healthcare. Most are not. It’s time to stop admiring the problem. Start using the tools of quality to save time, save money and save lives.
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
Continue Reading "Outstanding Improvement Posters at Colorado Lean Network Conference"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Jay Arthur Blog.
Register for the upcoming FREE QI Macros Live Webinar, happening Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. MST.
Learn more about it in the video below, and register at THIS link.
What: FREE QI Macros – Lean Six Sigma SPC Software for Excel Webinar.
When: Thursday, November 13th, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. MST.
Where: Join online from wherever you are.
How: Register for the webinar HERE.
Continue Reading "*Next Free QI Macros Live Webinar: Thursday, November 13th, 2025"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
People are often confused about the difference between variable and attribute data. Here’s a simple way to tell which is which:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation – Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Over the years, I’ve found one of the things people get confused about is what’s ‘variable’ and what’s ‘attribute.’ Those words, for some reason, strike terror in the hearts of newbies, so I’m going to give you my short way of figuring this out: It has to do with decimals and integers.
Continue Reading "Confusion about Variable and Attribute Data"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Feel like you’re working in a Soul-Sucking Job? Here’s what to do about it:
Download my free ebook, Agile Process Innovation-Hacking Lean Six Sigma for Results.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“My wife and I were talking, and a lot of people talk about how they don’t want to work in a soul-sucking job… a soul-sucking job. And I will tell you, the only soul-sucking jobs I ever had were working for a manager that I just couldn’t get along with, or I was being forced to do something, that was contrary to serving the customer I was supposed to be serving.
Continue Reading "The Antidote to a Soul-Sucking Job"
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 "*Latest webinar: 9/18/25 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
