QI Macros

Improvement Insights Blog

Posts tagged "QI Macros"

Top Performing CEOs Share This Trait

A recent issue of Harvard Business Review had an article about what makes a CEO a top performer. This trait is key to quality improvement and Six Sigma.

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 was reading the November / December 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review, and it talks about top performing CEOs. They have people in here like Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Toyota of course, and some other companies as well. But they found that top performing CEOs, unlike their cohorts, don’t focus on what the company does, they focus on how they do it, and they’re obsessed.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Diagnostic Error – Blame the System

10-15 people out of 100 are misdiagnosed leading to waste, rework and patient harm. It’s a mistake to say “To Err is Human.” Blame the System, not the person. 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 was recently at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference, and I went to a session where they talked about diagnostic error. It turns out that 10 to 15 people out of every hundred are misdiagnosed, which means they are treated with the wrong stuff and they don’t get better and they might have other complications from the treatment.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

*Latest webinar: 5/14/26 QI Macros webinar

Over 80 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.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.

5/12/26 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar

Over 70 people signed up for this webinar, with Jay Arthur demonstrating how to implement Healthcare Data Analytics to save time, save money, and (most importantly) save lives.



Books that Jay may have mentioned in the video:

You can view a short two-page illustrated guide to the Zero Harm – Trillion Dollar Prescription by clicking HERE.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Data Mining, Excel, Healthcare, Lean, QI Macros, Six Sigma, Webinar.

Vaccinate Your Hospital Against Mistakes and Errors

Is it possible to vaccinate your healthcare facility, your hospital against mistakes and errors that cause patient harm?

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].

“You know, people resist getting vaccinations. But why do hospitals resist using Smart Performance Charts (control charts, Pareto charts, histograms) to start to improve the quality of care?

“You know, a control chart is like a heart monitor… you know, it measures the performance of the heart.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Are You Too Comfortable Fixing Stuff That Shouldn’t Be Broken?

Seems like everywhere I shop, employees are more comfortable fixing stuff than fixing the process. Does this sound familiar?

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].

“Have you ever gone somewhere and watched how the business works and [thought], “Why? Why do they do it that way? That’s sort of silly. Why don’t they do it a faster, better, simpler, cheaper way?” But people seem to be more attracted to spending their time continuing to fix things that are broken.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Five Limitations of Six Sigma

Six Sigma can go wrong. An article I read suggested at least five limitations of Six Sigma.

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 was reading an article that was published talking about the limitations of Six Sigma. It had a bunch, but here’s five that I thought stood out for me.

  1. High failure rate. That’s right. A lot of these implementations don’t work, and it puts a bad color on Six Sigma.
  2. The high cost of implementation.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Yellow Belts or Green and Black Belts

Six Sigma dogma says you need Green and Black Belts, but you might be a lot better off with Yellow Belts. 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].

“You know, there seems to be a lot of discussion in Six Sigma about whether you need Green Belts or Black Belts or Yellow Belts. I believe the correct answer is Yellow Belts.

“I just spoke with a company, a worldwide manufacturing company, and they train people.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

I Wish I’d Known About QI Macros When Doing My Project

People come up to us at improvement conferences and say: I wish I’d known about QI Macros when I was doing my Green Belt, Black Belt or DNP project. It would have saved a lot of time. It can save you time too.

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].

“Every year we exhibit at conferences and we’re demonstrating the QI Macros, and lots of people tell me, “Oh, I wish I’d known about this when I took my Green Belt training,” or my Black Belt training or my Director of Nursing Practice training or whatever it is.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Automate Lean Six Sigma Training

Want to speed up Lean Six Sigma training? Automate the hard stuff that confuses everyone. 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 Demystified” and QI Macros [software].

When I think back, I spent five days in a control chart class learning how to do hand calculations for control chart limits. You know, with QI Macros, I could have gotten that done in a couple hours and started analyzing some real data. Before that, I’d taken ‘Team Leader Training,’ which was 5 days.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.