QI Macros

Improvement Insights Blog

Posts tagged "QI Macros"

If a Six Sigma Yellow Belt can Save $10,000 per project

If a Six Sigma Yellow Belt can save $10,000 per project, wouldn’t you spend a few hundred dollars to make them more successful? What are costs of not getting them the tools they need?

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 forget that sometimes I can see things that other people can’t see. They’re just intuitive to me. So, Mikel Harry, I saw him maybe a decade ago and he said the next wave of Six Sigma is Yellow Belts… saving $10,000 or $20,000 per project.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

Measuring Software Quality

Is it possible to make software more maintainable and testable using software metrics?

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].

“Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called ‘Measuring Programmer Productivity and Software Quality,’ and strangely enough, it started to be referenced now 35 years later. I see articles; academia sends me things about it. There was a thing in there called ‘McCabe cyclomatic complexity’ which said if the number of decisions in a piece of software exceeds 10 then it starts to become unmaintainable, and when you get to about 49 or 50, it becomes completely unmaintainable and untestable.

Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.

6/9/26 Healthcare Data Analytics Webinar

Over 50 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.

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.

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.

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.