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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.
The time and effort we spend on something seems to make us value it more. But what if there’s an easier way? It applies to Six Sigma more than you might think.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, we celebrate Labor Day, and it’s all about workers. I was reading a book called ‘The Friction Project,’ which was recommended by a friend; [in that book] they talk about ‘the Ikea effect.’ If you know anything about Ikea, you go in, you shop around, you look for something, you see a nice bed… well, you buy a kit and then you assemble it.
Continue Reading "The IKEA Effect"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
All too often companies waste too much money, time and resources on waste and rework. Maybe it’s time to whittle it down.
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].
“When I was a kid, my mom and I went back to visit her mom and dad, my grandma and grandpa in Fairborn, Ohio, right outside of Dayton. My grandpa would sit on the front porch, and he would take twigs, and he would just sit there and whittle those twigs down.
Continue Reading "The Essence of Waste and Rework"
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.
Ever used a microwave? Easy, isn’t it? Six Sigma should work the same way. 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 grew up in the 50s and 60s, and if my mom wanted to reheat leftovers she had to turn on the oven, put the food in the in the oven and wait 15-20 minutes for it to come up to temperature. I don’t know about you, but I use a microwave; I use it almost every day.
Continue Reading "Six Sigma as Easy as Using a Microwave"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
What do you need to win 80% of the time? Here’s a surprising answer from analysis of top tennis pros.
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I get the… American Statistical Association’s magazine, and they had kind of an interesting article about tennis, of all things. It turns out that people like Federer and Nadal and Djokovic and everybody else win 80% of their matches, but they only win slightly more than half of the points they played. So Federer and Nadal and Djokovic, their win percentage were 54% of the points; Andy Murray: 53%; Pete Sampras: 54% and Andre Agassi: 53%.
Continue Reading "Business Lessons from Tennis Pros"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
All too often I hear people say: “It’s just human error.” No it’s not. 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 talking to somebody the other day, and we were talking about things in general, and they said, “Well, you know, it’s just human error.” And I said, no, stop. There’s no such thing as human error.
“Now, I know that’s a limiting sort of thought, but I believe that systems let people make mistakes.
Continue Reading "Human Error and System Design"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Computer programming used to be done on hardware boards with wires. Now it’s much easier. Six Sigma used to be hard. Now it’s easy too. Here’s why:
“Well hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“When I was a kid, my dad was the manager of a company and they had to program their own computers. He had a hard board and you plugged wires in it to get it to do things like add, subtract, multiply, divide, calculate taxes on sales of stuff. It was old IBM 401 or so… I don’t know what it was, but you would then slide that into the computer, snap it in and then run your reports.
Continue Reading "Programming Used to Be Hard Wired"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Technology has given us the ability to automate tasks that used to be performed manually, and allows one person to perform the work of many. I saw an example of this on a recent trip.
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, when I was growing up, the big band that came up were the Beatles, and they were also known as the Fab Four. And the Fab Four were kind of the structure of most bands, all right?
Continue Reading "The Fab Four and a One-Man Band"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
