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Are old policies making your business sluggish and irritating customers?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Some years ago I worked with a credit union. They were having trouble because on Friday nights there were really long lines [with] everybody trying to cash their paychecks and everything else. They were struggling. They also had a problem because when they lost a teller it took them 80 days to get a new teller in.
“We started looking at the process for doing that [with a] little value stream map. The very first thing they did was they offered that job to the rest of the company.
Continue Reading "Policies are Barriers to Performance Success"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Lots of people have been educated in Lean Six Sigma, but some can’t use the methods and tools to solve problems. Here’s why:
“You know, I worked at Bell Laboratories in the mid-70s, and I was the little representative from one of the Bell operating companies: U.S West. It was Mountain Bell at that time, I guess… That’s true!
“Anyway, I was out there and boy, I’ll tell you: we had people with master’s degrees and PhD degrees. One of the things that I discovered when I was there is that education does not mean production. Right? There were people that were very educated and were very good at school but couldn’t find a way to write a line of code that worked with all the with all the help in the world.
Continue Reading "Education Does Not Mean Production"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Sometimes your data seems to be telling you something counterintuitive. Here’s a healthcare example using Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) and Code Blues. What is your data telling you?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“Last week I got a call from a customer and they said, “Here’s some data and we need your help a little bit.” (This is rare, okay, but they did ask for help.) So anyway, the issue is in a hospital when patients’ respiratory [numbers] and everything else drops to zero, that’s what they call a Code Blue, right?
Continue Reading "RRTs vs Code Blues – What is Your Data Telling You?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, QI Macros, Six Sigma.
Over 60 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 "7/12/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
Top Gun: Maverick holds a powerful lesson and insight. Here’s how it applies to Lean Six Sigma:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“My wife and I recently went and saw “Top Gun: Maverick.” Maverick’s now this old “test pilot” kind of guy, but he’s called in to help train the best of the best for a special mission. These young hot shots think that he’s an old guy, right? He can’t possibly know anything. It’s kind of funny to watch: they get up and he’s trying to evaluate them and he says, “Let’s get up and we’ll do combat,” and they make a challenge.
Continue Reading "Top Gun: Maverick and the OODA Loop"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Over 35 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 "6/7/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
At a recent ASQ Webinar on Agile Lean Six Sigma, someone asked what I thought the number one soft skill would be for quality improvement professionals. Here’s my answer:
“I was doing an Agile Lean Six Sigma workshop for one of the ASQ sections, and in the question and answer part somebody [asked], “What do you think is the number one soft ‘people skill’ that change management agents need?” I thought about it for a second; I thought, “Well, listening.” Listening. You have to learn how to listen to what your people are saying.
“I remember I went to the first hospital that I ever worked with, and they said, “We have a problem with nosocomial infections.”
Continue Reading "Number One Soft Skill for Quality Improvement"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Over 65 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 "5/10/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
Ever wondered why it’s so hard to propagate improvements from one group to the next? Here’s why and what to do about it:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“I was recently at one of the IHI presentations at their conference and they mentioned… “How long does it take for medicine to adopt a new practice?” On average it’s 17 years… 17 years. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? I think penicillin was 25 years, and some of the other things… but 17 years?
“They say, “Well, you know, we haven’t peer reviewed that, so we have to peer review it so we can confirm that your hypothesis is correct and that we can actually…” Right?
Continue Reading "How to Ensure the Adoption of Countermeasures"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
Over 75 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 "4/12/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
