Improvement Insights Blog
The Law of Least Effort
Ever wonder why quality doesn’t get any better? Might the law of least effort.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].
“You know, as I look around, there’s this thing called “The Law of Least Effort,” which means humans (animals… whatever) will do the easiest thing possible. That’s why in Boston, the cows all walked certain paths and when it came time to… put in [roads for] cars and stuff, they paved the cow path because the cows knew where the [most level] ground was. Of course, that makes Boston almost impassible if you’ve ever been there.
“What I see is people continue to use Excel line and bar and pie charts because they’re easy, they’re built in, but they’re from the last century. They were built in the 80s, and literally unchanged – literally unchanged – for four decades.
“That’s why you need control charts and Pareto charts and histograms: smart charts. Smart Performance Charts that can actually help you monitor, manage and improve processes effectively. Sometimes just a little bit more effort with QI Macros will make your life so much easier, and everything else smooths out.
“That’s my Improvement Insight for this week: Put in a little bit of extra effort. Don’t wander off into the lowest common denominator. Just a little bit more effort will get you there.
“Let’s go out and improve something this week.”
