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The unexamined process grows more sluggish and error-prone. What process have you overlooked for a while?
“One of my insights over the years is that the unexamined process becomes more sluggish and more error-prone. It just slows down starts getting buggy. And so the unexamined process is sluggish and error prone.
“I believe that what we have to do is re-attend to those processes. If you haven’t looked at it in a while, go back and look at it, because it’s getting slower and dumber and more error-prone.
“That’s my Improvement Insight for this week. Let’s go out and improve something this week.”
Continue Reading "The Unexamined Process"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Got an email from a QI Macros customer who read Lean Six Sigma Demystified and applied it at his hotel in Acapulco. Here’s what he learned and how it applies to healthcare too.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Recently I got an email from a gentleman who had read my book “Lean Six Sigma Demystified.” He was director of training at a hotel down in Acapulco. He started using what I was recommending in there to reduce wait times to check in, to reduce the cycle time to clean a room.
Continue Reading "Lean Six Sigma Can Be Used In Any Business"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
Some people think humans will always make mistakes and there’s nothing we can do about it. I disagree. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“Back in 1999, the Institute of Medicine published a book called ‘To Err is Human’ which showed that healthcare kills about a hundred thousand people a year unnecessarily. Since then, we’ve gotten better at measuring that, and it’s probably three to five times that much, give or take a few hundred thousand… But my thing about this was it presupposes that humans will make mistakes and that’s not preventable; not preventable.
Continue Reading "To Err is Human?"
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 "10/11/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
Few people take the time to learn how to use even basic formulas in Excel. I even found data to prove it. How much more effective could you be if you learn a little bit more about Excel?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“Many years ago I went to an Excelapalooza conference. I know, ‘Excelapalooza’ sounds funky, doesn’t it? But it was interesting.
“We had one of the leaders of the Excel development team there and she was talking about all the new features and everything else that they’re plugging in, but she gave me some startling statistics.
Continue Reading "Do You Have A Love-Hate Relationship with Excel?"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Excel, Improvement Insights.
I didn’t know I couldn’t see that well until 5th grade. I didn’t know I couldn’t see how businesses worked until I learned three key tools.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified” and QI Macros [software].
“I grew up in Tucson, Arizona and went to Peter E. Howell elementary, for those of you who might have gone there. I remember in classrooms from first grade on, they sorted us in alphabetical order. Well, my first [letter] is A, so I was always right in the front row. That continued all the way through second grade, third grade, fourth grade…
“And then in fifth grade they said, “No, you need to randomize how you see everybody,” so I ended up in the back of the classroom.
Continue Reading "5th Grade Vision Problems and Six Sigma"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
If your leadership isn’t committed to Quality, you only have one choice and it will be great for your career.
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma Demystified”.
“I talk to people very often and they’re frustrated because their leadership team really isn’t committed to quality. What I want you to do is think about what do you do if your leadership team isn’t committed to quality?
“Simple answer: Start improving. Do it anyway, right? Maybe you’re just working inside of your department, you can’t work cross-functionally. Maybe you collect some data that says that somebody who supplies you with stuff is causing you problems.
Continue Reading "If Leadership Isn’t Committed to Quality"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
On a recent vacation, my wife and I missed two connecting flights because of missing paperwork. It’s the 21st century. How much of your customer’s time are you wasting looking for paperwork?
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“My wife and I finally took a trip we were going to take to Europe in 2020; we took it this year. We got off at the airport and of course, our airplane was late arriving. We had a pretty tight connection in Frankfurt, Germany. Anyway, United loads us all in the plane and the pilot came on and said, “We’re waiting for the manifest so that we can fly to Germany, because without the manifest we can’t land there.”
Continue Reading "Mistake Proof Paperwork"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Improvement Insights.
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 "9/13/22 QI Macros webinar"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Data Mining, Excel, QI Macros, Webinar.
One hour, just-in-time trainings get students to results faster than week-long, in-depth trainings. Here’s why:
“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“Back when I got started, we had week-long trainings for teams and team leaders and everything else, and I found that it was a problem. People took this long training and then they decided, “Well, Quality Improvement takes a long time.”
“Over the years I started shifting, and back in the late 90s I went to one-hour, just-in-time trainings. I actually have a little booklet which you can download from our website which is my Agile Lean Six Sigma Money Belt Action Plan.
Continue Reading "Use Just-In-Time Training to Accelerate Lean Six Sigma Results"
Posted by Jay Arthur in Agile Lean Six Sigma, Improvement Insights, Lean, Six Sigma.
