Understanding Variation
By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. One of the four areas of Deming’s management system is “understanding variation.” The core principle underlying that concept is using data to improve while understanding what data is and is not telling you. The mistakes in interpreting data are very often related to mistaking […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). In this post I discuss another wonderful paper by Dr. Deming. The W. Edwards Deming Institute makes this paper, and many more, available on our website. As you would expect from a non-profit focused on promoting the application of his ideas these […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). The video above shows Don Berwick’s presentation at the IHI/BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13 April 2016. He starts the presentation with the Red Bead Game (see related posts on our blog: Lessons From the Red Bead […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The W. Edwards Deming Institute podcast with Dr. Sophronia (Frony) Ward, Managing and Founding Partner of Pinnacle Partners, Process Behavior Charts are the Secret to Understanding the Organization as a System (direct download), is another in our understanding variation series. Frony discusses the importance of Statistical Process Control (SPC) […]
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By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. “Change the rule and you will get a new number.” Attributed to W. Edwards Deming. The direct quote is from The New Economics. “If you change the rule for counting people, you come up with a new number.” Dr. Deming emphasized the importance of understanding what […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Lynda Finn, President of Statistical Insight and facilitator for The Deming Institute. Download the podcast with Linda: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Data Points. This podcast is the first episode of our “Knowledge In Variation Series.” Lynda discusses the importance of moving from […]
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By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Dr. Donald Wheeler and Dr. Henry Neave wrote an interesting article on the use of control charts (also known as process behavior charts) in Quality Digest recently: Shewhart and the Probability Approach Shewhart’s use of three-sigma limits, as opposed to any other multiple of sigma, did not stem from […]
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By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. I understand that some of the ideas Dr. Deming expressed challenge people’s beliefs and are difficult to accept. I can accept that. Certain exclamations I have more trouble accepting. One of the things I find annoying, in this way, is that reducing variation and […]
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By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. In the most recent Deming Institute podcast Ron Moen and Cliff Norman, of Associates in Process Improvement (API), discuss their paper (to be published in 2016), “Evolution of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge” and the “journey of learning” Dr. Deming and they have experienced. Ron […]
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This paper discusses the Healthcare Value Network’s Shingo-based assessment process (which has Deming-based principles) and provides examples of application from some of the Healthcare Value Network member organizations.
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