Guest post by John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004).
This post is part of our Deming on Management series that aims to provide resources to help those transforming their management system to one based on Deming’s management ideas.
Many people link Deming’s management ideas to only the use of data. While data is important, it is just a part of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge®. The use of data is important to improve as effectively as possible. But knowing how to use data well is key; using data improperly can easily create more harm than benefit.
An understanding of variation is key to using data properly inside organizations: Knowledge of Variation; Variation, So Meaningful Yet So Misunderstood; Understanding Variation; We Need to Understand Variation to Manage Effectively.
Blog posts
- Myth: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It
- Where There is Fear You Do Not Get Honest Figures
- How to Use Data and Avoid Being Mislead by Data
- How to Manage What You Can’t Measure
- Data Can Provide Insight or be Used to Mislead
- Stratify Data to Hone in on Special Causes of Problems
- The Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data
- Operational Definitions – How? By What Method? For What Purpose?
- Using Control Charts to Aid in Improving the Classroom Learning Environment
- Analyzing Data Requires an Understanding of the System Generating the Data
- Data Can’t Lie, but it can be used to mislead
- Understanding Data is Often Challenging
- Data is Important and You Must Confirm What the Data Actually Says
- An Introduction to Process Control Charts
- Variation – Learning to See Signals in the Noise
- Using Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge to Gain Insight into Data Collection
- What Loss Will a Business Suffer Due to a Dissatisfied Customer?
- Enumerative Versus Analytic Studies – Determining a Rational Basis For Action
- Taking Only the Top Percent – Confusing Luck for Exceptionalism
Articles
- Statistical Techniques Allow Management to do a Better Job
- Shewhart and the Probability Approach
- Some Statistical Logic in the Management of Quality
- Understanding and Misunderstanding Variation in Healthcare
- Analyzing Data by Don Wheeler
Books
- Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos
- The Improvement Guide
- The Tyranny of Metrics
- How Not to be Wrong: the power of mathematical thinking
- Understanding Statistical Process Control
Webcasts
- Learning with the Science of Improvement during COVID-19 with Rocco Perla and Lloyd Provost
- Rethinking Statistics for Quality Control with George Box
- Deming 101: Goals, Aims, and Analytics, by Mike Tveite
- Exploring Measurement, Presentation by Ian Bradbury
- Enumerative and Analytic Studies
- Eric Budd Presentation on Data and Operational Definitions
Podcasts