Tag Archives: Data

Visible Data

Posted on February 18, 2006 by John Hunter

Effective visual signals are important for effective management improvement: lean thinking emphasizes such ideas. Top 5 Rules of Effective Measurement Boards is an excellent post on how to make measurement effective. Take the time to find the important measures and then don’t keep data hidden in some drawer or computer file out of people’s view and therefore out of mind. Post the important data for everyone to see. Review the data as changes are made and see that the changes … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Management Excellence

Posted on January 23, 2006 by John Hunter

My comments on, Take off the Blinders [the broken link was removed]: I think the question of what other companies have management practices worth studying is interesting. The answer could be very helpful as others could learn from what those organizations do. There are at least two difficulties in identifying those organizations: 1) defining what set of criteria would indicate successful organizations 2) most often even companies that are doing many things well leave much to be desired (so picking … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, quote | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Great Charts

Posted on January 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Karl Hartig displays some excellent charts that he created (for the Wall Street Journal) on his web site. The charts seem very similar to what would result from applying Edward Tufte’s ideas. Rarely do I see charts that do such a good job of visually displaying data. The lack of such effective visual display of information is another example of how much improvement could be made just by applying ideas that are already published. The Energy production consumption chart is … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Data Based Decision Making

Posted on December 6, 2005 by John Hunter

Acumen visits Google: As a first step, we hope to collaborate with interested Googlers to find better ways to learn what works around the world. Identifying powerful solutions to poverty that are useful to people in different settings, and that are market-driven, scalable, and sustainable, is our greatest challenge. Second, we’re hoping to strengthen how the world measures both social and financial returns to investments in delivering critical goods and services to the poor. Like Google, we hold a deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Google, Management | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations

Posted on October 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Forward [the broken link was removed] (by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister) to Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations: measurement is almost always part of an effort to achieve some goal. You can’t always measure all aspects of progress against the goal, so you settle for some surrogate parameter, one that seems to represent the goal closely and is simple enough to measure. So, for example, if the goal is long-term profitability, you may seek to achieve that goal by … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

SPC: History and Understanding

Posted on September 23, 2005 by John Hunter

SPC: From Chaos To Wiping the Floor [broken link removed 🙁 it will be nice when sites start to realize breaking links is not acceptable] by Lynne Hare (who also was the 1997 Hunter Award winner) Shewhart based control chart limits more on the economics of change than on underlying probabilities. Ever the empiricist, Shewhart seems not to have trusted probability limits alone. Setting control limits at 3 standard deviations is a decision based on experience. Shewhart, Deming and others … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Statistics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Operational Definitions and Data Collection

Posted on September 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Americans’ Dirty Secret Revealed [the broken link was removed] by Bjorn Carey See also: Google News on washing hands [broken link was removed] – Soap and Detergent Association press release [another broken link was remove] A study released recently spawned a flurry of articles on washing hands. I have seen such reporting before and again I find it interesting (as sad as that might be). The stories repeatedly say things like: “Men’s hands dirtier than women’s.” The study actual was … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Measurement and Data Collection

Posted on September 10, 2005 by John Hunter

This is my response to the Deming Electronic Network message (the site is dead, so I removed the link) on measurement. I find it useful to ask what will be done with the results of data collection efforts (in order to confirm that the effort is a wise use of resources). If you don’t have an answer for how you will use the data, once you get it, then you probably shouldn’t waste resources collecting it (and I find there … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Managing with Control Charts

Posted on August 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Ideas from the Tiger’s Head by Simon Caulkin, The Observer. This is a remarkably nuanced short article on control charts given that it is a newspaper article (which normally overly simplify such concepts to the point not much of value is left). This is a critical distinction: if managers mistakenly tamper with a stable process, believing an occurrence is exceptional, they introduce an external cause, which destabilises it. Targets do the same thing. If a system is stable, as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Statistics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Targets Distorting the System

Posted on June 13, 2005 by John Hunter

I still remember Dr. Brian Joiner speaking about process improvement and the role of data well over a decade ago. He spoke of 3 ways to improve the figures: distort the data, distort the system and improve the system. Improving the system is the most difficult. There is an interesting article on the effects of distorting the system: Tony Blair says he will ensure NHS targets do not stop people from seeing their GPs when they want to, from BBC … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Statistics for Experimenters – Second Edition

Posted on March 8, 2005 by John Hunter

The classic Statistics for Experimenters has been updated by George Box and Stu Hunter, two of the three original authors. Bill Hunter, who was my father, and the other author, died in 1986. Order online: Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, and Discovery , 2nd Edition by George E. P. Box, J. Stuart Hunter, William G. Hunter. I happen to agree with those who call this book a classic, however, I am obviously biased. Google Scholar citations for the first edition … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Design of Experiments, Innovation, Management, Manufacturing, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Control Charts in Health Care

Posted on February 26, 2005 by John Hunter

This post is an edited version of a message I sent to the Deming Electronic Network. I find the “control charts in health care” thread quite interesting. From Mike Woolbert’s post [link broken, so I removed it] > I have read many comments about the 8 minute ambulance trip. > This doesn’t seem to be a system measure, but a result measure. It seems to me the 8 minute (90% of the time) measure is an attempt at a process … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Health care, Management, Quality tools, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Theory of Knowledge

Posted on January 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Deming’s Management System, as expressed in his book: The New Economics has four interdependent parts: Appreciation for a System (systems thinking) Knowledge about Variation (see: variation definition) Theory of Knowledge Psychology (the human element of management systems) Quotes on the Theory of Knowledge portion from The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming. “Management is Prediction. The theory of knowledge that management in any form is prediction” (Page 101) “Knowledge is built upon theory… Rational prediction requires theory and build knowledge … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data

Posted on August 29, 2004 by John Hunter

We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system. Often people forget that the end result is not for the number to be improved but for the situation to be improved. We hope, if the measure improves the situation will have improved. But there are many reasons this may not be the case (one number improving at the expense of other parts of the system, the failure of the number to accurately serve as a proxy, distorting numbers, etc.). Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments