Davis Balestracci
Human perception of variation and how we execute the methods of four data processes—measurement, collection, analysis, and interpretation—were discussed in part one of this column. Because human...
Davis Balestracci
Have you ever been responsible for a data collection where any resemblance between what you designed and what you got back was purely coincidental? When that happens, yet again, I say to myself, “...
Davis Balestracci
Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series on effective, focused data analysis. Part one discussed helping management deal with common cause; the first common cause strategy—...
Davis Balestracci
As you all know, the influence of W. Edwards Deming on my career and thinking has been profound. A criticism always leveled at him was that he was short on specifics—but he would always growl at...
Davis Balestracci
Let’s revisit two scenarios from my July 2012 column, “The Sobering Reality of ’Beginner’s Mind.’” First, a medical center’s Harvard MBA COO insisted on nothing less than 100-percent computer uptime...
Davis Balestracci
“If Japan Can… Why Can’t We?” was an American television episode that aired on June 24, 1980, broadcast by NBC as part of its show, NBC White Paper. That episode is often credited with beginning the...
Davis Balestracci
I am in the midst of teaching an online MBA course in statistical thinking. This is actually my second go-round, and I've heavily revised my inherited materials, which were well-meaning but had some...
Davis Balestracci
“I’m shocked... shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”
—Casablanca’s Captain Renault, as he’s closing down Rick’s Cafe... while being handed his gambling winnings
I saw an abstract of a...
Davis Balestracci
In my March 7, 2012, column, “An Elegantly Simple but Counterintuitive Approach to Analysis,” I suggested the necessity to formally assess the stability of the process producing any data—a step not...
Davis Balestracci
For those of us practicing improvement in a medical culture, presenting this “funny new statistical way” of doing things to a physician audience triggers a predictable stated reason: “This isn’t in...
