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Information Overload

9 February, 2019 by James Lawther 2 Comments

A broken valve In the early hours of the morning on March 28th 1979, a valve broke on a water pipe. That pipe was at the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.  The failure resulted in the most serious nuclear incident that the USA has ever seen. Chain reaction The broken valve led to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: accident prevention, analysis paralysis, clarity, data is not information, data presentation, key performance indicators, mixed messages

The Tiger That Isn’t by Blastland and Dilnot — Book Review

1 November, 2018 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The Tiger That Isn't

What is it about? According to its authors: “Mathematics scares and depresses most of us, but politicians, journalists and everyone in power use numbers all the time to bamboozle us.  It is liberating to understand when numbers are telling the truth or being used to lie.” According to Steven Poole at the Guardian: “This very elegant book… […]

Filed Under: Blog, Book Tagged With: analysis paralysis, Andrew Dilnot, data integrity, data is not information, key performance indicators, measurement, Michael Blastland, targets

Pointless Conversations

30 August, 2018 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Management meetings Do you ever lose the will to live in management meetings?  Sometimes they are so bad I want to scoop out my eyeballs with a tea-spoon.  I’d do anything to get out of the conversation. I hate futile meetings that are a waste of everybody’s time — usually highly paid people’s time. Here […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: bureaucracy, command and control, cost saving, diversity, effective meetings, employee performance measures, forced fun, key performance indicators, management style, motivation, objective setting, office productivity, performance management, targets, waste, wasted intellect

The Proxy for Performance

6 April, 2018 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Proxy

Did you hit your numbers? It is a common challenge. You must make your numbers. You must smash your sales target You must slash your budget You must decimate your waiting times If you’ve hit your numbers then you’ve met your performance goals. Numbers and performance are synonymous. But the numbers are only a proxy […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: cheating, Goodhart's law, key performance indicators, measurement, objective setting, performance management, systems thinking

There Are Lies, Damned Lies and Descriptive Statistics

1 February, 2018 by James Lawther 7 Comments

Anscombe’s quartet Here are some interesting numbers for you. Interesting in a geeky sort of way… They are 4 sets of readings for two variables, X and Y. That is a horribly algebraic. It brings back memories of a comprehensive school deep in the 1980’s. All polyester blazers and fermenting gym kit. Let me bring the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: Anscombe's quartet, average, data is not information, gemba, key performance indicators, management by wandering around

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