Here is an analytical question, where can you see variation? It sounds like a dumb question, you are probably looking at the screen wondering what on earth I am smoking. Let me ask it another way: When you are shopping and try on two pairs of jeans, identically sized, do they fit exactly the same […]
How to Use Logic Trees and The Power of Leverage
The long list Whatever you do for a living there are lots of ways you could improve things. If you were to sit down with a pen and paper for five minutes and start to write a list I have no doubt that it would be a long list, a long, long list. Getting to […]
Fish Bone Diagrams – Helpful or Not?
I was late for work. I am always late for work (ask my boss, he will confirm this) One of the guys I work with told me I need to work out why I am late all the time and fix it before I get the sack. He suggested I do some Fish-bone analysis and a […]
Dangerous Steps and Statistical Process Control
I wrote about process noise and variation, about the way random noise in a system can make it look as if results have changed, when the truth is that the system hasn’t altered at all. This is all very clever, it is interesting to know that the system hasn’t changed but it doesn’t answer the […]
Obvious With Hindsight
A rather unhelpful phrase It implies that you are pointing out the obvious But sometimes the obvious is really worth pointing out Sometimes the obvious is only obvious once it has been pointed out Here is an example for you… The graph shows the number of Google searches for the term “bread” A dip in […]