TL;DR: Words can exaggerate short-term changes and invite speculation. Charts–especially run charts–make variation, trends, and context visible, helping leaders avoid overreacting to noise and make better decisions based on how a system is actually performing. I recently saw this article in the Washington Post: This MLB season, the ball is making everyone batty Major League Baseball has been trying to reduce variation in the production of the balls that are used in games, as I’ve … Continue reading Why Charts Beat Words for Understanding Variation and Performance