I received another reader question (submit yours here) and it’s about statistics, “daily Lean management,” and visualizing performance data. Hey Mark: I like your posts about control charts and data. Our health system is rolling out a “Daily Lean Management” system…
If you don't care about sports or statistical process analysis, this isn't the post for you... but it was interesting for me to try to wrap my head around the data behind a headline ("Blazers player secures $500,000 bonus by not taking 3-pointer in final game of the season") that I'll write about here in this post.
In this post, I look at the impact (or lack thereof) of targets, rankings, and incentives, when it comes to safe driving or PCI (angioplasty) procedures in a hospital cath lab. Are we improving? How do we know? How do we improve?
I'm looking to offer some workshops in beautiful downtown Orlando. In this post, I describe the workshops and invite you to take a survey if you're interested in doing them here.
Can leaders get some improvement just by asking for it? Does improvement stall out if we don't have a method for doing so? What can "process behavior" charts show us in our work today?
I’m talking about the use of “bar charts” vs. “line charts” when tracking performance measures through Lean Daily Management, Strategy Deployment, or other methods.
Short Audio Essays on Lean Thinking, Leadership, and Continuous Improvement Lean Blog Audio features short audio versions of articles from LeanBlog.org, written, read, and expanded by Mark Graban. Each episode explores practical applications of Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement,…
tl;dr: Red-green charts push leaders to react to every up and down, turning normal variation into false drama. Process Behavior Charts provide the context needed to see signal vs. noise–so leaders improve the system instead of chasing each data point.…
I had a great conversation with my fellow Lean healthcare blogger, Brian Buck, the other day. We talk about once a month or so… Brian claims I am mentoring him, but it’s a great two-way exchange and discussion that I…
TL;DR: Understanding Variation by Donald J. Wheeler is the most influential book in my Lean journey. It taught me how to distinguish signal from noise in data, avoid overreacting to normal variation, and focus leaders on improving systems instead of…
TL;DR: W. Edwards Deming and Toyota each landed on 14 core principles, independently. They overlap most around long-term thinking, leadership responsibility, respect for people, and continuous improvement. The shared lesson holds in 2026: real improvement comes from disciplined, connected management…
TL;DR: Headlines and two-point comparisons can’t prove a “sick out.” This post shows how Process Behavior Charts (PBCs) help distinguish real signals from normal variation–and why data alone can’t confirm intent or blame. As a frequent flyer on American Airlines…
