TL;DR: Two data points don’t make a trend — whether it’s gas prices, Oscars ratings, or your team’s monthly KPIs. Snapshot comparisons (“up from last week, down from last year”) give the illusion of insight without the reality of understanding.…
Two data points aren’t a trend–but headlines, executives, and analysts keep treating them like one, whether the topic is Olympic TV viewership or business performance. Two data points are not a trend. Let’s start with an example from a recent…
tl;dr: In the blog post, we delve into MLB’s ongoing struggle with slow and lengthy games, analyzing recent rule changes aimed at reducing game time. Special focus is given to the newly enforced pitch clock for the 2023 season, its…
tl;dr Many data statements are factually true but practically meaningless. Two-point comparisons and color-coded dashboards hide whether anything has really changed. To know if performance is improving–or just fluctuating–you need to plot the dots and use Process Behavior Charts to…
TL;DR: Numbers don’t make decisions–people do. Metrics that look “good” or “bad” can be dangerously misleading when leaders ignore context, system limits, and natural variation. The Chernobyl disaster shows what happens when incomplete data, fear of speaking up, and rigid…
tl;dr: Two data points aren’t a trend. NCAA Final Four TV ratings swing up and down every year, but Process Behavior Charts show this variation is predictable noise–not something to explain or overreact to. Metrics only become meaningful when viewed…
TL;DR:Process Behavior Charts help leaders compare hospitals (or any organizations) without overreacting to rankings or small differences. By separating signal from noise, they show when performance differences are meaningful — and when they are simply the predictable result of a…
When looking at data, whether it's the number of homicides in San Antonio or some of our workplace metrics, it's tempting to overreact to a "headline" that says a measure went down in 2017 compared to 2016. But do two data points really help us understand what the real trend is? This blog post explores an approach we can use to make better decisions about our data.
So many of our business metrics are reported in terms of two-data point comparisons. How much did the metric change from last week? Web site traffic is up 14% from last month. So that’s good? Maybe. Two data points…
Patients waiting too long for the E.D. is a problem around the world. Many U.S. hospitals put up billboards that claim to shed light on how long you'll have to wait. But are the signs and numbers more confusing than helpful? Does it matter?
Two pet peeves of mine are hearing people say things like “Lean is all about reducing waste” and or “Lean is all about cost cutting” (and thankfully others are also trying to dispel that myth). Another pet peeve is people…
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.…
