Process Behavior Charts help leaders distinguish real signals from routine noise in performance data. Instead of reacting to every up or down, these charts—rooted in the work of Shewhart and Deming—show when a system has truly changed and when variation is simply part of normal performance.
These posts explore Process Behavior Charts in practical, leadership-focused ways: avoiding overreaction to red metrics, improving decision-making, building trust in data, and shifting conversations from blame to system improvement. Examples span healthcare, manufacturing, sports, and executive dashboards—where misunderstanding variation often leads to wasted effort and worse outcomes.
Many of the ideas in this archive align with the themes of my book Measures of Success: reacting less to routine variation, leading better through better questions, and improving more by focusing on system change instead of noise.
tl;dr: RAG and bowling charts trigger overreaction and hide real system behavior. Process Behavior Charts reveal whether performance is truly changing, helping leaders focus on causes instead of colors and make better improvement decisions. In my book Measures of Success:…
The average NFL score is around 44-46 total points per game — but that number hasn’t always been stable. Has scoring truly surged, or are fans reacting to short-term noise? TL;DR: NFL scoring trends reveal a real system shift–not just…
I say it a lot, but two data points are not a trend. I didn’t invent that idea, of course, but I’ve tried to help leaders and organizations stop reacting to every up-and-down in a metric through the methods I…
I’m really excited to have collaborated with Chris Chapman on a webinar that we presented jointly on Monday June 1. Here is the recording: You can get the slides and more here via this page. I’ve followed with great interest…
Year-to-date metrics often mislead leaders by hiding meaningful system improvements and exaggerating routine variation–making Process Behavior Charts a far better way to evaluate performance. Why Year-to-Date Numbers Hide What’s Really Happening in the System In my travels, I see many…
Thanks to ASQ for asking me to write this article for their “Statistics Digest” newsletter in October of 2019 – click here to access the whole issue if you’re a member. I’m posting the article here with their permission. Readers…
Shout out and hat tip to Dan Markovitz for his excellent blog post: “WHEN LEADERS TORTURE THEIR EMPLOYEES“ He makes a strong case that displaying three months of customer satisfaction this way might lead to a lot of wasted effort…
Process behavior charts offer a way to move beyond emojis, colors, and single data points by showing whether a metric is actually changing or merely fluctuating. This post explores why many common visual scorecards unintentionally drive overreaction — and how…
TL;DR:Single webinar numbers and year-over-year averages often distort reality. By using run charts and Process Behavior Charts, you can separate signal from noise, avoid overreaction, and make better decisions about growth, capacity, and investment. I manage KaiNexus’s webinar program, which…
TL;DR: A single-season drop in NFL field goal accuracy does not automatically mean kickers are “regressing.” Using Process Behavior Charts shows whether the change is meaningful or just normal variation–and why year-to-year overreaction often misses the real story. The Claim:…
Real-time feedback isn’t just for younger employees. What people of any generation want is timely, fair information they can learn from. The real risk isn’t fast feedback–it’s overreacting to normal variation. Leaders should provide frequent data and teach people how…
Happy Halloween! I’ll actually be home to hand out treats as a countermeasure for possible tricks. A year ago, I did a KaiNexus webinar on Halloween that was a lot of fun. There were only two complaints about elements of…
