Tag Shewhart

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Two Kinds of Mistakes–and the Wisdom of Shewhart, 100 Years Later

Recently, I saw someone reference a chapter from Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s book Out of the Crisis on LinkedIn–Chapter 11, titled “Common Causes and Special Causes of Improvement. Stable System.” It was a good nudge for me to revisit a…

Mark Graban
June 10, 2025

Audio, Blog

100 Years of Shewhart’s Control Charts: Why They Still Matter for Quality and Leadership

TODAY marks the centennial of one of the most significant innovations in quality management: the control chart. “A ‘special cause’ for celebration.” Brian Buck, on LinkedIn LOL. Shewhart’s Breakthrough: Understanding Variation In the early 1920s, Walter A. Shewhart, working at…

Mark Graban
May 16, 2024

Mark Graban on Eiji Toyoda on Mistakes: Give Your All, Then Write It DownJuly 6, 2026
Thanks for reading and commenting, Sid. I totally agree. When I teach about how best to react to mistakes (and…
Mark Graban on When Following “Best Practices” Is the Real Mistake: What Lean Practitioners Can Learn from Eric RiesJuly 6, 2026
Thanks for adding that history and those stories, Andy!
Andy Wagner on When Following “Best Practices” Is the Real Mistake: What Lean Practitioners Can Learn from Eric RiesJuly 5, 2026
What an outstanding book! I'm about 1/2 through, but it resonates with me in terms of my experience, business history…
Sid Joynson on Eiji Toyoda on Mistakes: Give Your All, Then Write It DownJuly 4, 2026
Our normal attitudes to see mistakes as learning opportunities. This changes completely when the mistake could create danger or damage…
Kevin Morgan on A Free Red Bead Game Simulator: Try Dr. Deming’s Experiment OnlineJune 27, 2026
I really appreciated how you used the hospital infection example to show that not every fluctuation demands a reaction. It's…

Two Kinds of Mistakes–and the Wisdom of Shewhart, 100 Years Later

100 Years of Shewhart’s Control Charts: Why They Still Matter for Quality and Leadership

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