tl;dr summary: Rare events like MLB perfect games are hard to analyze with simple counts. Process Behavior Charts–especially “days between events”–reveal real signals without overreacting to randomness. In my book Measures of Success, I share what I’ve learned about the…
This was in the news the other day, and it’s fun to talk about mistakes that don’t harm or kill anybody: Confetti delays Celtics-Hawks Game 4 playoffs series As the game announcers described, it was “a legitimate confetti issue” with…
This was a big mistake on the biggest stage for the biggest American sports league. I wouldn’t say it ruined the game, but it was, at minimum, a distraction that the announcers mentioned many times. Between the Super Bowl turf…
Failure is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Lean and continuous improvement. Leaders talk about learning, experimentation, and growth mindset–but in practice, early mistakes are often treated as evidence that people or ideas aren’t ready. That gap between intention…
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…
When I lived in San Antonio (2012 to 2015), I became a huge fan of the San Antonio Spurs. I mean, it’s a civic obligation there, but I really did fall in love with the team (and they won their…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #439 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Elliott Weiss, the Oliver Wight Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, having taught in the Technology and Operations Management area…
The Taguchi Loss Function says that variation from target has a cost — and that cost grows non-linearly as you drift further from center. It’s a manufacturing concept. But Steph Curry’s shooting data illustrates it better than most textbook examples.…
It’s been a while since I’ve done a “Throwback Thursday” post, but I saw some news stories late last year that reminded me of something I blogged about originally back in 2006. Back in 2006, the NBA tried switching from…
tl;dr: Bryce Harper’s so-called “bust” seasons weren’t busts at all–they were normal variation. When you plot his monthly OPS on a Process Behavior Chart, the data show consistent performance with a few true signals, not a decline. The problem isn’t…
I absolutely loved the first season of the show “Ted Lasso” (available streaming through Apple TV+). If you’re not familiar, here is a preview: Unlike my “Lean Whiskey” collaborator Jamie Flinchbaugh, I don’t follow soccer, a.k.a. football — American MLS,…
TL;DR: Shohei Ohtani’s extraordinary success as a two-way MLB star reflects more than talent–it’s a real-world example of the Harada Method, a goal-setting and self-reliance approach championed by the late Norman Bodek. This post revisits Ohtani’s story through a Lean…