Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs – April 2015

Welcome to April 2015 edition of Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

For the month, we cast our net to search for articles for “Improving measures of measurement of process”, so as to look at the process improvement in the deep nooks and corners. The result seems to be a mixed bag. However, we will take what is available and continue with a more defined journey in next few episodes as we. So, here are some exploratory articles on Improving measures of measurement of process.

Following a measurement journey– …It can be helpful to think of the measurement activities in an improvement project as a journey:

Source: Lloyd, R. Quality Health Care: a guide to developing and using indicators. Jones & Bartlett Publishers 2004

Measures – Measurement is a critical part of testing and implementing changes; measures tell a team whether the changes they are making actually lead to improvement. In improvement work, the team should use a balanced set of measures. Plot data for these measures over time using a run chart, a simple and effective way to determine whether the changes you are making are leading to improvement. For more information: See How to Improve: Establishing Measures

Types of Measures – Structure: Physical equipment and facilities Outcome Measures – The final product, results, Process Measures – How the system works, Balancing Measures– looking at a system from different directions/dimensions.

Measuring Healthcare Quality: An Overview of Quality Measures briefly looks at what are the types of quality measures , how quality measure are developed, where do data on …quality come from, how are the quality measures used, what’s next in quality measurement.

Using benchmarking measurement to improve performance over time – Participation in external benchmarking activities is not….. the ultimate goal. It is the use of data derived from benchmarking to initiate and sustain performance improvement over time.

This paper has placed very relevant quotes as the sidebar, which subtly but equally definitively enhances the message of the article. We have placed them here below:

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.” – John Ruskin

“The goal is to transform data into information and information into insight.” – Carly Fiorina

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain

“Data do not speak for themselves – they need context, and they need skeptical evaluation.” -– Allen Wilcox

“It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.” – George Bernard Shaw

“If you think that statistics has nothing to say about what you do or how you could do it better, then you are either wrong or in need of a more interesting job.” – Stephen Senn

“In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

We will continue with present subject in its more definitive aspects in the next few episodes.

In the meanwhile, in the second part, we have Suresh Lulla’s Blog, from among the Influential Voices Blogroll Alumni. Here are the previous posts on this blog:

• Managing for Quality

• Problem Solving in 4 Steps – 2

• Problem Solving in 4 Steps

• Who Pays for Bad Quality? Is there a Solution?

• Supplier Solutions. MADE IN INDIA

We turn to our regular sections now:

Bill Troy, ASQ CEO has presented the first of the three part blog series ‘A Leader’s Roadmap to a Culture of Quality: Building on Forbes Insights-ASQ Leadership Research: Part 2 of 3’. Roy Lawton – author of the book Creating a Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation and Speed – proposes to provide the missing and necessary specifics for successful action. In the Part One last month, he spelt out how to successfully address point #1 – All employees must apply the four key elements of any strategy for building a quality culture.  (Page 8: Boeing’s Ken Shead). In Part Two here, he spells out how to successfully address point #2 – CLOSELY UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS, on the road to cultural transformation.

Bill Troy also critically discussed how to Encourage The Next Generation of STEM Professionals. Julia McIntosh, ASQ communications , in her follow through ‘March Roundup: What To Do About STEM Education?’ has summed up a wide ranging views of the fellow ASQ Influential Voices bloggers.

We then move over to ASQ TV Episodes: Quality and Forensics – In this episode, we will see how quality plays an important role in forensic community and how forensic techniques were used to resolve a construction dispute. We will (also) learn how to create a Correction Action Request and we talk to one of the stars of the hit television show, CSI.

Linked videos:

• Forensic Technique Reveal Conclusive Evidence

• The How and Why of Auditing

o Corrective Action Request

Our ASQ’s Influential Voice for the month is – Chad Walters

Chad Walters is a lean consultant with Lean Blitz Consulting out of Augusta, Georgia, and blogs about Lean applications in sports organizations at the Lean Blitz Consulting blog. He has been practicing lean and continuous improvement for more than eight years. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt certified by ASQ and received his MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and B.S. in chemical engineering from Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana.

Over and above his views as ASQ Influential Voice, here are some other posts on Chad Walter’s blog:

§ Presentation on the Designated Hitter and Root Cause Analysis

§ Should the Buffalo Bills Play Sunday Despite The Driving Ban?

§ Did Eric Hosmer’s First Base Slide Cost The Royals?

§ LinkedIn Post: Business Strategy and Clothes Dryers

He certainly loves to dig more into how sports can better utilize quality.

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival as we pursue our Improvement journey ………….