Management Books

• SPC at the Esquire Club: by Donald J. Wheeler, Kaz Koike
  A unique and interesting case study. Another example of how versatile Quality tools are. To us this is one of the best illustrations that the often heard "it can't work here" is most likely an inaccurate statement.

• Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos by Donald J. Wheeler
  An excellent guide to what you must understand about variation to effectively improve your organization.

• Short Run SPC: by Donald J. Wheeler
  

• Quality Improvement Through Planned Experimentation: 2nd Edition by Thomas Nolan, Lloyd P. Provost, Ron Moen
  An excellent handbook on how to use experiments to learn about your organization and how to use that knowledge to improve your organization. The book integrates Dr. Deming's ideas and design of experiments thinking. Forward by W. Edwards Deming. 3rd edition is on the way.

• Understanding Statistical Process Control: 2nd edition by Donald J. Wheeler, David S. Chambers
  Describes how to use count data effectively, the right way to assess process capability and the right and wrong ways of computing control chart limits. Provides information on flow charts and pareto charts.

• An Accidental Statistician: The Life and Memories of George E. P. Box by George E. P. Box
  From early childhood to a celebrated career in academia and industry, acclaimed statistician George E.P. Box offers personal insights and a first-hand account of his professional accomplishments in this insightful memoir. It features thoughts from more than a dozen researchers and practitioners on how Box shaped their careers; previously unpublished photos from Box’s personal collection; and Forewords written by two of Box’s closest colleagues and confidants. An Accidental Statistician is a charming, intimate account of a great intellect’s life that will appeal to math and engineering professionals.

Management Articles

• Integrating Experimental Design and Statistical Control for Quality Improvement by Harriet Black Nembhard, Rene Alverde Ventura
  "As a result of a successful case study, we advance a methodology for combining design of experiments (DOE) and cumulative score (Cuscore) charts to control and monitor an industrial process subject to a feedback control scheme. We use DOE to screen out the most important variable from a larger set of variables."

• Working with Rare Events by Donald J. Wheeler
  "Whenever the average count per time period drops below 1.00 you are working with rare events. ... When this happens you should shift from counting the events per time period and instead measure the area of opportunity between the rare events. Here you cease to get a value every time period, and instead get a value every time you have an event."

• Variation, So Meaningful Yet So Misunderstood by Lynda Finn
  "assuming an issue is the result of a special cause will send you on a hunt for the special cause. Walter Shewhart and Deming proved that special cause thinking will lead you astray most of the time. So, if in your company there is often a search for whom or what is to blame before questioning whether the problem is built into the current processes and systems, then you too are likely wasting time and misidentifying causes."

• A Study of Statistical Process Control by Henry R. Neave
  

• Statistics and Reality by David Kerridge, Sarah Kerridge
  "W. Edwards Deming distinguished between two types of statistical study, which he called 'Enumerative' and 'Analytic'. This sounds theoretical, and it is: but it is also a very practical."

• An Accidental Statistician by George E. P. Box, R.A. Fisher
  "At one point I was having trouble with a statistical problem. A very senior scientist suggested that I contact R. A. Fisher, who asked me to come and see him. The Army did not know how to send a sergeant to see a professor, so they made a railway warrant that said I was taking a horse to Cambridge. It was a beautiful day. Fisher said "let's go and sit under that tree in the orchard, I'll look up the probits and you look up the reciprocals". The specific problem was soon solved and set me thinking about estimating data transformations."

• Why I dislike the name Six Sigma by Rafael Aguayo
  "Lack of management appreciation of the need for participation. Deming emphasized joy in work, teamwork and listening to your people. This seems to be totally lacking in Six Sigma. In fact major SS practitioners emphasize practices that will destroy teamwork, company cohesiveness and pride. ... Failure to appreciate the company as a system. Making improvements to one variable, such as material costs, can lead to higher labor costs. Lowering costs in one department can lead to higher costs overall for the company. These mistakes can be avoided if one understands the systemic nature of a company."

• Special Cause Signal Isn’t Proof A Special Cause Exists by John Hunter
  The control chart is a good way to keep us focused on common cause thinking for improvement. It is also very useful in flagging when it is time to immediately start using special cause thinking (since timing is key to effective special cause thinking)...

• Some Problems of Statistics and Everyday Life by George E. P. Box
  "The wise investigator expends his effort not in one grand design... but in a series of small designs, analysing, modifying and getting new ideas as he goes."

• Development of the Theory of Experimental Design by R.A. Fisher
  Proceedings of the International Statistical Conferences, 1947.

• Using Design of Experiments as a Process Road Map by Davis Balestracci
  "The current design of experiments (DOE) renaissance seems to favor factorial designs and/or orthogonal arrays as a panacea. In my 25 years as a statistician, my clients have always found much more value in obtaining a process "road map" by generating the inherent response surface in a situation."

• A useful method for model-building II: Synthesizing response functions from individual components by William G. Hunter
  "There is a vast difference between quality control and quality improvement, passive statistical tools such as Shewhart control charts are useful for quality control, to determine whether the process under surveillance shows any signs of going out of its state of statistical control. On the other hand, more active tools are needed for quality and productivity improvement. In order to improve a process or a product, it is often helpful to use experimental designs in developing a mathematical equation or set of equations to relate the response(s) of interest to important process and environmental variables. Such models can aid in understanding how the relevant processes work so they can be modified in desirable ways. This report contains a practical suggestion that model-builders may find helpful. It involves synthesizing response functions of interest by starting with the simpler task of constructing models for component responses or subsets of them."

• Managing Our Way to Economic Success: Two Untapped Resources by William G. Hunter
  "American organizations could compete much better at home and abroad if they would learn to tap the potential information inherent in all processes and the creativity inherent in all employees."

• Analytical studies: a framework for quality improvement design and analysis by Lloyd Provost
  "An enumerative study is one in which action will be taken on the universe that was studied. An analytical study is one in which action will be taken on a cause system to improve the future performance of the system of interest. The aim of an enumerative study is estimation, while an analytical study focuses on prediction. Because of the temporal nature of improvement, the theory and methods for analytical studies are a critical component of the science of improvement."

• Dr W. Edwards Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge
  "Improvement requires change. Change requires a plan. Such a plan is a prediction – if we follow this plan, we believe that certain benefits will accrue. Learning comes from observing the implementation, and modifying further iterations of the plan accordingly. Managers in an improving organisation will see themselves as experimenters and as leader of the learning cycle."

Management Web Sites and Resources

• The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog by John Hunter
  

• W. Edwards Deming Institute by W. Edwards Deming
  Founded by W. Edwards Deming the institute carries forward his philosophy. The site includes information on the institutes annual conferences and offers newsletters online.

• PQ Systems
  Software and services provider related to SPC tools. The site includes a blog.

• Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement by George E. P. Box, William G. Hunter
  Founded in 1985 by George E.P. Box and the William Hunter at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. The technical report series is one of the best online management resources with reports authors including: George Box, W. Edwards Deming, Peter Scholtes, Kaoru Ishikawa, William Hunter, Gipsie Ranney and Brian Joiner. Sadly the center has abandoned the ideas of George Box and Bill Hunter. It once was a very important center for thought about management improvement. The legacy left by Box and Hunter has been lost. I find this very sad and a huge insult to the memories of those great men. Bill Hunter was my father and built the Center after he was diagnosed with fatal cancer because it was a useful way to provide benefit to the world. Seeing that cause abandoned I find insulting and extremely unfortunate for all those that no longer have the possibility of benefiting from the vision of Box and Hunter through the center. Thankfully many people that learned from them have continued to build upon their work. And their books, writing and other material continue to inspire those interested in management improvement.

• Effective Innovation by Bill Kappele
  Blog by Bill Kappele on design of experiments and statistics.

• Statistics for Experimenters by George E. P. Box, J. Stuart Hunter, John Hunter, William G. Hunter
  Web site for the classic book on design of experiments. Includes a search engine for statistics sites for managers.

• Curious Cat Management Improvement Connections by John Hunter
  The aim of Curious Cat Management Improvement Connections is to contribute to the successful adoption of management improvement to advance joy in work and joy in life. The site provides connections to resources on a wide variety of management topics to help managers improve the performance of their organization. The site was started in 1996 by John Hunter.

• Science of Improvement by Cliff Norman
  

• Life and Legacy of William G. Hunter by John Hunter, William G. Hunter
  George Box, Stuart Hunter and Bill wrote what has become a classic text for experimenters in scientific and business circles, Statistics for Experimenters. Bill also was a leader in the emergence of the management improvement movement. George Box and Bill co-founded the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bill Hunter was also the founding chair of the ASQ statistics division.

• Stats Made Easy by Mark Anderson
  Blog on design of experiments and statistics by principal at Stat-Ease.