I recently presented “Statistical Thinking for OD Professionals” for the Organization Development Network annual conference. It was well received, but more important, it reignited in me a passion for the use of control charts in decision making for everyone who uses numbers, or needs to use them for decisions that guide the future.

That reigniting was once again fueled by the Nov, 16, 2016 article in Quality Progress titled, “Understanding Variation—26 Years Later” (Nolan, T., Perla, R. J., and Provost, L.).

My passion comes from remembering a few “big, bad” decisions over the years and many smaller mistakes in the misuse or lack of use of appropriate statistical tools. Here are a few:

 …