Davis Balestracci

Consultant, teacher, and author

Davis Balestracci is a past chair of ASQ’s statistics division. He has synthesized W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy as Deming intended—as an approach to leadership—in the second edition of Data Sanity (Medical Group Management Association, 2015), with a foreword by Donald Berwick, M.D. Shipped free or as an ebook, Data Sanity offers a new way of thinking using a common organizational language based in process and understanding variation (data sanity), applied to everyday data and management. It also integrates Balestracci’s 20 years of studying organizational psychology into an “improvement as built in” approach as opposed to most current “quality as bolt-on” programs. Balestracci would love to wake up your conferences with his dynamic style and entertaining insights into the places where process, statistics, organizational culture, and quality meet.

Tue, 02/20/2018 - 12:03
What Do ‘Above’ and ‘Below’ Average Really Mean?Not knowing can have very serious consequences
Wed, 06/14/2017 - 12:03
My last column mentioned how doctors and hospitals are currently being victimized with draconian reactions to rankings, either interpreted literally or filtered through the results of some type of statistical analysis. Besides the potential serious…
Understanding VariationCan we please stop the obsession with rankings and percentiles?
Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:03
Don’t tell me you’re not tempted to look when you spot a magazine cover saying, “How does your state rank in [trendy topic du jour]?” Many of these alleged analyses rank groups on several factors, then compare the groups’ sum totals of their…
What’s the Hurry?The benefits of plotting an important number over time
Mon, 04/17/2017 - 12:03
Many talk about reducing variation to improve quality. Does that include human variation, where everyone takes a different approach to improving overall improvement processes? What would happen if this variation were reduced? Would some of you…
Vital Deming Lessons Still Not LearnedAs demonstrated by these nine leadership laws of data
Tue, 03/21/2017 - 12:03
According to Mark Graham Brown, from his book Keeping Score (Productivity Press, 2006), 50 percent of the time leaders spend in meetings involving data is waste, 80 percent of the pounds of published financial data is waste, 60 percent of the…
When the Indicators I Plot Are Common Cause, What Should I Do?Avoid the urge to act on misconceptions
Mon, 02/13/2017 - 12:03
Just curious: Do you have monthly (and/or quarterly and/or even weekly) “How’re we doin’?” meetings like the end-of-year scenario described in my November and December columns last year—about budgets, financials, never events, incidents, near…
Resolve to Simplify and EvolveNo more Cro-Magnon mediocrity
Mon, 01/16/2017 - 12:03
In spite of the overwhelming odds against me, every new year I firmly resolve to reignite my relentless passion about creating a critical mass of colleagues committed to practicing improvement as “built-in” to cultural DNA using data sanity. Will…
‘Unknown or Unknowable’... Yet Shocking!The everyday use of organizational data offers a staggering hidden opportunity
Mon, 12/19/2016 - 17:30
Those of you familiar with W. Edwards Deming know that his Funnel Experiment ultimately shows that a process in control delivers the best results if left alone. Funnel Rule No. 4, also known as a “random walk”—i.e., making, doing, or building your…
‘Which of Deming’s 14 Points Should I Start With?’Answer: none of them
Mon, 11/14/2016 - 14:51
Have you ever heard something like: “I’m committed to Dr. Deming’s approach [or Six Sigma or lean or TPS, it doesn’t matter], but executives don’t seem to listen anymore. All they do is keep interrupting my very clear explanations with, ‘Show me…
Some Final Thoughts on DOE—for EveryoneIt’s all in the planning
Mon, 10/17/2016 - 14:21
Client A came to me for a consultation and told me upfront his manager would allow him to run only 12 experiments. I asked for his objective. When I informed him that it would take more than 300 experiments to test his objective, he replied, “All…
Two More Lurking Mess-Ups for Any Experiment, Designed or NotThe ‘human variation’ factor is always present
Mon, 09/19/2016 - 15:14
Referring back to June’s column, I hope you’ve found C. M. Hendrix’s “ways to mess up an experiment” helpful in putting your design of experiments training into a much better perspective. Today, I’m going to add two common mess-ups from my…