Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos

by Donald J. Wheeler

Book Overview

We live in the Information Age, and much of that information comes to us in the form of numbers. But before numerical information can be useful it must be analyzed, interpreted, and assimilated.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0945320353
• ISBN13: 9780945320357
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: SPC Press, Inc.
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Exceptional Book on Process Improvement - Even for Dummies

Bought this book to get a glance to topic "process improvement" and to gain understanding in process improvement practices. Reading the book really impressed me, especially the way how the author manages to explain everything from the beginning. Considering myself as inexperienced in mathematics and in process improvement, this book really bursted my understanding of managing process variation! Understanding Variation is a well-written book and easy to understand. I recommend it to everyone interested in process improvement!

Enlightening

I am a non-technical, non-mathematician, steeped in Deming-oriented Continuous Improvement, which I teach at university-level. This is simply the best (and easiest to read) book on the subject of 'control-chart' based SPC. It's in a class all by itself. It's an enlightening book about Life. It will change the way you look at and understand phenomenon. I wish Wheeler would write a series of such books, treating the rest of mathematics in as enlightening and cogent a fashion.

Deming for Dummies

Wheeler serves up the best concise easily understood description I have ever seen for both statistical process control and the Deming management philosophy. No executive or manager responsible for imporving an organization can afford ignorance of the information in this compact volume. A leader blessed with competent statisticians may find that Wheeler's book suffices without other material covering the matter in greater depth. Leaders lacking support from statistically sophisticated staff may feel a need to stiffen their understanding with Deming's _Out of the Crisis_ and _The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education_. Even without a thorough understanding of continuous improvement philosophy, Wheeler's book, properly applied to your business, should easily offer an RoI well over 1,000,000%.

Once you read this, you'll never view the world the same way

The major theme of this book is Variation. Wheeler does an excellent job at explaining this important idea. Although these ideas have been around for over 70 years I have found no other book that even comes close to presenting this topic in such an accessible manner. Wheeler provides managers a rational way to look at daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly figures and tell whether the actions they take have resulted in improvement. This is the greatest value of this book - with an understanding of variation it is possible to define what improvement looks like when presented with numbers. This is sure to become a classic. Every person, Managers in particular, looking to improve any operation will be served well by reading this book. How many times has someone declared that an improvement has taken place only to find out later it was all smoke and mirrors? This book will provide the concepts and tools to be able to see through the smoke and mirrors. No more opinions, no more tap dancing, "show me the data" and we'll see if there is improvement. Read it - you will see figures in a new light.

Great book for understanding SPC and process control

My manager at work recommended this book to me as I was about to begin an SPC project. This book was a lifesaver. Wheeler has made SPC easy to understand. As a beginner, I found the work invaluable and I still use it for reference material today