As the giants of scientific management and the quality movement long ago pointed out, work takes place in a series of interconnected processes. Improving the way we work entails controlling and improving those processes, whether they are manufacturing ones such as pellet extrusion in Pharmaceuticals, or business activities, such as loan application process in financial services. However, it's impossible to control and improve a process you do not understand. Such understanding begins with variation-a venerable subject in statistical literature, but one that is sometimes misunderstood. Too often, variation is seen merely as the enemy that must be reduced whenever it appears. But unless we achieve a full and detailed understanding of variation, it inevitably reappears and worsens. Dealing with it becomes like the arcade game Whac-a-Mole-you hammer it whenever it appears, only to have it pop up in other places.
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