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Steve Epner

Outside Inside Thinking – Blog 2
January 4, 2007

Years ago, I remember asking my kids about what they were learning in school. So, I am turning the tables and I will tell you what I have been learning at Purdue. The course of study is aimed at full time executives in manufacturing and distribution. For more information on the program, call Mark Schuver at Purdue, (765) 404-3550.

Statistics If there was one class that scared me, it was statistics. All I remembered from my last class (about 40 years ago) was that statistics don’t lie, but statisticians do it for a living.

What a pleasure to meet Dr. Matt Sutton. Up front he told us he would not make statisticians out of us. He knew the impossibility of that task. What he wanted was to make us better consumers of data.

Who says academicians do not understand business? Here is a professor who knew exactly what we needed as managers and leaders of our enterprises: How to become better users of the data around us.

Most of my peers have no appreciation for what you can learn from the numbers stored in all of our computer systems. Sure, we can read a balance sheet. We can understand a profit and loss statement. We can even do simple things like compare results from last year to this year. But how many of us know to look for “variance” or how to use a “standard deviation?”

There is so much valuable information hidden in our systems. We should all hire an intern next summer who is well versed in statistics. Then let them loose on our data bases. Let them analyze and categorize data into information. Let them help you see new meaning in the most underutilized asset in most businesses.

Ask lots of questions. Make them explain what it is they see. Make sure they bring it to the simplest level. And make sure they leave behind instructions so you can keep the data up-to-date and continue to use your new found knowledge.

If we all become better consumers of information, we will become better managers.

Posted by Steve Epner on January 4, 2007 | Comments (2)

January 5, 2007
In response to: Outside Inside Thinking – Blog 2
Terry Rainwater commented:

Steve's last sentence is absolutely correct. I would suggest extreme caution when spending money for gathering data that might sound good at first blush. Hiring an intern might get some "interesting" results, but it is likely to suck in a lot of time and good people on the edges of the project. I've seen millions spent on the results of data studies that changed the way things were done, that in the end only caused a great deal of time and energy wasted by hundreds of people who were getting the same or better end results using their own hands-on knowledge and in-the-trenches experience. I've learned that "bottom-up" advice usually gets better results than "top-down" dictates based on outside data.

January 5, 2007
In response to: Outside Inside Thinking – Blog 2
Steve Epner commented:

Terry is right. You need to be careful of any open ended project. In exploring data, I am finding new ways to measure customer satisfaction. For example, looking as sales data following a complaint: Does it stay where it was? Does it drop? Does it increase? And how does the data change over a large number of incidents? It is amazing what you can learn. So be careful, but do not be afraid to experiment. Thanks for the comment.