Lean Blog Interviews — 413: Samantha Riley on Making Data Count and Metrics for Healthcare and Beyond

NHS England, Author of “Making Data Count”

Notes and links: https://www.leanblog.org/413

My guest for Episode #413 of the Lean Blog Interviews podcast is Samantha Riley, the Deputy Director of Intensive Support for NHS England and Improvement. Sam is the author of an amazing publication called “Making Data Count,” which you can read and experience freely online.

Sam and I are “Twitter buddies,” as she said and I follow and enjoy her tweets, especially those using the hashtag #PlotTheDots. We are both users and teachers of (and advocates for) the use of Statistical Process Control charts (aka XmR Charts or Process Behavior Charts) as taught by the statistician Don Wheeler.

Topics, questions, and links related to today’s episode include:

  • What’s Sam’s professional background and why it’s OK that she’s not a statistician
  • Why are RAG (Red Amber Green) charts or tables insufficient?
  • How do you have the conversation with boards, executives, and managers about RAG being insufficient?
    • How to bring people to the table for this learning?
  • Why are up/down comparisons and color coding leading to “knee jerk reactions”?
  • What is “spuddling“? Why is that a problem?

Spuddling: To make a lot of fuss about trivial things, as if it were important.

The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.

This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network