Does counting change what counts? Quantification fixation biases decision-making

Saw this posted on LinkedIn (forget who shared it) and found it really interesting. This study, across 21 experiments and 23k participants in managerial, policy and consumer contexts, studied how numbers and quantification distorts decision-making Context: ·         Quantification is spreading and has reached into almost every personal and professional area ·         New-borns are given Apgar… Continue reading Does counting change what counts? Quantification fixation biases decision-making

The use of weak signals in occupational safety and health: An investigation

This study explored current knowledge and use of weak signals in safety. Thanks to Clive Lloyd for sharing this a couple weeks back. As you’d expect, this sort of topic, based on accidents, is pretty replete with hindsight and outcome knowledge but is interesting nevertheless. Extracts: ·        They have been defined as an “…imprecise early indication… Continue reading The use of weak signals in occupational safety and health: An investigation

How to make injury metrics suck less?

How can we make injury metrics suck less? So this came out of a conversation with somebody (thanks Jordan Vince). I’m **not** a promoter of injury measures. I think we spend FAR too much time quibbling over what are, statistically speaking, quite rare events, when we have the entire spectrum of daily work to learn… Continue reading How to make injury metrics suck less?

A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry

I’m putting together the next Research Compendium, covering indicator definitions, frameworks and examples. Showing my own bias is a focus on Nancy Leveson’s work. This post has some extracts from her article ‘A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry’. This is based on what Leveson calls “assumption-based indicators”. That is, developing… Continue reading A Systems Thinking Approach to Leading Indicators in the Petrochemical Industry