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42 The PCB Magazine • November 2015 by Dave Dibble neW agreementS Inc. In the recently completed I-Connect007 sur- vey of readers titled, "The Data Factor(y): The Power of Data," I had difficulty segmenting the results into useful categories. In other words, what were the issues that most concerned read- ers and customers? Responses seemed to flow toward a catchall bucket that I might describe as the following: 1. What are we supposed to be measuring? 2. How should we measure it? 3. How do we get people to respond properly once we have identified what and how to measure and implemented a robust data collection system? You see, if we answer these three questions correctly, we are in good shape to become sys- tems-based, more conscious leaders and manag- ers and hence much better organizations. What to Measure I had the privilege to spend time with Da- vid Chambers, probably the country's most es- teemed statistician who constantly reminded us, "Focus on what you measure and how you measure. If you get these right, everything else will follow. If you don't get these right, it's im- possible to improve and control a system or process." We don't want to measure everything. That's a trap that companies sometimes fall into, whereby excess time and effort collecting and evaluating data produces more frustration than valuable information. Generally, about 20% of the data will give us 80% of the benefits we need to control and improve our systems, both on the manufacturing floor and in service areas. Often, when we try to measure too many things, we become inundated with mostly use- less data that obscures the important stuff we should be focused on. This is also where people stop looking at/acting on the data because it's simply too time-consuming and cumbersome The Power of DaTa: The Most Important Questions any Leader Must ask FeATure