On My Mind
The analytics movement is here to stay and seems to be gaining momentum. I’ll define analytics as the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data for decision making. Simply having analytics capabilities will not be a differentiator in some industries because so many organizations are getting into analytics. What will matter most is how efficient and effective your analytics system performs. For example, I hazard to guess that every Major League Baseball team has developed analytics capabilities and yet every year there are some teams who make questionable decisions and perform poorly. How should an organization structure for analytics? There is no “right” answer to this question. I suggest a diverse cross-organizational Analytics Team (A Team) at the start of an analytics journey. This team would have representatives from the major organizational units in the organization. The Top Management Team of an organization might consider creating an Office of Strategic Improvement in the longer term which could be responsible for Strategy, Quality, Analytics, Improvement, and Innovation. In this way analytics would stand a better chance of being integrated with things that matter instead of being potentially isolated in one of the organizational units. You can learn more about analytics and structuring for analytics by reading the research report on Quality, Analytics, and Big Data which is located on the RESARCH page of this website.

Interesting Stories
Chess is recognized as one of the best games to develop your analytical skills. Magnus Carlsen of Norway defends his World Chess Champion title in New York from November 11-30 against Sergey Karjakin of Russia (born in Ukraine). Carlsen is favored to successfully defend his title, but Karjakin should prove to be a formidable challenger.

Company News
The two final 2016 Strategic Improvement Systems, LLC public events have been scheduled. The Continuous Improvement Deployment Planning Workshop will be held November 30, 2016 at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. The workshop on How to Lead a Successful Kaizen Event will be held December 6, 2016 also at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth, MN. You can e-mail me at charles@sisliedtke.com to register or if you have questions.

Intriguing Reads
Hoshin Kanri (Policy Deployment) is recognized as a global best practice for developing, deploying, and achieving strategic objectives. I recently came across a useful “how to” book by Darrell Casey titled, “X Matrix: Strategy Deployment and Execution Process for Breakthrough Business Performance.” This book is a good practical guide for those just starting to implement Hoshin Kanri. You can learn more about the state of the art of Hoshin Kanri by reading the research report “The Application of Policy Deployment in Indian Companies” which is located on the RESEARCH page of this website.