Everyone knows the old saying that while we’re all entitled to our own opinions, we’re not entitled to our own facts. Put another way, hard data leaves no room for nuance. Without data—reliable data—there is no continuous improvement. Without accurate data, traceability, and monitoring, the improvement cycle simply doesn’t exist.
This reflection was sparked by an anecdote from a recent health‑IT conference where we were presenting Inverbis. A Microsoft executive, talking about the importance of data‑driven management, reminded the audience of William Deming—now largely forgotten—whose management science reshaped Japanese industry in the twentieth century (leading, among other things, to Japanese cars flooding the U.S. market). Deming devised the PDCA cycle—Plan, Do, Check, Act—the scientific method applied to process improvement.
Deming is credited with saying, “If you can’t describe what you are doing in the form of a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” A PDCA cycle cannot run without data for analysis, without traceability, without monitoring. During the session, the executive showed Deming’s photo and asked whether people recognized him. The younger the attendee, the blanker the look. Yet in hallway conversations one term kept popping up: lean methodologies—this time in the realm of hospital management—with many professionals committed to them.
Some argue that lean management without PDCA is just a toolbox that does not provide any continuous learning. Lean, focused on eliminating waste and optimizing processes, still needs a structured improvement method. “Lean” literally means “trimmed,” i.e., no waste or under‑used resources; its goals are greater efficiency, fewer errors, and ultimately better patient care.
That’s where process mining becomes essential. We’d love to see Deming’s reaction—he died in 1993—if we could show him how mining provides evidence of how work was actually carried out, real data free of biases and opinions, captured automatically. It slashes analysis time and effort by mapping paths, finding root causes, and pinpointing repetitive work—complete with a full historical perspective. Lean, PDCA, and process mining feed on one another. You don’t have to be lean before you mine your processes; use process mining to accelerate your lean rollout.
Combining lean management, process mining, and the PDCA cycle can transform how hospitals and clinics are run, leading to safer, more efficient, and more patient‑centered care.
And of course, we’re here to help.
Check some of our videos:
- New ➽ ICU discharges: where time slips away
- Fast Track vs Standard Path: Which is Better for Diagnosing Colorectal Cancer
- What causes discards in parenteral nutrition preparation? Key factors revealed!
- How Process Mining Uncovers Medication Administration Issues
The Prompter.io is our open project to share our experience—and that of others—in integrating language models and data-to-text techniques into process intelligence. Don’t miss it!
Also here are some links of interest:
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