Darryl Seland

West Chester

Editorial Director at Quality Magazine

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Articles

How Can We Afford to? How can we afford not to?

3 weeks ago | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Question: How can we afford to do that? Response: How can we afford not to? It’s a rather common exchange. And concise. It stems from a difference in perspective about the facts, perhaps a difference of opinion about a situation. Its causes. Its effects. What it comes down to is a choice, not necessarily between two distinct actions, but rather the cost of action versus inaction. It’s actually dubbed COI, or the Cost of Inaction.
Preparation: Fail to prepare, fail to succeed

1 month ago | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Famous college basketball coach John Wooden said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." It’s hard to argue with someone who won ten national championships in a 12-year span. It’s actually an offshoot of a Benjamin Franklin quote, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." And I am sure you would have no problem believing these are not the only two famous quotes about preparation. There are plenty, and each inextricably links preparation with success.
Versus: Two ends of the same spectrum

2 months ago | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Management Quite a few years ago, I wrote a column about two movies I had recently seen. They were both about baseball. One was Moneyball, the other Trouble With the Curve. Both movies seemed to be advocating for different ends of the same argument that was taking place in the sport at the time: the efficacy of analytics, as applied in particular to the scouting of talent.
You Say Goodbye And I Say Hello

Feb 14, 2025 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Last month we introduced you to the newest member of the Quality staff, Koala T. Bear. This month, we bid a fond farewell to a long-standing member of Quality and the quality industry, our retiring publisher, Buck Bicek. Below are just a few of the sentiments from his friends and colleagues on his 30-plus years of service to our industry:Congratulations to you, Buck, as you retire from what I can attest to as a wonderful, fulfilling, and rewarding career.
From Fundamental To Innovation and Back to Fundamental

Dec 3, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

You hear it quite often in sports. When an individual or team is playing poorly, the advice is, “return to the fundamentals.”Like any discipline, it starts with a foundation. When you struggle, you revisit the basics and build from there, just like you did when you first learned. With football, for instance, it’s about blocking and tackling, running and catching, often leading to the spectacular run or catch that changes the game.
How Did You Know? More Important Than When?

Nov 4, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

I recently attended the ASQ Measurement Quality Division (MQD) annual event in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. As a wrap-up to the event (well, just before the big event, the raffle), the event speakers gathered for an informal roundtable discussion. One of the questions asked of the panel was along the lines of, “How did you get into quality and metrology?”Dilip Shah, an ASQ Fellow and principal of E = mc3 Solutions, told a story of when he was seven years old (that’s right, seven).
Change and Adaptability

Oct 1, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Change. American author John C. Maxwell called it “inevitable.” It’s an extension of Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ quote, “There is nothing permanent except change.”That being said, the greatest tool we have to combat, or deal with, change is adaptability. Stephen Hawking said that intelligence itself “is the ability to adapt to change.” Adaptability is actually a biological necessity. We are all familiar with “survival of the fittest,” and attribute it to Charles Darwin.
Bias in Measurement Uncertainty…And Horror Movies

Sep 3, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Not so long ago, I experienced a stretch of time when I awoke seemingly every morning at the same time, 7:47. No alarm, no real reason. Just awoke at 7:47. Strange. A little creepy, but I didn’t think too much of it. Circadian rhythm and the like. However, I also began to take note that it seemed as though I would look at the clock in the evenings as well, and, you guessed it, 7:47. Again, no real reason. Just seemed like I was looking at the clock and, bam! 7:47.
The Singularity - The Promise of Technology?

Aug 14, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

I will admit it. The first time I saw the movie “The Terminator” it scared me senseless. I very much wanted to crawl under the bed and never come out. In my defense, I was only ten years old.
With Great Risk... Comes Great Reward

Jul 28, 2024 | qualitymag.com | Darryl Seland

Thomas Jefferson said, “With great risk comes great reward.” The sentiment of this quote has been quite popular and prolific, from the stock market to the self-help gurus. MMA Fighter Jon Jones is famous for having said, “The higher the risk, the higher the reward.”However, it is debatable as to whether Jefferson meant to imply any correlation between the amount of risk and the amount of reward. Am I going to say that Jon Jones is wrong, or misquoted Jefferson? No. He can beat me up.