© 2021 Institute for Healthcare Improvement.


David Williams, Executive Director, IHI

Understanding variation is critical when you’re working to improve a process or system. In this activity, you’ll learn to distinguish between two types of variation: common cause and special cause. (And you’ll get to eat candy!)

In the first video, David Williams explains how to participate in the activity. In the second video, he talks with Afiesha McMahon, IHI Senior Project Manager, about what the candy counting game teaches us about variation and how these lessons apply in the real quality improvement work. You can show these videos in a group setting to help you facilitate this activity or watch them by yourself ahead of time.

Watch the debrief video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9liODQlozWQ