Run charts are a valuable improvement tool, enabling quick
and simple data display and interpretation. As teams collect local data to better understand the problem and system producing it, run charts can enable teams to make performance visible to various stakeholders and study variation in data over time.
To support visual analysis, there are four “rules” that are useful to consider when interpreting run charts to identify signals in data that are unlikely to be due to random variation or to understand whether a change is actually an improvement.
These resources provide an overview of the elements and purposes of run charts as well as detailed guidance to support run chart interpretation and analysis.
- Download the Run Charts: Overview – Quick Reference (PDF)
- Download the Run Charts: Rules for Analysis – Quick Reference PDF)
Related Resources
Run Charts: A Tool for Analysis in Improvement Science (Summit 2020)
Learning from Variation: A Case-Based Approach (Summit 2022)
