6 minutes
What a blended average hides Twenty-one days for “everyone” can be seven for some and sixty for others.
What you’ll be able to do Identify the practical implication of “What a blended average hides” and apply it to one live DHS decision connected to Outcomes, Not Intentions. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: When should the method be used? Document a next step for What a blended average hides: Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed. If the chart has no who, it cannot defend “no disparate impact.”
Three blends you already use Wait Completion Hire
Average days to decision. Ask the tail. Ask the breakout.
Percent who finish an application. Who drops, on which step, in which language.
Time-to-fill as one number. Who applied, who was interviewed, who stayed a year.
Your turn Open one live metric you already use.
Write: blend, breakout, or missing.
Put this lesson to work What you can change You control whether what a blended average hides changes a live DHS process connected to Outcomes, Not Intentions or remains information on a page.
What to watch for The team completes the learning, keeps the same default, assigns no owner, and never checks who carries the burden.
Your next step Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Fictional example · not DHS data
An average wait can hide a long wait Ten made-up applications have an average wait of 10 days. Looking at the individual waits changes the question you might ask next.
Days each application waited Nine applications waited 2 days. One waited 82 days. The average was 10 days. Each row is one fictional application. The dashed line marks the 10-day average. The complete individual values are in the table below. Average: 10 days Case 1 2 Case 2 2 Case 3 2 Case 4 2 Case 5 2 Case 6 2 Case 7 2 Case 8 2 Case 9 2 Case 10 82 0 30 60 90 All ten fictional waits Application Wait in days Case 1 2 Case 2 2 Case 3 2 Case 4 2 Case 5 2 Case 6 2 Case 7 2 Case 8 2 Case 9 2 Case 10 82
What the numbers can and cannot show The median is 2 days and the longest wait is 82 days. The average is mathematically correct; it does not describe every experience. We have not been told why the last case waited longer. A closer review could identify a process barrier, a recording problem or another explanation.
Bring a better question to the next review In the lesson notes, name the overall number you currently use, the variation it might hide and one additional view or question that could guide a useful change.
Carry this forward Twenty-one days for “everyone” can be seven for some and sixty for others.
You control whether what a blended average hides changes a live DHS process connected to Outcomes, Not Intentions or remains information on a page.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
Completion is shown by a scenario decision and a saved one-minute commitment.
Choose one live work object, name a change or formal escalation, assign an owner, and set the date the result will be reviewed.
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Reset this lesson
Previous lesson Next lesson Carry this into practice Distinguish an observed disparity from a causal claim and decide what evidence and follow-up are needed.
Return to the experience: What did you notice or try, whose perspective informed it, and what would you keep or adjust?
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
