The Misleading “Miscellaneous” Label & Problem Solving

Several years ago I was helping my mother-in-law clean out her basement. With every box I moved upstairs, I asked her if she wanted to keep it or throw it out. One of the boxes was labeled “Pencils/Miscellaneous”, and it made me laugh, because the label on the box did not help qualify or quantify what was inside at all.

This real life event helps to explain why it is so important to never use a “miscellaneous” category when data is being gathered – especially when it is being gathered for problem solving. By identifying a data category as “miscellaneous”, it allows the people who are gathering the data with an easy out – literally every piece of data can be put into the “miscellaneous” category.  Also, after all of the data is gathered, how can the “miscellaneous” subset of data be utilized effectively – which, by the way, is often the single largest category of data gathered? 

Think about this example. A factory makes a product that is selling well, but product defects are reducing output by 25%. The plant manager asks to have data gathered on the reasons for the product defects. The data gathering team gathers data and the results are as follows --

1.      Leaks: 20%

2.      Broken Housing: 15%

3.      Miscellaneous Defects: 65%

Even if they fixed the ‘Leaks’ and ‘Broken Housing’ defects, they would still have 65% of the defects which they don’t know anything about and cannot do anything with. I have seen actual examples that fit this scenario. 

So resist the temptation to use a “miscellaneous” category when you gather data for problem solving, or when you label boxes for storage. It will minimize additional work and will often progress problem solving quickly and efficiently.