Your Best Workers Make Mistakes

Complacency is an interesting thing. Self-satisfaction, accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. The most skilled, longest-tenured workers will need to be especially aware of complacency. If you've done the task a hundred times, there's a tendency for the brain to go on auto-pilot, leading to complacency and the opportunity to make a mistake … Continue reading Your Best Workers Make Mistakes →

Process Mapping

Have you ever made a process map? You know, a pictorial representation of the steps and arrows and decisions that make up your processes? I think it's an undervalued and underutilized tool. I add layers to my process maps — certain questions I want answered at every step of the process. I'm a Human Performance … Continue reading Process Mapping →

Human Error Is Predictable

It's easy to think of human error as random and unpredictable but the truth is that lots of study has gone into rates of human error and human reliability and it is far from random — it is intimately connected to the features of our tasks, tools, and environments. There are some stunning finds if … Continue reading Human Error Is Predictable →

Human Performance Principles

Many are aware of the current thinking around "Safety Differently" and the five principles of human performance. Principles are intended to be innately true and are the fundamental framework in which newer views of human performance hang their philosophies and processes. The five principles are generally understood to be: Error is normal. Even the best … Continue reading Human Performance Principles →

The Tragic Death of Daunte Wright

Yesterday, a 20-year old black man was killed at the hands of police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. In an apparent effort at transparency, the police have already released the body cam footage from the event. In it, the officer shouts "Taser!" several times before pulling her gun and firing a single shot at Daunte Wright, … Continue reading The Tragic Death of Daunte Wright →

A Titanic Mix-Up at Emergent

We’ve all seen by now the latest NYT reporting about Emergent and the mix-up that cost between 13 and 15 million doses of the J&J Covid-19 vaccine. As a human performance practitioner, my hair lit on fire when reading this statement: “An investigation is now underway, but federal and former company officials suspect the lot … Continue reading A Titanic Mix-Up at Emergent →

Hey, Hi

First, thanks for being here. My name is Dakota Stad and I'm a Human Performance and Quality Systems leader in the Boston Biopharma hub area and have been kickin' it in the industry for over 10 years. Prior to my current position, I held various roles in manufacturing and quality, including Deviation Investigator and CAPA … Continue reading Hey, Hi →