Customer Reviews

Rath & Strong's Guide to Minitab: Release 14 (with CD-ROM included)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book uses the premise that you are working for a company and assigned projects based on data supplied on the CD. Great idea and a great way to learn. The book works through each scenario with explanations of the steps to perform and results analysis. This is good.
The book doesn't have an index to locate the tool you need. You have the three chapters entitled "Basic Statistics", Advanced Statistics" and "Formatting Data". If you want to find the details on how to do a T-Test, you have to look through the entire first two chapters page by page. My first thought was to look under "Basic Statistics" because the Minitab menu lists the t-test under "Statistics/Basic". The book however places it under "Advanced Statistics". Also if your data don't fall into a category similiar to the data on the CD, you won't be able to follow along with the step by step instructions.
My other complaint is the quality per dollar invested in the book. It would be a great deal if it included or incorporated the three chapters into an inclusive manual on how to use Minitab. As it stands it is a high priced 116 page booklet that may or may not suit your needs.
In summary: I learned from this book, but as a reference to keep on your desk for using Minitab, it falls short.

The book meanders through a portion of Minitab and Six Sigma. There are technical terms that are frequently not defined. There are suggestions for analysis that could be performed in certain situations, but no steps are provided. I'm a BB in our organization and had to consult my training materials to tie all the pieces together. I'm glad I bought this book because it caused me to do this extra legwork and I re-learned a lot.
Statistics for Six Sigma Made Easy was a much better book for my intended need.

I found this book an excellent companion while completing my Black Belt in 6 SIGMA (Engineering).

This book leaves the kind of wonderful quality impression that we should always expect from Rath and Strong. The details and layout are clear and thorough and it proves useful guide. This and other Rath and Strong material is beneficial, as is the work of Breyfogle III. He covered the two methodologies of Six Sigma in original definition and form. There are a number of six sigma users who merely repackage the statistical components of their previous TQM programs and rename it Six Sigma and others still define six sigma as merely a sophisticated version of TQM.
Breyfogle mentioned two methodologies of implementing six sigma, but had not come to the third, which is along the lines of Rath and Strong's. By the third methodology, I mean that of sixsigmaserver.com which uses patent pending innovations along the same lines.

I am a MBB for a finacial serives company and Rath & Strong's Guide to Minitab 14 is an extremely useful tool for the Green Belts and Black Belts under my supervision. This Minitab guide, using a Mortgage Underwriting Process case study, easily translated into non-mortage related work that we do. I would highly recommend this Guide to Minitab for any industry.