Dawn Keller

Quality assurance manager and reliability engineer

Dawn Keller is the quality assurance department manager at Minitab. Her background is in quality and reliability engineering. Keller worked in the manufacturing sector for more than a decade before joining Minitab and the software development industry.

 

Wed, 05/27/2015 - 14:45
Continuous Process Improvement and the Homework Dilemma Challenge the process, but only when appropriate
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 14:45
Generally speaking, I have a problem with authority. I don’t like being told what to do or how to do it. I’m not proud of that. I recall debating with my high school trigonometry teacher regarding the value of the homework “process”—specifically…
A Mommy’s Look at Scoliosis A study in correlation
Wed, 03/11/2015 - 13:55
Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis. That was the diagnosis given to my then 8-year-old daughter last January. In short, it means that she’s young (under 10), she exhibits an abnormal amount of spinal curvature, and there’s no identified cause (aside…
How to Talk to Your Kids About... Quality Engineering Statistical sampling and the toy box
Wed, 01/28/2015 - 14:05
I really can’t make this stuff up. I wrote a post a couple of years ago titled: “How to Talk to Your Kids About... Quality Improvement,” in which I lamented about Community Hero Day in my daughter’s first-grade class and the need to explain to her…
A Mommy’s Look at Lyme Disease Statistics Be vigilant, no matter what the Pareto chart tells you
Thu, 05/30/2013 - 11:22

I spend the majority of my time entrenched in statistics. Using statistics. Studying statistics. Developing and testing statistical software. Statistics guide many of my decisions at work and in life. That’s the world of an engineer. For…
Cost of Quality Well, hello, my old, complex friend...
Fri, 02/15/2013 - 10:10
As I sat down to examine cost of quality (COQ) at Minitab, I flashed back to my certified quality engineer (CQE) exam almost 20 years ago. I can still vividly remember staring down at a particularly difficult cost of quality question and wondering…
What to Do When Data Analysis Isn’t an Option Data gathering can sometimes lose out when you’re juggling cost, quality, and delivery
Wed, 08/22/2012 - 11:41
I’m a quality engineer, so it probably goes without saying that I like gathering and analyzing data. Minitab and I spend a significant amount of time together. Some might say our relationship is unhealthy—perhaps even codependent. But Minitab and I…
Quality Engineering… a Statistically Significant Happiness Advantage We are part of a noble profession
Thu, 06/28/2012 - 14:54
I love product development and quality engineering. There are days when I can’t believe that I actually get paid to do this. Between you and me, I’d do this work for a lot less money. In fact, even on the days that I hate the particular…
An Engineer’s View of Career Development and Training Yes, managers should discuss ‘soft skills’ and ‘feel’ things, but I don’t
Mon, 05/14/2012 - 11:48
I remember a time in my career when I mistakenly thought I knew statistics—really knew statistics. It was before I met Yanling Zuo, Michelle Paret, Eduardo Santiago, and a whole host of other statistical experts. I was a quality engineer, and I’d…
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Good Process Work The key is to develop process within continuous improvement
Wed, 03/21/2012 - 12:25
I am 100-percent certain that on the day they asked me to manage at Minitab, they did not tell me I would have to do so much process work. They didn’t clearly articulate that as a manager, I’d spend a considerable part of my time discussing how we…
How to Talk With Your Kids About… Quality Improvement Quality engineers, take heart. And a bag of M&Ms.
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 13:21
My six-year-old came home from school one day very excited to let me know that Maggie’s mommy was a doctor and she helped sick people get better. Seems Maggie’s mommy was a “community hero.” My unspoken response: Not Maggie’s mommy again. You see,…