This is a blog that chronicles some of my ideas and thoughts about statistics, the R programming language for statistical computing, and related topics.

I’m an engineer and quality manager by profession and training, and increasingly a keen follower of the data revolution that we are witnessing today. As a veteran of many quality initiatives and programs in large organizations, I’ve come to understand the importance of data driven problem solving in driving good decision quality, and have come to appreciate the role of data in solving complex engineering and business problems.

I believe that statistical numeracy and an ability to constantly learn and challenge one’s own mental models are increasingly linked, and that these are vital skills in future human societies of any kind. As someone who isn’t a trained statistician that is deeply interested in statistics, this space is to me like a sounding board and a personal log. I hope to maintain ideas, observations and more, as I learn more and more about statistics and statistical models, data driven problem solving, data visualization and machine learning.

My current interests in the broad field of data science are the use of R for statistical analysis of various kinds, with a focus on statistical quality control, significance and hypothesis testing and time series analysis. Increasingly, I’ve developed a keen interest in forecasting methods, and the uses of machine learning in these problems. Coming from the Minitab user base, I’m finding R interesting, rewarding and challenging – all at the same time!

I believe chronicling some of my thoughts here along my journey will help me and others who may be walking down the same path!