Reading a variance table without a statistician

The variance table in our packs has four columns a director can actually use: what was planned, what happened, the difference in the unit you already speak (rooms, bags, lari), and a short cause that is allowed to be weather, a cancelled bus, or “we do not know yet.”

You do not need a statistician to read it. You need to refuse a cause that is only an adjective. “Weak demand” is not a cause. “Three wet Tuesdays and a tour operator that released late” is a cause.

Walk one row

Start at the unit. If the row is rooms, do not convert it to a percentage until you know how many rooms that percentage was. Ten percent of a forty-room house is not the same conversation as ten percent of a three-room guesthouse.

Then ask whether the cause would still be true if you covered the number with your hand. If the sentence collapses without the figure, it was written to decorate the figure.

What we will not put in the table

A column called “opportunity.” A traffic-light colour that hides a missing week. A footnote that says the model is “directional.” If we cannot name the unit, we leave the row out and say so in the letter.

Bring a table you already hate to a model review. Hatred is often a sign the columns were drawn for someone who does not have to staff a breakfast.