Bill Bellows asks is the appropriate question “How did we do on the test?” not “How did you do on the test?” Seeing that the student is partially responsible for their learning but that the teacher and the learning system provided by the school are inputs that will set the student up for success or [...]
The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term. W. Edwards Deming describing the purpose of an organization in The New Economics, page 51 When you think systemically, as Dr. Deming did, it is difficult to accept thinking seeks [...]
Jan 24 1989 – first presentation of Deming’s “System of Profound Knowledge” Knowledge of variation; statistical theory Knowledge of the distinction between common causes and special causes Knowledge about the loss from tampering Knowledge about the interaction of forces Knowledge of operational definitions Knowledge psychology Knowledge of cooperation and its benefits It is interesting to [...]
Incomplete communication often creates problems. You often don’t have to ask why 5 times to figure out the weakness in communication that lead to trouble. Over and over again most organization find problems were created, or grew, because someone that could have helped didn’t know what others knew. Making communication explicit and obvious, so that [...]
In Fourth Generation Management (I highly recommend this book, by the way), Brian Joiner provided an excellent summary of the options to get better “results” (as measured by the data used). The options are to: distort the system distort the data improve the system Obviously we hope to improve the system; and we would like [...]
Dr. Deming included the 14 points for management in Out of the Crisis. The 14 points provide some specific obligations that managers adopting a Deming management system must follow. Over time Dr. Deming realized these points were not as effective at communicating his management system and he favored using the system of profound knowledge (SoPK) [...]
Louie Paynter discussed Hallmark Building Supplies’ experience in applying Deming’s management system as a business strategy at the 2012 annual W. Edwards Deming Institute conference. Louie gives great credit to Hallmark Building Supplies’ success (in applying Dr. Deming’s ideas and improving results for the business) to working with Cliff Norman, a consultant with Associates in [...]
We are posting several short videos to provide everyone an opportunity to hear directly from Dr. Deming. It is remarkable how well the ideas he spoke of have aged even while the world has been changing rapidly. This video offers several questions that challenge us to think more deeply about current practices and perhaps help [...]
Joe Dager has posted another Business 901 podcast with a leading Deming management authority, this time with Brian Joiner, author of Fourth Generation Management, co-author of the Team Handbook and long time colleague of Dr. Deming. Early in Brian’s career he shared an office with Dr. Deming’s wife; and that led to Brian getting to [...]
Mark Graban interviewed Clare Crawford-Mason for his Lean Blog podcast. Clare produced If Japan Can… Why Can’t We?, Deming Library video series and Good News… How Hospitals Heal Themselves. She discussed quite a few important ideas including: The value of cooperation (that is often obscured by a focus on competition) Appreciation for systems Looking beyond [...]