W. Edwards Deming’s ideas about leadership, systems, variation, and psychology continue to shape how organizations pursue quality and improvement. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections exploring Deming’s teachings—and how they apply to Lean, healthcare, management, and continuous improvement today. Many of these posts challenge common misinterpretations of Deming’s work, emphasizing that quality cannot be delegated and that improvement starts with leadership.
Thanks to my friends at the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value for putting together this video with me, filmed at the last Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit (hope to see you there next June). The video was a chance to talk…
tl;dr: Wells Fargo didn’t have a “bad apples” problem–it had a bad management system. Unrealistic sales quotas and fear-driven incentives made gaming the numbers easier than doing the right thing. The Wells Fargo scandal is a textbook example of how…
I’m always happy to hear current-day Toyota leaders (like Jamie Bonini) or recent Toyota leaders (like Gary Convis) share perspectives on leadership. It’s not that Toyota’s perfect, but we’re hearing about Lean concepts “straight from the source,” in a way.…
I’ve written a lot about Dr. Deming’s famous “Red Bead Experiment.” As a follow up to my workshop at February’s Society for Health Systems Conference (we played the simulation with a group there), Mike and I promised to do a…
Today’s the first day of the two-day Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, an annual event that’s being held this year near Miami. If you’re at the Summit, please find me to say hello. You can follow the event on Twitter using…
TL;DR: In the 1980s and ’90s, GM spent roughly $90 billion trying to automate its way to competitiveness. Toyota took a different path–focusing on management systems, culture, and engaging people to improve processes. The results weren’t accidental, and the lesson…
Some of you reading this might remember the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement of the late 1980s and 1990s. Many would look back and label it a “fad.” As I’ve said about Lean, it’s only a fad to those who are susceptible to fads. As I blogged about in 2006, management is often prone to...
I recently learned that a company called Anderson Continuing Education offers continuing education (CE) credits for nurses related to my book Lean Hospitals. See their page for my book. I am still trying to learn more, but they will sell the book…
We can probably all use a mid-week chuckle… I used to be a die hard fan of The Simpsons. I’ve drifted away from watching the show over time, but a friend recommended that I was the season finale. The full…
In my time working with hospitals, I’ve always been very sympathetic to front-line nurses (and other staff). They are far too often overburdened and undersupported. Work is often more difficult than it needs to be — too much hassle and…
As I’ve done before (and written about), I’ll be facilitating the famed “Deming Red Bead Experiment” on Thursday at the Society for Health Systems annual conference. See this pages with notes and slides. The intent of the exercise is to…
I’ve recently updated the eBook Practicing Lean to include a new ninth chapter, submitted by Samuel Selay. Other new chapters are by David Haigh, from Canada, and Joe Swartz (my Healthcare Kaizen co-author) . I love the diversity of perspectives in the book, as it’s…
