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.
On weekends, I like to share videos or fun stuff that gets us thinking. Today, I’m sharing a video with the legendary Dr. Russell Ackoff where he’s speaking at a session moderated by Clare Crawford-Mason, the producer of the outstanding…
I’ve written occasionally about Lean efforts in government (see a list of posts here). There are formal Lean government efforts at varying levels of maturity and formality in a number of states, including Iowa, Jacksonville, Michigan, and Paul Akers’ LeanAmerica.org…
Here’s a video produced by Jim Handyside, embedded here with his permission. More inspirational than educational, there are still some concepts related to Lean and Dr. Deming’s PDSA cycle… Create Value from jim handyside on Vimeo.
I saw a nice article by author Daniel Pink (most recently the author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us) called “Think Tank: Fix the workplace, not the workers.” Without directly referencing Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Pink often…
Yesterday, I tweeted a quote about patient safety that I’ve seen posted on the wall or bulletin board in many hospitals: “To err is human, to cover up is unforgivable, and to fail to learn is inexcusable.” – Sir Liam…
Hospital acquired infections continue to be a big problem, one that’s often unsolved except for instances like Dr. Rick Shannon’s work at West Penn-Allegheny and UPenn and the “checklists” approach used at a number of hospitals around the world. One…
I had a good long chat with a former client (from my J&J days) the other day. I call him “The Synthesizer,” and no he’s not an electronic keyboard. We’re working together on a business journal article about their Lean…
Again, I’m very happy to host the Carnival for John Hunter and his Curious Cat blog. My job here is to share some noteworthy and thought provoking posts from the past few weeks from the blogs I try to keep…
It’s time for another in my Reader Questions series, this question comes from Brian via email. If you have a question or topic that you’d like me to address, you can contact me via the web or by leaving a…
Reminder: I’ll be on “The Lean Nation” today at 4 PM (more details) In this article about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, “Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s (rather run-of-the-mill) house: Facebook founder gives rare glimpse into his private life on Oprah“, there is…
It’s time for a Lean Blog feature I haven’t done in a while…. “A Lean Guy Reads _______”. I’ve done this before with the WSJ, Fortune, and USA Today (click here for past editions). This time, it’s Tuesday’s USA Today…
I’d like to welcome a new sponsor to my blog, LeanPosters.com. You’ll find their ad in the right hand column… As is the case with many of my sponsors, LeanPosters.com is a small business, so I like helping entepreneurial ventures…
