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.
Today’s blog post will be just a bunch of random thoughts. For one, I just got back from London last night after a whirlwind Lean healthcare tour. I visited five hospitals between London and the south of England in three…
TL;DR: At GM, fear and poor leadership blocked bad news from flowing both up and down the organization. Executives were shielded from reality, frontline workers weren’t told the truth, and trust eroded as a result. Without leaders going to the…
Tomorrow’s blog post today… not that anyone will be reading anything non-Michael Jackson related. RIP. A modern tidbit… I learned about the news via a friend’s Facebook status update. The new, new media, I suppose. Communications Woes Show at Boeing…
Podcast #68 is a discussion with Benjamin G. Harrison, President & CEO of Kaysun, a privately-held manufacturer that, for over 60 years, has designed and manufactured complex, high-tolerance plastic injection molded products and assemblies. In his role as CEO, Ben…
Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine is an outstanding local restaurant in Fort Worth TX that focuses on local food and wild game. Chef Jon Bonnell is highly rated and is written up in many publications. One article posted on the restaurant…
Health-Care Providers Pledge to Try to Curb Costs – WSJ.com Industry reps offer $2 trillion in health savings You’ve likely seen headlines today about a meeting at the White House (ah, more meetings!) where the health care industry has agreed…
Here are a few upcoming events to mention: Webinar with Mike Micklewright as Dr. Deming Free Webinar with Dr. Sami Bahri, “The World’s First Lean Dentist” ValuMetrix Services Lean Workshop in Louisville KY Dan Jones / Lean Enterprise Academy Lean…
NBA, Olympic coach Chuck Daly dies at 78 I grew up outside of Detroit during the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” era so I spent a lot of time watching Chuck Daly, who just passed away yesterday. Daly had a reputation…
If you’re not familiar with Dr. W. Edwards Deming, check out this 30 minute special, put on YouTube in three pieces. Look at the 1980’s videos of American smashing Japanese import cars with sledgehammers. That was a mature response to…
No. Toyota’s factories do not run a formal Six Sigma program, and they do not hand out belts. What Toyota does teach, broadly and without much ceremony, is basic quality control and statistical thinking, the kind of tools that predate…
Management Tip of the Day :: April 15, 2009 :: HarvardBusiness.org It’s nice to see HBR, for once, spreading the message of Dr. Deming. If you have tough financial circumstances in your company, one of their four tips includes: Don’t…
In Japan, more CEOs share the pain of tough times – USATODAY.com The USA Today, whether they’re trying or not, is doing a good job recently of highlighting issues at least somewhat related to Toyota and the Deming philosophy. While…
