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.
Why ‘Quality’ Care Is Dangerous – WSJ.com Yesterday’s WSJ opinion piece by Dr. Jerome Goopman (author of How Doctors Think) and Pamela Hartzband caught my eye. Thanks to the four or five of you who also emailed me the link…
Family Business – WSJ.com In today’s WSJ, there’s a review of a new book called Parentonomics: An Economist Dad Looks at Parenting, in the mold of the excellent book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Who…
Following up on these two earlier posts (here and here)… I’ll quit calling them the “Idiot Corporation of America” since the Peanut Corporation of America is bankrupt and shutting down. I feel bad for those who are losing jobs due…
TheDay.com – Food safety problems slip by auditors You might remember my rants about the Idiot Corp… I mean Peanut Corporation of America. Just saw now in the news that they had an “inspection” that, upon closer inspection, is either…
I stumbled across these notes I had taken about 8 or 9 years ago based on a video lecture from Dr. Deming: W. Edwards Deming – The Role of a People ManagerLecture Notes 8/13/1990 A manager and his people understand…
I have a very special guest today… it’s a very spur of the moment podcast with L.A. mayoral candidate, David “Zuma Dogg” Saltsburg. This went from email, to phone call, to podcast all in a few hours. He is running…
L.A. Voters For Change: Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate David Saltsburg (Zuma Dogg) Answers Questions For Daily News I won’t pretend to understand Los Angeles politics (or much anything about L.A.). But, through an automated Google alert, I stumbled across a…
Not Jack Handey’s “Deep Thoughts” … more like Larry King’s old USA Today column… it’s Lean Thoughts for Feb 12, 2009… the byproduct of a three-hour drive and too much time listening to cable news on XM… Hello, caller from…
Browse Posters – George Marshall Foundation I love old WWII Posters, particularly the production posters aimed at helping the war effort. As much as Dr. Deming said to not rely on signs, posters, and slogans, I just find these signs…
Why Incentives Are Effective, Irresistible, and Almost Certain to Backfire | Fast Company Just about when I start thinking “Is Fast Company magazine relevant anymore, should I renew my subscription?”, a gem like this appears. It’s a very old lesson,…
TRANSCRIPT: Obama’s Inaugural Address: I guess this is a “mashup” of sorts… between Dr. W. Edwards Deming and President Obama… The President said yesterday, in his inauguration speech: “We will … wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and…
My guest for LeanBlog Podcast #57 is Alfie Kohn, an author and lecturer in the fields of education, parenting, and human behavior. His books include Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes…
