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.
Marketplace: Road construction paved with problems Dr. Deming always preached to not choose suppliers based on price alone. Many companies and industries have never learned that lesson, so why should we expect governments to do any better? This Marketplace story…
A poignant story showed up in the Washington Post during the recent GM strike that hits at the heart of the principle of respect for people. It came from the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Management, required to work…
CIO Magazine Article Hat tip to Curious Cat for finding this and blogging about it first. I couldn’t resist chiming in. The author brings up the old Deming philosophy approach that you can’t really motivate people, you can only demotivate…
Serious Security Questions at Sky Harbor Airport New interim security director named at Sky Harbor Here’s another story from last week about bad systems, and bad management to boot. This one hits close to home since I used to fly…
Better questions, wiser answers – The Washington Times A “hat tip” to the curious cat for finding this excellent column by Clare Crawford-Mason, the producer of the outstanding documentary and DVD “Good News… Hospitals Heal Themselves.” I’m paraphrasing, but Clare…
What are your thoughts? I wrote last week about my thoughts and hopes for the movie “SiCKO”. I’ve actually seen the film now. I won’t go into the details of how I managed to see it without any money flowing…
As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China – New York Times Pet food, toothpaste, childrens’ toys…. (oh and let’s not forget the recent slave labor stories). Update: WSJ article with interviews from released slaves When does China’s reputation…
managementwisdom.com Many folks don’t realize the relationship between Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Toyota. The link above shows some of the credit that Toyota gives/gave to Dr. Deming. While you’re on their site, check out the Deming resources, including the…
Detroit News Article GM, Ford, and Chrysler are frequent targets here for their “beat up the suppliers” approach to supply chain management. Here’s some encouraging news for GM (and for their suppliers)… not such good news for Ford General Motors…
Chinese say U.S. shares blame in food scandal – USATODAY.com I’ve been tempted a few times to post about the pet deaths from contaminated pet food — the contaminated ingredients came from China. This article caught my eye last week:…
Freakonomics: Official Site I know this wouldn’t count as “leisure reading” for many folks, but I’m reading (and very much enjoying) the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. I’m a nerd, I read books like…
Louisville Slugger: The sweet spot: As the article points out, Kentucky is quite the hotbed of lean manufacturing, with the influence of the Toyota Georgetown plant. Another company claims to have been at it longer, Hillerich and Bradsby, the maker…
