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.
Desoto Sun Herald – 11/06/06 A second mention of Deming today… This isn’t a major newspaper, but the Desoto Sun Herald, in Florida, says: We understand we cannot stand still. The Sun newspaper tries to follow the business philosophy of…
Frustration Grows at Carousel as More Baggage Goes AstrayW. Edwards Deming is famous (but not famous enough) for pointing out that most errors are the fault of the system and that the system is ultimately management’s responsibility, not the individual…
… and the system sucks!” That was the final line of a recent episode of ER that we just watched last night (thanks to the DVR). The major focus of the episode was a patient in court with a claim…
So I’m watching SportsCenter and analyst Michael Irvin, former Cowboys wide receiver, is talking about Cowboys coach Bill Parcells and Wide Receiver / Attention Hound Terrell Owens. I never expect any profound wisdom out of Irvin, so I was surprised…
Infor Launches ERP XA MES Suite for Lean Manufacturing This article talks about software for lean manufacturing environments, an idea that could be debated on its own. But the thing that jumped out at me here was the analyst comment:…
I was able to tour a hospital laboratory that had already gone through the lean process. One metric was a daily tally of “sticks per day” (that’s what a Phlebotomist — a person who draws your blood — calls it…
Reward and Incentive Programs are Ineffective — Even Harmful by Peter R. Scholtes It’s worth a full post and full link, this article that John Hunter of the Curious Cat blog wrote about and mentioned in a comment to this…
A question to ask yourselves (if you’re in management): does your management system allow people to do their best work? Even if you’re “working on lean”, do you pressure people to put sub-standard product out the door? A number of…
Fortune: The new rules – Jul. 11, 2006 Part of Fortune’s cover story about how Jack Welch’s “old rules” don’t apply anymore, this includes the “old” rule of annually removing your “C players” from the employee ranks. The “new” rule…
One of the core ideas of the Toyota Production System is the recognition that people are indeed human and are therefore fallible (part of the “respect for humanity” tenet of TPS). No amount of “be careful” warnings will prevent all…
TOM WALSH: Time for Wagoner to show why GM needs him: A lot has been written about the proposed deal between Nissan-Renault and General Motors. The myth of the “hero leader” (in this case Carlos Ghosn) and the myth of…
Curious Cat Management Improvement: Problems Caused by Performance Appraisal Here’s a good post on the Curious Cat blog on the problems with performance appraisal systems. I’ve seen, generally, more problems caused by these systems than the good that comes from…