By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. We want to chose the best strategy. However, as the image by Randal Monroe (xkcd comic) shows we need to consider the whole system. It isn’t helpful to spend more effort to chose between two options than the difference between them offers. However we can be drawn into such […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Much of Dr. Deming’s work is housed and available at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The Library of Congress made a formal request for Dr. Deming’s professional papers soon after his death. They were donated by The W. Edwards Deming […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. In this episode of The W. Edward Deming Institute Podcast (download) Bill Bellows discusses Genichi Taguchi, Ackoff, Deming and the efforts to use their idea to improve organizations. Bill is Associate Fellow in the InThinking Network at Aerojet Rocketdyne. Bill also serves as a board member of the W. […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Dr. Deming explained the dangers of copying from other organizations: “To copy is to invite disaster.” (page 10 of The New Economics). The proper course of action depends on the system. This, like so much of Deming’s advice, relates to understanding the […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The 21st Annual International Deming Research Seminar will be held in Washington DC, 23 and 24 March 2015. The first 20 seminars were held at Fordham University in New York City, before the move to Georgetown University for 2015. The W. Edwards Deming Institute is seeking research papers from […]

Which brings us to response time targets. Putting aside the arguments that numerical targets are arbitrary and prone to causing dysfunctional behaviour*, a critical further point is that targets do not provide a method. Neither do they provide additional capacity for achieving the improvements sought. Therefore, setting an arbitrary numerical target for response times (or anything else), simply does not change anything about those systems conditions that dictate predictable levels of performance. The system will produce what it’s capable of producing, whether the target is there or not.

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) has announced the 2014 Deming Prize winners. The companies awarded the Deming Prize this year are: GC America (USA) Sekiso Corporation (Japan) Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Mahindra Powerol Business (India) An organization based in USA received a Deming Prize for only […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Bob Browne is the former CEO of the Great Plains Coca Cola Bottling Company and soon to be author of a new book, The Sys-Tao Way, that outlines his application of the Deming Philosophy. In the most recent Deming Institute podcast, Bob […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The following quote was provided by Eric Budd During the meeting, our division president asked Dr. Deming, “Is there hope for GM?” Dr. Deming’s reply: “Sometimes you have to wait for people to die. Eric Budd‘s comment In attempting to understand why he might say something like this, I […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). In this short video clip from The Deming Library (volume 14 – Understanding Profound Knowledge) Dr. Deming discusses the importance of understanding the inter-dependence within a system. This idea is fairly easy to accept. But to manage in a way that focuses […]