By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). The greatest waste in America is failure to use the ability of people. … Money and time spent for training will be ineffective unless inhibitors to good work are removed. Page 53, Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming The power […]

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. Inspection does not improve the quality, nor guarantee quality. Inspection is too late. The quality, good or bad, is already in the product. As Harold F. Dodge said, “You can not inspect quality into a product.” Out of the Crisis, page 29 Inspection can be […]

Guest post by John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). From Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones (page 126): the management of Wiremold was soon enrolled in the Deming seminars. As Orrie Fiume notes, “Deming’s Fourteen Points were a perfect fit with our values and we loved the […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Several speeches are mentioned in the various biographical sketches of Dr. Deming and his impact on Japanese management. In particular a talk he gave at the Mt. Hakone Conference center in 1950 seems to have been important. Attendees included the top industrial managers, representing an estimated 75% of the […]

Guest post by John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Dr. Deming explained that paying sales commissions to staff introduced distortions into the organization that damaged overall performance. Each topic has different connections to Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, as he laid it out in The New Economics. The problems […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). This Video with W. Edwards Deming, Russell Ackoff and David Langford discussing education. Lloyd Dobbins brings together the comments of those 3. This is part of one of the videos in the Deming Library which explores Deming’s ideas and brings in experts […]

Guest post by John Hunter, founder of the CuriousCat.com. In Out of the Crisis, page 101, Dr. Deming states the following as one of the seven deadly diseases: Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review… The idea of a merit rating is alluring. the sound of the words captivates the imagination: pay for what […]

By John Hunter, author of Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. The System Of Profound Knowledge® (SoPK) is the culmination of W. Edwards Deming’s work on management. The four areas of the system are: appreciation for a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. This post explores appreciation for a system in the context […]

By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. The System Of Profound Knowledge® (SoPK) is the culmination of W. Edwards Deming’s work on management. The four areas of the system are: appreciation for a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. This post explores knowledge of variation in the context of Dr. Deming’s management philosophy. […]

By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). The System Of Profound Knowledge® (SoPK) is the culmination of W. Edwards Deming’s work on management. The four areas of the system are: appreciation for a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. This post explores psychology in the context […]