System of Profound Knowledge
By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Quote by W. Edwards Deming at a February 1993 Deming Four Day seminar in Phoenix, Arizona (via the notes of Mike Stoecklein). So what was Dr. Deming trying to convey with this quote? It wasn’t an attempt to get people to give up trying because failure was certain. It […]
Read More
By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). Dr. Deming didn’t directly address executive pay as far as I know. Executives were paid well and without much detrimental impact on companies historically. In the 1980s many CEOs started treating corporate treasuries as personal bank accounts and problems exploded. Peter Drucker […]
Read More
By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Keith Sparkjoy, Cofounder and Culture Coach of Pluralsight discusses his “awakening” on their journey to keep Pluralsight’s healthy culture as they rapidly expanded (download the podcast). Keith started by reading Out of the Crisis and thought it would be tough to use that book as a tool to convince […]
Read More
By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004). In this podcast Bob Mason and Clare Crawford-Mason discuss meeting W. Edwards Deming and creating the NBC white paper – “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We?” They also discuss the decades of pursuing and promoting Deming’s management ideas, including their work co-creating […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. In this clip from volume 14, Understanding Profound Knowledge, of the Deming Library, W. Edward Deming discusses the problem with people putting forth their best efforts. Deming theorem #2 We are being ruined by people putting forth their best efforts. Brian Joiner quoted Dr. Deming as follows: Best efforts […]
Read More
By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Response to a question on the Deming Institute LinkedIn group: let’s say Dr. Deming wanted to sit down with his boss to negotiate a compensation increase. What grounds would he use to justify the request? I believe he would explain how the value he brought to the system was […]
Read More
By John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. One of the most powerful aspects of Deming’s management ideas also frustrate some people. Dr. Deming didn’t believe in simple guides telling managers what to do – his ideas are not prescriptive. The challenges of management don’t lend themselves to simple instructions spelling out […]
Read More
By John Hunter, founder of CuriousCat.com. Best efforts are essential. Unfortunately, best efforts, people charging this way and that way without guidance of principles, can do a lot of damage. W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis, page 19 There are many great quotes from Dr. Deming, and this is one of my favorite. To […]
Read More