Guest post by John Hunter, author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog (since 2004).
This post is part of our Deming on Management series that aims to provide resources to help those transforming their management system to one based on Deming’s management ideas.
Dr. Deming’s thoughts on the importance of innovation are often overlooked.
There are four prongs of quality and four ways to improve quality of product and service:
– Innovation in product and service
– Innovation in process
– Improvement of existing product and service
– Improvement of existing processThe common mistake is the supposition that quality is ensured by No. 4, improvement of process, that operations going off without blemish on the factory floor, in the bank, in the hotel will ensure quality. Good operations are essential, yet they do not ensure quality. Quality is made in the boardroom.
“The Need to Change”, W. Edwards Deming, 1989. Reprinted on page 41 of The Essential Deming.
Blog posts
- Product and Service Innovation is Driven by Customer Focused Organizations
- Creativity Inc. – Using Deming’s Ideas at Pixar
- The Customer Generates Nothing – Innovation Requires New Theory
- Improving Processes Helps Innovation Efforts
- Bell Labs Designing a New Phone System Using Idealized Design
- Dr. Deming on Innovation
- Quality and Innovation
Articles
- Deming’s 14 Points: Innovation as An Outcome
- Two resources, largely untapped in American organizations, are potential information and employee creativity.
- Burning Man: Quality and Innovation in the Spirit of Deming
Podcasts