For a number of reasons, I've decided to re-read my copy of one of the most influential books I've ever read: Out of the Crisis by the late, great Dr. W. Edwards Deming.
In the light of Toyota's recent quality problems, it's been suggested by some that Toyota has gotten away from the teachings of Dr. Deming that were so influential in their development of the Toyota Production System after World War II.
What would Deming say? It's time to dig back into his book. My goal is one chapter a night. I'll be tweeting some notes as I read (using the hashtag #Deming). Is anyone else going to read along with me?
As I re-read Chapter 1, in <140 character bursts of quotes and thoughts:
Dr. #Deming, of course, taught that improving quality increases productivity – less wasted effort, happier people, more jobs
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
Folklore, indeed. Just because that idea is so prevalent doesn't mean that it's true. We are still fighting that notion in healthcare today. It's so engrained that better quality means higher costs. That is true if quality means more inspections and more technology. With lean and process improvement methods, better quality leads to lower costs. Hospitals like ThedaCare are proving that quite often now.
Dr. #Deming, of course, taught that improving quality increases productivity – less wasted effort, happier people, more jobs
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
This all goes hand in hand – cost, quality, and employee happiness (“joy” as Dr. Deming would say). Controversial to some, Dr. Deming certainly thought it was an important purpose of organizations to provide jobs – for the sake of society and our economy.
Toyota should re-learn #Deming: "Defects and faults that get into the hands of the customer lose the market…"
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
This was certainly true for General Motors. Their famed quality problems let to an irreversible market share decline. Once you have damaged your reputation for quality, it's very hard to get that back even once you have improved (as GM did and has).
#Deming wrote the U.S. was the "most underdeveloped nation in the world" because our employees' knowledge is underused (1982) – still true?
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
What do you think? Is this still true? A few people on Twitter thought so. I've heard too many sad variations on “they want us to just do our jobs and not say anything” in healthcare the past few years. So much wasted potential and probably one reason that healthcare costs are so high and quality is so poor.
#Deming (1982) – 15 to 40% of a manufacturer's cost is waste. Same is often said of hospitals in 2010, 30 to 40% wasted effort/cost.
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
The same is often said in healthcare – by experts including Donald Berwick, John Toussaint, and Patricia Gabow (MDs, all). The idea being that we can reduce costs by improving quality and productivity, not just by slashing the price paid by the government or insurers (and the government will soon pay >50%).
#Deming (1982) "Eventually quality improvement will reach not only the production of goods… but the service industries (hospitals)as well"
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
Dr. Deming could see that his methods would eventually be needed outside of manufacturing and industry. Hospitals often know of PDCA/PDSA and Dr. Deming's name, from earlier training, but there's often little evidence of his ideas being taken to heart or put into use. His ideas, and the extension of them as “lean” are being used more often in healthcare today, thankfully, for the benefit of patients, hospitals, and staff.
#Deming "Outputs cannot be considered without considering the goals they are designed to achieve." Start 1st w/ purpose, then improvement.
— Mark Graban (@MarkGraban) February 5, 2010
This sounds like what Jim Womack says through the Lean Enterprise Institute – start first with purpose. Dr. Deming told a story in his book that would have required much more than 140 characters. Thomas Edison invented an automated voting machine for Congress, to instantly tabulate votes. When he presented this to Congress, they were appalled and said it was the last thing they'd want. It turned out that much of the legislative process, the give and take and negotiating, was based on the votes rolling in over a period of time. Edison did not understand this when inventing his machine – without understanding the purpose, it had no use.
I'm most of the way through Chapter 2 now. I'll continue tweeting and will summarize the tweets and expand on them in occasional blog posts. I'd invite you to do the same via the blog comments.
And a recent video posted by Wiley Publishing with quotes from Dr. Deming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jc5fDsgVw0
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Some interesting comments on Twitter:
smalltalk80:
@Kallokain @LeanBlog People should acknowledge that even if Demmings book has great ideas, it is poorly written. More like scribbled notes
Kallokain:
@smalltalk80 @LeanBlog Then again, some of the most valuable ideas I have encountered are in poorly written books and presentations.
Kallokain
@smalltalk80 @LeanBlog Prefer to have both great content and form when I can though.
smalltalk80
@Kallokain @LeanBlog The danger is that some arguments are so poorly written that you only understand them if you already “get” lean
I wrote:
@smalltalk80 @kallokain Fair enough. Out of the Crisis was the first “lean” book I ever read so it had impact in spite of some bad writing
@smalltalk80 @kallokain I usually recommend the book about Deming by Rafael Aguayo as a good intro (better writing?).
That book: http://bit.ly/c0lW8G
Chapter 2 of Out of the Crisis is a bit jumbled and doesn’t flow really well. But I think the content and examples in the book are priceless.
I had the good fortune to have a few conversations and exchange some correspondence with Dr. Deming on the application of his system of profound knowledge (described in his book the New Economics). He was always encouraging, but he would get this grin on his face as if he knew the uphill battle involved with transformation of management in healthcare. He had a great article on one of his stays in a hospital (I will try to locate it). One time he told me, “Management will dabble here, and dabble there, but I am not hopeful. There must be a system, and a system must be managed.” I think he would be very encouraged by the work of Thedacare, The Value Leaders Network and LEI.
Mike – are you referring to Dr. Deming’s notes that were published (after his death, I think) in the Deming Institute newsletter? I have a copy of that somewhere or maybe it’s still online. It was his observations from his hospital bed.
As I recall, Deming was one of the few people to embrace the importance of a restored manufacturing capability to the recovery of the Japanese nation and the free world. He was one of the first to offer to them, in a respectful way, a shining path from their situation.
Right now, we in the US face a situation as dire, in some ways, as the Japanese faced after the second world war and we could surely use some wisdom of Deming, and others, to help show us a shining path, too.
btw, where Edison failed with the automated voting machine for our government, a little known inventor named Herman Hollerith (sp?) finally did the job. And, his technology provided the seed bed for the company that later became IBM.
.-= Jefferson Martin ´s last blog ..Integrated Construction Risk =-.
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