RE: Applying the Deming Philosophy

[Rip Stauffer <rstauffer@bluefirepartners.com>]

Jim Clauson mentioned:

"I remember that Joyce Orsini was once asked 'Is there any experience
of applying the Deming Philosophy to plumbing'"

She replied 'No, you are really lucky: there is none at all.'"

I would be very interested to hear how DENizens would interpret Joyce's
statement.


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(Request permission to revise and extend my previous remarks):

My interpretation: Dr. Deming is often quoted as saying something like, "No
number of examples is sufficient to establish a theory," which I have always
taken to mean that examples are useful as illustrations if you have some
understanding of the System of Profound Knowledge, but can be very dangerous
if you try to substitute them for learning the underlying theory. Without
the benefit of profound knowledge, learning from examples is a classic
application of rule 4 of the funnel.

So, I'm not sure what Joyce meant, but had I made that reply, I'd have
meant: "You will have to learn some theory--some appreciation for your
extended system, the impact of variation on your operations, how your people
work and learn, and how you can learn and retain knowledge about your
organization and systems--and, once you have learned this, you will create
your own example of an application of the Deming Philosophy. Study that
example and learn from it, then create another, better example. Do this many
times, and you will reach a point where you are doing better than you ever
imagined you could. Other people will notice your success, and they will ask
you how you did it. When you begin to explain it, they will ask you if there
are any examples of doing what you did in their enterprises. Tell them, 'No,
you are really lucky; there is none at all.'"
********

Best regards to all,

Rip

Rip Stauffer, Senior Consultant
BlueFire Partners
1300 Fifth St. Towers, 150 So. Fifth St.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
612-344-1027
mailto:rstauffer@bluefirepartners.com
http://www.bluefirepartners.com/