Re: DEN demise

[Tom Dulz <dulz@hereintown.net>]

Greetings from a lurker.

I would like to offer a few comments on the supposed "demise" of the DEN
and respond to John's pessimism.

One thing that bothers me is the apparent "adoration" of  Deming.  It
puts me off as it does many people I know.  It gives the impression that
these ideas started with Deming.
He was a trained physicist, and his contribution was that he brought a
scientist's perspective to management.  The key point here is to
recognize the perspective of science, not simply the perspective of
Deming.  Deming is part of a much larger picture, a larger context that
I don't see generally recognized.  Deming's ideas seem "radical" and
"new" because 20th century science is radical and new compared to
traditional dogma.  Even Einstein had problems accepting 20th century
physics. It is not so surprising that if discussion is limited to
"Deming" it will run out of steam. As Deming said: "profound knowledge
must come from outside the system."  As long as discussion is limited to
"Deming", the DEN will eventually die. "Deming's ideas" may be fading,
but the scientific perspective he represented is alive, well and
growing.

John describes a seemingly pessimistic picture. Another way to look at
this is in terms of learning.  There is no learning without mistakes. 
That is why it is called trial and error, not trial and success.  All
learning organizations make mistakes. And a representative government is
a learning organization.  The Bushies will pass, lessons will be learned
and the country will lurch into  new predicaments. Yes, people are
suffering, and I don't take it lightly.  But their suffering will become
a catalyst for change. I am getting long in the tooth and at the end of
my career.  In my short lifetime I have seen amazing changes in this
country.  The air is cleaner, people have more opportunities, we live
longer, we know more, and the list could go on.  We are learning.

Sorry to make this so long.

Cheers

Tom