Optimization

["Mack, Wayne" <wayne.mack@nortelgov.com>]

I may have misunderstood the intent, but the message quoted seems to
reinforce Dr. Deming's ideas of the need for a system and an understanding of
variation.

The example seems like it could have been directly taken from Dr.
Deming's writing on how suboptimization occurs.  I don't have the references
in front of me, be I recall the diagram from both Out of the Crisis and The
New Economics where Dr. Deming's where the system diagram is modified by
placing circles around each process element.  The text at that point covers
this problem better than I can.

The second point disturbs me, as it seems to substitute a use of quotas for
measurement of process variation.  I am not sure how one could "take a loss"
on an individual or say a group is optimized without having established a
quota system.  From a process variation perspective, at some point in time,
Johnny may be the lowest ranked individual.  Is it a special cause?  If so,
then direct action can be taken, and in some instances no action may be the
appropriate choice.  If Johnny is within the norms, however, his improvement
is directly to the improvement of the teaching process as a whole.  By
reducing variation, we can improve the whole.

I would be curious to hear more of the rationale behind this example, as I
feel I am missing the intended purpose.  The example does not seem to me to
contradict what Dr. Deming spoke of, but rather it appears to make the case
for a systems approach and evaluation of process variation.

Wayne Mack
Wayne.Mack@NortelGov.com