Re: Deming and accountability

[FVoehl@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/6/99 2:50:14 AM, TQNELSON@AOL.com writes:

<< As Dr. said (and I have cited before [ref. TNE pp 106-107]) it only takes 
one 
"unexplained failure" to totally disprove a theory.  If that theory is valid, 
how can you explain ANY of the currently failing, some now even imprisoned, 
past "A" 
students, the rewarded--then fired workers, the now imprisoned, once 
esteemed, business and government executives, the sports idols "fallen from 
grace," >>

This is a broad statement made by Dr. Deming, and amplified by Del, and might 
be disputed by Edison and his team of 85 scientists, if they were alive 
today.  In Edison's efforts to perfect the electric light bulb, his 
experiments failed many thousands of times.  Most of the time, he and his 
assistants knew the reasons for the failure.  But not always.  They chalked 
up these unexplained failures to *things unknowable* but continued to search 
for the *better way.*  

Had they taken the one unexplained failure theory to heart and abandoned the 
theory, many of Edison's successes would never have been achieved.  Sometimes 
the experiment is flawed, unknowingly, and the reasons for failure cannot be 
explained.  This does not mean that the theory is incorrect.  It sometimes 
means that more information is needed in order to move ahead until they can 
get it right.  For those that gave up along the way--or veered from the right 
path--it might be argued that they gave up too soon.  Edison's motto was: 
There is a better way--find it!

Frank Voehl (FVoehl@aol.com)
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