Demings 14 Points

Dr W Edwards Deming was a key influence on me and thousands of others in the 1980's. Just thinking about his book Out of the Crisis reminded me about his 14 points. A lot of people think Ed Deming was just about variance and manufacturing but here are his 14 points standing the test of time:

1.Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.

2.Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change. He was writing this is the 1980's, new economic ages seem to be more frequent than you would imagine!

3.Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product (or service) in the first place.

4.End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimise total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust. Ideas of total cost of ownership and best value are important considerations.

5.Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

6.Institute training on the job. The adage training is better than hoping is as true as ever.

7.Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of an overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.

8.Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.

9.Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production and front line service roles must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.

10.Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

11.a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership.
b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership. This perhaps requires further explanation - Deming put method first, if we get our method right we will out perform the arbitrary goals that so many managers dream up at budget time.

12.a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly paid worker of his right to pride in workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.This is a s true in service as it is manufacturing.
b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and engineering of their right to pride in workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and management by objective. Deming believed that outputs were the product of a system of work not an individual. This one will run and run but you can see a vital point in quality being made here versus the gargantuan greed of some of the financial community.

13.Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

14.Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job


Thinking about that list in January 2010 Demings insights are as helpful as ever and they aren't just relevant to manufacturing. He does point towards a lif a less ordinary. Which of the above list makes the most impact on you personally?