How Would W. Edwards Deming Fare in the Globally Competitive Economy We Live in Today?

In the early 1980s, I was first exposed to the teachings of the quality gurus.  As a recent college graduate, I found what Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Phillip Crosby professed very profound.  I was also fortunate to attend one of Deming’s 4-day Seminars in 1985.  In my bookcase, I still have the seminar material and took a ton of notes.

A few weeks ago, I hauled out the material and looked through it for the first time in nearly ten years.  I noted how a lot has changed in the world of business and the quality profession since I last looked at the material and after nearly thirty years since the seminar.  And I wondered if Deming were still alive, would he still stick inflexibly to his philosophy? Or would he, in the spirit of continual improvement, have modified aspects of it to deal with the radically different, globally competitive economy of today?

Two things stand out in my mind where Deming would have difficulty today.  First was around financial discipline which he brushed aside whenever it was asked and would not give examples. Just do this and you will be financially rewarded.  Six sigma has taught all of us the importance of financial discipline around process improvement.  We need to take care of and measure customer needs, process specifications, and the financial metrics.

Second was it was ‘his way or the highway’ of you had to follow his system to the letter of the law or else. No flexibility allowed. That was a serious flaw in his approach even to me in my mid-twenties.  It’s been years since I read some of his later writings but I don’t remember Deming changing his position on this point.  The economic situation in Japan during the last twenty years after Deming passed away might have given him a new perspective.

Personally I think Deming would have continually improved his approach.  I suspect he didn’t go over to post-war Japan with his philosophy already set in stone.  He learned what worked, made changes, and taught all of us a better way to run our businesses.

 Control Phase of a Six Sigma Project:  Bring it on Home Yet Prepare to “Sustain the Gains”

      The control phase of a six sigma project is when the end is in sight.  Some members of the team have been juggling their ‘regular, full-time day jobs’ while also investing many hours on the project.  Non urgent e-mails and other items have been piling up.  Spouses and children might like to see the six sigma team member on a week day evening.  If the members’ boss isn’t directly a beneficiary of the project, they might be pressing, hard, to ‘get them back’ and working on their normal responsibilities.

      So at this phase it is very tempting to push ahead quickly and, maybe, cut a few corners.  And that is dumb, dangerous, and could undermine the long term success of the project.  I’ve read in more than one place that the purpose of the control phase is to ‘sustain the gains.’  The team with support of the black belt and sponsor/champion must put in place a control plan with supporting processes and procedures for the transition to run and maintain.

      What is needed?  A realistic control plan put together with the process owners who will be responsible for the processes going forward.  Control charts are important for the objective measures of the selected solutions but don’t forget the subjective portions either.  A thorough communications plan is critical also.  Gathering lessons learned while the project is ‘fresh’ in the minds of the team is very important also.  And finally you are looking forward to the celebration party.

      So don’t let up on the gas as you go into the control phase.  The project was undertaken because the initial problem was causing some sort of pain externally and/or internally. You, the team, and all involved have invested a tremendous amount of your time to get to this point.  Take the time to fully transition the project to run and maintain.  That’s the best thing you can do to make sure, in a few years’ time, you will see the teams’ work delivering value to the organization.