The Best Book On Deming I’ve Ever Read

I have my theories on why W. Edwards Deming is not a household name in all business circles. Many view him as the ‘quality’ guy who impacted Japanese manufacturing after the Second World War. That view is limiting, as Deming’s management mindset had four central tenets: pragmatism, the law of variation, human psychology, and systems thinking. These are Deming’s pillars of thought, explained so clearly in a new book by John Willis.

Interview Highlights

• The reason Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge is now Mark’s favorite book on this scholar and business consultant
• Is Deming still marginalized in many business circles?
• The best starting point to learn Deming
• Deming the man – don’t forget compassion and humility
• Determinism vs. non-determinism and why it matters
• pragmatism, variation, human psychology, and systems thinking – the complete thinking process
• Japan’s economic restoration timeline and where Deming stepped into it
• Revisiting Hawthorne and its influence on Deming
• Japan had statistics before Deming arrived
• NUMMI and lessons learned
• John’s favorite books and authors

You can read John’s bio at IT Revolution and follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

More Insights From Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge

Many view Deming as that ‘quality guy’ with a gruff exterior. Maybe that’s partly true, but which part? This line may shed some light:

He was abrasive. Abrupt. Contemptuous. Cantankerous. He refused to talk about quality issues. Everything was about management and management’s failure to manage well. He was, in short, unlike any consultant the top executives of one of the world’s largest and most prestigious companies had ever seen before. Nobody talked to them like that.

Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge, John Willis, page 203

Every finance student and business leader should know Shewhart and Wheeler’s names. Understanding what they taught will illuminate the world of variation in such a simple way. John, however, subtly captures the differences between Shewhart and Deming. For Deming, the Shewhart control chart was far more than a tool to improve quality.

• Shewhart gave us a way to continually improve a process.
• Deming gave us a way to continually improve a system.
• Shewhart showed us how to optimize an existing process.
• Deming showed us how to rethink the process altogether.
• Shewhart used statistics to improve manufacturing.
• Deming used statistics to improve everything.

Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge, John Willis, page 203

Finally, John’s book is Deming’s journey to profound knowledge, which includes pragmatism, variation, human psychology, and systems thinking. Regarding variation, I never tire of Deming’s thoughts on this topic:

According to Shewhart’s Statistical Process Control, managers shouldn’t waste their time trying to fix every single problem. Instead, they should identify which ones can be predicted and fix them. Identify the ones that will likely never happen again and don’t make knee-jerk decisions. As a result, managers can spend their time on things they can control and waste very little of their time on things they can’t.

Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge, John Willis, page 78

The Lightning Round

John and I did not have time for a lightning round. Since this book is excellent book club material, I will provide my lightning round list that you can review with others. There are no questions, only terms. Explain what they mean to you.

• management by means
• enumerative vs. analytical statistics
• a priori and a posteriori
• common knowledge vs. pragmatism
• bounded rationality
• Nashua
• The relevance of “I’ve been making small regular deposits in this bank of experience.”
• T/F – Deming loved the term TQM. Why or why not?

The Best Books About Deming

Deming is one of those scholars where I believe it’s best to read about him from his biographers before reading his material, which can sometimes be a bit choppy. John may not think his book should be first, but I do. Here’s my starting point to learn more about Deming:

1. Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge by John Willis
2. The Symphony of Profound Knowledge: W. Edwards Deming’s Score for Leading, Performing, and Living in Concert by Edward Martin Baker
3. The Deming Management Method by Mary Walton
4. The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality is compiled by Joyce Orsini, and it’s an anthology of Deming’s work. I doubt he’d like the title, but the book must be on this list.
5. The Deming Dimension by Henry R. Neave (not my favorite, but I’m including it because it’s the first book I read about Deming)

For Further Reading

If I have one frustration with Deming’s previous biographers, it’s not mentioning enough non-manufacturing stories.

At Hawthorne, Deming realized that Shewhart’s control charts could be applied anywhere outside the manufacturing plant floor. John gave one example of office production increasing significantly at the Bureau of the Census. However, I want more. A couple of years ago, I learned about a story from a furniture store owner based in Houston.

Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale attended a Deming four-day workshop (and more to follow), and his life would never be the same. His first mention of Deming in his book is about thriving on bad news:

… in business, what you don’t know can hurt you.. Many managers react angrily when someone brings them bad news. What’s going to happen if eimployees egin to fear that angry reaction?

At Gallery, we don’t like bad news, but we don’t get upset or angry about it either. When someone brings bad news to light, we try to look at it as an opporunity.

Always Think Big, pages 65-66

McIngvale first implemented Deming’s ideas on excellence in his warehouse. His warehouse manager challenged the owner to do the same with the sales team. She wanted him to eliminate commissions.

That was something I just couldn’t do. Selling on commission was how my Dad had done it. It was how I had done it, and to me it was the essense of professionalism.

Always Think Big, page 129

McIngvale relented. He called in all of his salespeople together to relay the news. All sales reps would be on a flat salary, but everyone throughout the organization would share in the profits. A few reps quit, and many resisted, but the change was favorable for the store’s most important constituents–the customers.

It wasn’t before people realized improvements in working conditions as a result of the new, salaried approach. It took me even less time to realize that I had made the right decision. Today, I can’t imagine any other compensation system. Today, everyone at Gallery is focused on taking care of customers. They’re not in the back somewhere figuring how much money they made on their last sale.

Always Think Big, page 130

This iconic salesperson with a famous Houston furniture store did what I wish many Deming students would do. He internalized Deming’s 14 management points. Not only was he a recurring attendee of Deming’s workshops, but he also took his staff.

He incorporated Deming’s 14 Points for Management into Gallary Furniture’s culture. He wanted his entire staff to work joyfully, have better relationships, and experience better management practices. Mission accomplished.

Always Think Big was published in 2002 and is lightly reviewed. Still, it’s one of few books outside of manufacturing that mentions Deming’s influence on his/her business.

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