W. Edwards Deming Quotes - Page 5

Quality begins with the intent, which is fixed by management.

Management is prediction.

One cannot be successful on visible figures alone ... the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable, but successful management must nevertheless take account of them.

Now, we learn that a system must have an aim. Without an aim, there is no system.

The worker is not the problem. The problem is at the top! Management!

No one can measure the loss of business that may arise from a defective item that goes out to a customer.

People need to know how their job contributes.

...the most important things we need to manage can't be measured.

People need to know what their jobs are.

Experience by itself teaches nothing.

Managers don't like giving appraisals, and employees don't like getting them. Perhaps they're not liked because both parties suspect what the evidence has proved for decades: Traditional performance appraisals don't work.

It is not enough that top management commit themselves for life to quality and productivity. They must know what it is that they are committed to - that is, what they must do. These obligations cannot be delegated. Support is not enough; action is required.

The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain - stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment - over the long term.

To copy is to invite disaster.

Meeting specifications is not enough.

I am not reporting things about people. I am reporting things about practices.

Change the rule and you will get a new number.

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

It is management's job to direct the efforts of all components toward the aim of the system. The first step is clarification: everyone in the organization must understand the aim of the system, and how to direct his efforts toward it. Everyone must understand the damage and loss to the whole organization from a team that seeks to become a selfish, independent, profit center.

Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.

You can expect what you inspect.

There is no economy in having one operation produce a part and another separate the good ones from the bad ones.

People copy examples and then they wonder what is the trouble. They look at examples and without theory they learn nothing.

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

A man who knows not his limitations is of no use to anyone.