{domain:"www.qualitydigest.com",server:"169.47.211.87"} Skip to main content

User account menu
Main navigation
  • Topics
    • Customer Care
    • FDA Compliance
    • Healthcare
    • Innovation
    • Lean
    • Management
    • Metrology
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
    • Six Sigma
    • Standards
    • Statistics
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Training
  • Videos/Webinars
    • All videos
    • Product Demos
    • Webinars
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Submit B2B Press Release
    • Write for us
  • Metrology Hub
  • Training
  • Subscribe
  • Log in
Mobile Menu
  • Home
  • Topics
    • 3D Metrology-CMSC
    • Customer Care
    • FDA Compliance
    • Healthcare
    • Innovation
    • Lean
    • Management
    • Metrology
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
    • Six Sigma
    • Standards
    • Statistics
    • Supply Chain
    • Sustainability
    • Training
  • Login / Subscribe
  • More...
    • All Features
    • All News
    • All Videos
    • Contact
    • Training

Some Reflections... and a Challenge

Time to stop doing the wrong things badly

Davis Balestracci
Wed, 09/13/2017 - 12:03
  • Comment
  • RSS

Social Sharing block

  • Print
Body

I have reached one of those life landmarks (receiving my Medicare card) and have been reflecting back... a lot. I will remain every bit as passionate about improvement and don’t think I will ever formally retire, but I also doubt I will have W. Edwards Deming’s tenacity to keep at it until I (hopefully) turn 93.

ADVERTISEMENT

I’ve been writing columns for Quality Digest for more than a dozen years. Are all of my topics still relevant? I believe so.

What about progress in improvement? Going back even further than 12 years, I also reflected on and concluded that despite all the mind-blowing technological advances that have taken place during my 35-year career, improvement progress remains glacial.

Tick... tick... tick.... Is the next “magic bullet” fad du jour lurking to create further distraction from true root causes?

David Kerridge, one of most brilliant Deming thinkers in the world, had a wonderful quote: “If we are actually trying to do the wrong thing, we may only be saved from disaster because we are doing it badly.”

And the last few years, especially in healthcare, seem stuck in “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

 …

Want to continue?
Log in or create a FREE account.
Enter your username or email address
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
By logging in you agree to receive communication from Quality Digest. Privacy Policy.
Create a FREE account
Forgot My Password

Comments

Submitted by knowwareman on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 08:58

Glacial Progress of Improvement

Unfortunately, this lack of progress is due to how we think about improvement and how we teach it. Two and four week certifications teach that improvement is slow, cumbersome and complex, rather than fast and agile.

All this drum beating about top leadership involvement only works half the time. (1 Sigma)

Be the leader you want to see. Stop waiting for someone to give you permission. Start using the tools and making improvements wherever you are.

Stop trying to do it "the way it's always been done." Start finding and using faster, better, cheaper ways of improving processes without all of the jargon and hype.

Stop teaching people things they don't need to know to solve problems they don't have. Don't use tools you don't need.

What we have here is 100 years of tradition, uninterrupted by progress. Progress will not change until we do.

  • Reply

Add new comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
Please login to comment.
      

© 2025 Quality Digest. Copyright on content held by Quality Digest or by individual authors. Contact Quality Digest for reprint information.
“Quality Digest" is a trademark owned by Quality Circle Institute Inc.

footer
  • Home
  • Print QD: 1995-2008
  • Print QD: 2008-2009
  • Videos
  • Privacy Policy
  • Write for us
footer second menu
  • Subscribe to Quality Digest
  • About Us
  • Contact Us