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Famous W. Edwards Deming Quotes
“Hard work and best efforts will not by themselves dig us out of the pit.”
“It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth”
“Many people in management are being paid to produce waste.”
“The customer is the most important part of the production line.”
“We should work on our process, not the outcome of our processes.”
“Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.”
“A system can not understand itself.”
“Monetary rewards are not a substitute for intrinsic motivation.”
“A leader must have knowledge. A leader must be able to teach.”
“Management by results is confusing special causes with common causes.”
“If you destroy the people of a company, you do not have much left.”
“Quality begins with the intent, which is fixed by management.”
“Experience by itself teaches nothing.”
“If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.”
“Learning is not compulsory; it's voluntary... But to survive, we must learn.”
“The result of long-term relationships is better and better quality, and lower and lower costs.”
“Innovation comes from the producer - not from the customer.”
“When a system is stable, telling the worker about mistakes is only tampering.”
“Eliminate numerical quotas, including Management by Objectives.”
“Competition should not be for a share of the market-but to expand the market.”
“Two basic rules of life are: 1) Change is inevitable. 2) Everybody resists change.”
“The most important figures for management of any organization are unknown and unknowable.”