W. Edwards Deming Quotes

123 quotes in 998 categories

• You should not ask questions without knowledge.
• Adopt a new philosophy of cooperation (win-win) in which everybody wins.
• Don't expect smart people to listen to you without proof.
• Learn the basics of analytics and people will love you. If you don't have time to learn, hire someone.
• ...the most important things we need to manage can't be measured.
• There is no substitute for knowledge.
• When asked what single event was most helpful in developing the Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein replied, "Figuring out how to think about the problem".
• The ultimate purpose of collecting the data is to provide a basis for action or a recommendation.
• People work in the system. Management creates the system
• Quality is everyone's responsibility.
• The job can't be finished only improved to please the customer.
• It is important that an aim never be defined in terms of activity or methods. It must always relate directly to how life is better…
• People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity, curiosity to learn, joy in learning.
• For Quality: Stamp out fires, automate, computerize, M.B.O., install merit pay, rank people, best efforts, zero defects. WRONG!!!! Missing ingredient: profound knowledge.
• You can only elevate individual performance by elevating that of the entire system.
• The most valuable "currency" of any organization is the initiative and creativity of its members. Every leader has the solemn moral responsibility to develop these…
• Just because you can measure everything doesn't mean that you should.
• Nothing happens without personal transformation.
• The only useful function of a statistician is to make predictions, and thus to provide a basis for action.
• Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that…

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