Deming on Project Management

It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years since the death of W. Edwards Deming, the father of quality. I was fortunate enough to have met him several times, as my wife used to promote and coordinate his seminars.

In reviewing Dr. Deming's 14 points, many of them seem especially relevant to project management. I'd like to point out just a few:

Point #5 - Constantly improve the process of planning, production and service - this system includes people

We need to constantly be aware of what's working in our processes and what isn't. We need to be especially considerate of the impact on people -- our project managers, teams, and customers. Everyone wants to do a good job. As leaders, we need to be enablers and not barriers.

Point #8 - Drive out Fear

Napoleon once said "There are two levers for moving men --- interest and fear." We need to find a way to do the latter.

Point #10 - Eliminate slogans/targets asking for increased productivity without providing methods.

Deming often spoke about the dangers of "management by objective" without clear methods for achieving those objectives. As project managers, it's critical that we obtain clear objectives from our sponsors and relay those objectives to our team. However, it's just as critical that we insist on and relay to our team just how it is we will achieve those objectives. Otherwise, our objective is a foggy dream.

Two of the most overlooked words in the vocabulary of project managers and sponsors is "why" and "how," but we're very good at the "what." Unfortunately, it's addressing the first two that makes us successful.

Read on for Deming's 14 points and Seven Deadly Diseases. I'd say that most, if not all, are still very relevant today, and perhaps even more so.

Demings 14 Points