Continual Improvement
“Is it a task or test?” Bob Lloyd’s question lives in my head whenever I read PDSAs in slide presentations or articles. Bob has been a significant influence on my Quality Journey — mentor, inspirer, and someone I consider a friend — and his question still does more useful work in
Deming
Happy New Year. I wish you health, curiosity, and just enough discomfort in 2026 to keep learning. After a properly restorative festive break, I’m rebooting my blog—nudged, once again, by highlights resurfacing through Readwise. If you rely on an e-reader and pipe highlights into a PKM system like
Deming
“A manager understands and conveys to his people the meaning of a system. He explains the aims of the system. He teaches his people to understand how the work of the group supports these aims.” W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education, and Health Care. We’ve
Improvement
If you want Quality Improvement, stop the projects and initiatives! The death toll from projects and initiatives What do projects or initiatives have in common? Why do they ring the death toll for quality improvement? Hear in your mind the sound of Metallica's 'For whom the bell
Quality Improvement
Improvement for the sake of the tools! It’s very easy to focus on tools, collecting data without reflecting on what the gap in performance or the problem we are trying to solve. Don't start sawing until you've measured twice Every process can be improved, once
Deming
An organisation that approaches problem-solving using the scientific approach, a quality culture, is a learning organisation. Peter Senge, referred to learning organisations in his seminal work, The Fifth Discipline, back in 1990. I was lucky to read this back in 1999, unrelated to my discipline of clinical medicine at the