Dr. W. Edwards Deming's 14 points

We practice as many of the teachings of Dr. Deming and other great thinkers in the field of Business Process Improvement as we possibly can at Fast Easy Accounting. It is an iterative process that never ends because just when we think we have mastered something we realize it can be improved just a little bit more and we setup a new project to track and implement it.

Competition Drags All Participants To The Bottom

Cooperation Raises All Participants To The Top - Randalism

That is the key to operating and growing a successful construction company; make a few small improvements all of the time and in a short while when you look at your financial statements you will be amazed and delighted!

Success is a few simple disciplines practiced everyday

Failure is a few simple errors repeated every day - Randalism

The 14 points seem at first sight to be a rag-bag of radical ideas, but the key to understanding a number of them lies in Deming's thoughts about variation. Variation was seen by Deming as the disease that threatened US manufacturing. The more variation - in the length of parts supposed to be uniform, in delivery times, in prices, in work practices - the more waste, he reasoned. 

From this premise, he set out his 14 points for management, which is paraphrased here:

1. Create constancy of purpose towards improvement Replace short-term reaction with long-term planning.

2. Adopt the new philosophy The implication is that management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than merely expect the workforce to do so.

3. Cease dependence on inspection If variation is reduced, there is no need to inspect manufactured items for defects, because there won't be any.

4. Move towards a single supplier for any one item Multiple suppliers mean variation between feed stocks.

5. Improve constantly and forever Constantly strive to reduce variation.

6. Institute training on the job If people are inadequately trained, they will not all work the same way, and this will introduce variation.

7. Institute leadership Deming makes a distinction between leadership and mere supervision. The latter is quota- and target-based.

8. Drive out fear Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organization’s best interests.

9. Break down barriers between departments Another idea central to TQM is the concept of the 'internal client', that each department serves not the management, but the other departments that use its outputs.

10. Eliminate slogans Another central TQM idea is that it's not people who make most mistakes - it's the process they are working within. Harassing the workforce without improving the processes they use is counter-productive.  

11. Eliminate management by objectives Deming saw production targets as encouraging the delivery of poor-quality goods.

12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship Many of the other problems outlined reduce worker satisfaction.

13. Institute education and self-improvement 

14. The transformation is everyone's job

Deming has been criticized for putting forward a set of goals without providing any tools for managers to use to reach those goals (just the problem he identified in point 10). His inevitable response to this question was "You're the manager, you figure it out."

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Profitable Construction - Companies have known about the value of outsourced bookkeeping services for a long time and now you know about it too!

 

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About The Author:

Randal DeHart, PMP, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood Washington. He is the leading expert in outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services for small construction companies across the USA. He is experienced as a Contractor, Project Management Professional, Construction Accountant, Intuit ProAdvisor, QuickBooks For Contractors Expert and Xero Accounting Specialist and Bill.Com Certified Guru. This combination of experience and skill sets provides a unique perspective which allows him to see the world through the eyes of a contractor, Project Manager, Accountant and construction accountant. This quadruple understanding is what sets him apart from other Intuit ProAdvisors and Xero accountants to the benefit of all of the construction contractors he serves across the USA. Visit http://www.fasteasyaccounting.com/randal-dehart/ to learn more.

Our Co-Founder Randal DeHart - Is a Certified PMP (Project Management Professional) with several years of construction project management experience. His expertise is construction accounting systems engineering and process development. His exhaustive study of several leading experts including the work of Dr. W. Edward Deming, Michael Gerber, Walter A. Shewhart, James Lewis and dozens of others was the foundation upon which our Construction Bookkeeping System is based and continues to evolve and improve. Follow Randal on Google+