248 Quotes by W. Edwards Deming

A manager of people knows that in this stable state it is distracting to tell the worker about a mistake.

Eighty percent of American managers cannot answer with any measure of confidence these seemingly simple questions: What is my job? What in it really counts? How well am I doing?

Don’t expect smart people to listen to you without proof.

Meeting specifications is not enough.

Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.

Failure of management to plan for the future and to foresee problems has brought about waste of manpower, of materials, of the machine-time, of all which raise the manufacturer’s cost and price that the purchaser must pay.

Lack of knowledge – that is the problem.

Many customers form their opinions about the product or about the service solely by their contacts with the people that they see – contact men, I will call them.

You can not hear what you do not understand.