Deming’s Journey to Profound Knowledge by John Willis and Derek Lewis is the story of how W. Edwards Deming’s background, education and experiences inspired him to develop his System of Profound Knowledge. The book is sort of a biography, but very focused on those elements that led him to be the important figure in many circles. The authors wrap up the book with some thoughts on how Deming’s thinking continues to influence our world of work, emphasizing their perspective in IT environments. [Note: I received a complimentary preview copy of the book from the publisher, IT Revolution. The book is expected to be published this month (Aug 2023).]
The book opens with an anecdote about the 1980 documentary from NBC, "If Japan Can ... Why Can't We" that features Deming. Then the authors go back into his history and how the situation came to be that Deming was practically anonymous in his home country, while Japan regarded him with great respect. As usual in these kinds of scenarios, he didn’t show up in Japan with that stature - he was one of many people sent to Japan to help rebuild after World War II. It was his expertise in statistics and analysis that initially drew the eye of the relief agencies. And it was that expertise that landed him in the right places to help rebuild and rethink management principles.
Throughout the book, Willis & Lewis attempt to unearth the influences on Deming's development of profound knowledge - from his experiences on a hardscrabble farm to his formal education to his early career and interactions with people who were core to the development of lasting concepts. It's a fascinating weave - some speculative and some pretty obvious. I like that the authors unearthed descriptions of the environments, like Hawthorne Works or post-war Japan, giving a nice picture of the environment and how Deming could have developed elements of his own thinking. They also delve into the history of concepts like standardization and statistics to provide additional context to how Deming likely came to his thinking. If you read slowly, some of these side stories might be a little confusing as to why they are relevant, but most of the tangents have a good connection to the train of thoughts about Deming.
While this is not formally a biography, I could have used a timeline of some sort to help remember when and where some of the important activities discussed in the book fell. And maybe even some of the non-Deming connections used to flesh out the story - like Deming was at Hawthorne Works for a couple summers; how long was Hawthorne in play? When was Shewhart there?
“The supposition is prevalent the world over that there would be no problems in production or service if only our production workers would do their jobs in the way that they were taught. Pleasant dreams. The workers are handicapped by the system, and the system belongs to the management.”
One of the key elements in Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge is the idea of systems - that people and organizations work inside of larger system. Without appreciating the full system, it is easy to make lazy mistakes. I often struggle with the stories used to describe systems thinking, as they seem almost moralistic (DDT kills mosquitos … and a lot of other things; Introducing rabbits to Australia caused vast defoliation; and other examples). The key is that people who are "good at systems thinking" are able to look beyond the immediate effects of a suggestion. They ask questions that may seem tangential. This is the same with the "Five Why's" analysis. It's easy to ask "why" a few times and get a seemingly pat answer, but asking a few more times, or thinking sideways might turn up deeper, more endemic causes.
I particularly liked Deming's focus on management within organization: they are the ones that create and reinforce the system, and it is the system that people operate within and create the results, good or bad. There are a number of anecdotes where he was kind to the front line workers and very tough with the top management. And many examples where he declined to engage when he saw that the top leadership weren’t interested in learning and changing their approach to enable the system to operate more effectively.
The final section of the book talks about Deming’s influence today and into the future. The authors talk about how the System of Profound Knowledge is obviously related to Lean, as that comes from Toyota and Deming’s influence there. In IT circles there came Agile, which is related to Lean and deeply depends on the these same principles (look at all the connections amongst the 14 points and the principles in agile software development). And then DevOps, which takes Deming and Goldratt and Agile and many other approaches to further improve upon delivering IT with business partners. I also enjoyed the “what if” thoughts in the discussion in chapter 17 on What Would Deming Do. How do these concepts work today and in real challenges that have arisen in the business world? There was even a discussion of how the positive principles could be applied for “evil” - hacking and general bad actors. This is where the authors take a shot at applying the 14 Points of Management to the situation to see if there is a direction forward - or how using the 14 Points could help organizations deal with the cybersecurity threat.
John Willis has been writing and talking about this topic for some time. Most recently, he’s had a podcast called Profound where he interviews a variety of people, focusing on the influence Deming has had in their lives. Some of those conversations have found their way into the book.
Just in case: Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge
I suspect most people who pick up the book will be familiar with The System of Profound Knowledge and the connected Fourteen Points of Management. The Willis and Lewis do a nice job of describing Deming’s development and the importance of The System of Profound Knowledge:
A theory of knowledge: How do we know what we believe we know?
A theory of variation: How do we analyze and understand what we know?
A theory of psychology: How do we account for human behavior?
An appreciation of systems / System thinking: Are we seeing the bigger picture?
And toward the end of the book, they go through each of the Fourteen Points of Management and think about how they apply to today’s current IT environment, particularly emphasizing the concepts associated with cybersecurity. Here are the points, which were originally from Deming’s Out of the Crisis) though I have seen a number of variations in how they are articulated. Deming says that these points come out of the System of Profound Knowledge, and Willis & Lewis suggest that following these points might lead an organization into the System of Profound Knowledge.
Create a Constant Purpose Toward Improvement
Adopt the New Philosophy
Stop Depending on Inspections
Use a Single Supplier for Any One Item
Improve Constantly and Forever
Use Training on the Job
Implement Leadership
Eliminate Fear
Break Down Barriers Between Departments
Get Rid of Unclear Slogans
Eliminate Management by Objectives
Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship
Implement Education and Self-Improvement
Make "Transformation" Everyone's Job