W. Edwards Deming Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“The prevailing - and foolish - attitude is that a good manager can be a good manager anywhere, with no special knowledge of the production process he's managing. A man with a financial background may know nothing about manufacturing shoes or cars, but he's put in charge anyway.”

“Innovation comes from the producer - not from the customer.”

“The big problems are where people don't realise they have one in the first place.”

“Customer expectations? Nonsense. No customer ever asked for the electric light, the pneumatic tire, the VCR, or the CD. All customer expectations are only what you and your competitor have led him to expect. He knows nothing else.”

“I am forever learning and changing.”

“Quality is everyone's responsibility.”

“The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.”

“People with targets and jobs dependent upon meeting them will probably meet the targets - even if they have to destroy the enterprise to do it.”

“Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.”

“Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.”