The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality

4There Is No Such Thing as Instant Pudding

(Deming’s 14 Points for Management)

Deming often remarked that when it came to changing how a company was managed, there was no such thing as instant pudding. Even in the best-run companies, he said, it would take five to ten years for transformation of the enterprise. Deming provided 14 specific ways in which a company might begin to move forward – none of them instant pudding.

Although Deming wrote the 14 points for management before he wrote about a system of knowledge, he later said the 14 points were outtakes from the System of Profound Knowledge. Many managers find the points useful because they are unambiguous actions they can take.

In this chapter, the 14 points are stated as they appear in Deming’s ...