For years there's been something hidden in Deming's closet. Well, not hidden exactly, it's actually one of his published "Seven Deadly Diseases of Western Management". Problem is, it takes us a little way outside our comfort zone where all things can be measured, and hence predicted, controlled and managed. So we don't like talking about it too much. It can indeed be seen, to pinch someone else's catchphrase, as Deming's inconvenient truth. But what is it?   more »

With the 2008 update nearing the date of issue, here's a summary of the LIKELY changes to the ISO 9001 standard   more »

These people found us from somewhere, and have added us to their circulation list. It's actually not a bad read, so we thought we'd share it with you   more »

Thanks to Chris Angus at www.instinctivechoice.co.uk for this guest piece on Kansei Engineering. What is it? Click through and all will be explained   more »

Time for a bit of fun. Yesterday the BBC published a neat little article on "office-speak" so let's take our own tour through the crazy terrain that is Office Buzzwords and Bullshit   more »

Here's a post aimed at providing some guiding principles and food for thought for anyone ready to tackle this knotty issue head-on   more »

Quality management gurus come and go and everyone has their own personal favourite. But there is one guru that has stood out head and shoulders above all others. A quality professional whose acute understanding of business dynamics, human motivation, customer behaviour, economics and, most crucially, how this all fits together, has resulted in a body of work that remains undiminished by half a century of the most incredible change. So whenever we find ourselves drawn into an “ISO 9001 Section 5” debate, we could do worse than to pause and to think “what would Deming say?”   more »

Follow the link in this article to Chris Baker's excellent summary of current legislation and implications for organisations   more »

If ever there was a storm in a teacup, this is it. Starbucks, bless them, desperately trying to re-build and re-energise, have adopted a new logo. So what? You may ask. What's the problem with that? Well, lots apparently, according to the American Christian far-right   more »

The requirement that processes are identified, defined, understood and measured is (supposedly) a fundamental requirement of ISO 9001. But is it ever really examined?   more »

At last, you may say, continual improvement explained in simple terms. Well we've done our best   more »

The attempt Starbucks is making to arrest a decline in business performance is unfolding into an interesting case study. In this special guest post, Maria Palma offers her up-to-the-minute views on what's they're up to, most crucially, if it's likely to work   more »

Sometimes you can argue until you are blue in the face and fail to make your point. And then you can make statements as short and stupid as the ones in this post and make your point beautifully   more »

Here's a guest piece from Chris Baker on the subject of using risk to determine the frequency of internal audits. Maybe it's time for a change from the old "intuitive" approach?   more »

There's a very good contribution today on John Hunter's blog Curious Cat on this topic. Details inside   more »

We're across in Dubai right now doing some proper work for a change. In the meantime, please check out our guest post on Maria Palma's excellent customer service blog   more »

London Heathrow Terminal 5. A not unexpected lesson in bad project management (Updated 15th April from an earlier post)   more »

We're taking our turn hosting the improvement round-up, giving Curious Cat a well deserved break. Check out this post for a summary of some of the more interesting and thought provoking articles from the last two weeks   more »

There is no point ignoring the basic weaknesses and flaws of human behaviour when designing a system. If you need compliant behaviour, you'll have more success if you make that path easy to follow   more »

Here's a short article that many people will find useful. It summarises the key requirements of ISO 9001 and offers a number of pointers that, hopefully, will help a lot of you with your implementation   more »

Whenever you browse business related blogs, forums, company web sites and the like you notice that there is a very wide interpretation of what exactly ISO 9000 is, and what it can achieve. In most cases its primary benefit is overlooked, whilst some potential benefits are often overstated. In this post we try to put some things in context. Hope it helps   more »

Thanks to Chris for this excellent "how to" article on the principles and cornerstones of corporate governance, and the critical attributes of a corporate governance program   more »

When is a safe system of work not a safe system of work? Read this article relating to the management of air traffic at London Heathrow and make your own mind up   more »

In this special guest article, Kelly Erickson from VisionPoints, explains the concept and principles behind this new 21st Century battleground   more »

Not all "quality people" understand human motivation, or human dynamics at all if we're honest. Deming had strong views on the role that people and their motivation play on the efficiency of working systems   more »

Following on from our first post in the series "Deming on the 8 Quality Management Principles" where we looked at leadership, in this post we take on the system   more »

In this post we attempt to add some context and depth to our favourite quality management principle, leadership, using the words of the master. What better way?   more »

With the 2008 standard published later this year, we highlight the two greatest opportunities that are about to be missed   more »

Different audits have different objectives and, consequently, need different approaches. In this post we compare and contrast. Hope you find it useful   more »

Thanks to Chris Baker for allowing us to publish this excellent piece of work   more »

We all know what they are, but how many of us can apply them in the right context? Hopefully this post will help   more »