Articles and News Around the Web

10 Nov 2020

Call for Help with Books - over the last few months the Deming Transformation Forum has received some requests for help from individuals who are eagerly trying to learn more about organisation and process improvement and Hazel Cannon has had some requests for books no longer on their shelves. If anyone is either downsizing your libraries, or has a spare copy, and would be happy to donate your treasured books to the next generation who do not have financial support to study, Hazel is looking in particular for two books. They are: 

Don Wheeler - Making Sense of Data 

Don Wheeler - Understanding Variation - the Key to Managing Chaos

Hazel also has some interest in Peter Scholtes books, so if you can help, please contact Hazel at office@deming.org.uk or +44 (0)7831 393579. If you need your postage costs covered, please let Hazel know.

9 Nov 2020

Lean Improvement in Construction Talks - this online event is organised for Thurs 12 Nov 2020, 4.00-5.30PM (GMT) by the Business and Industrial Section and Quality Improvement Section of the Royal Statistical Society, and focus on Lean improvement in the construction industries and the role of ISO 18404, as well as the RSS’s involvement in the scheme. Three talks will be presented, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session.

The need for Better Practice in Lean & Six Sigma and the RSS Scheme for ISO18404 

Professor Tony Bendell, Fellow of the RSS, Chair of Quality Improvement Section RSS

Lean and Six Sigma methods have much to contribute to efficiency and quality across all sectors including manufacturing, service and construction but practice has been largely unregulated and of varied quality. Implementation programs have often floundered and lost their way, and in some cases the competence of so-called professionals has been questionable. For this reason, the ISO 18404 standard was developed, and the RSS took on the mantel of scheme owner, working to improve the analytical approach to process, product and service improvement globally. This talk reports progress on this to date.

Piloting ISO18404 in the Construction Sector, an approach to business transformation

Dr Steve Ward, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building

Despite significant experience with Lean, the construction sector still fails to grasp the nettle and cannot keep up with other sector’s rates of improvement. Ad hoc deployment of tools and techniques are common, but business transformations are rare. This presentation contrasts Lean Intervention with transformation and explains how ISO18404 can provide a useful roadmap for businesses seeking to embed Lean Thinking, together with a case study of the world’s first business to achieve certification to the new Lean ISO18404 standard.

Transforming from Lean ‘It’s Complicated’ to Lean ‘It’s a Commitment’ through the implementation of the ISO18404 Framework

Stuart Anwyl, Balfour Beatty Highways

Culture change requires care, patience, a bottomless energy source, and an iron will to succeed. Or maybe it just feels this way. The point is: culture change typically isn’t greeted with open arms unless there is a crisis to provide for or a sense of urgency. Perhaps we are using the wrong word, instead of Culture we should use ‘Commitment’ as commitment is a crucial element that, if missing, spells certain doom for any change initiative. Consciously or not, we follow the examples set by our leadership teams, their actions often determine what we prioritize and how we behave. If your leadership team can’t demonstrate a commitment to change, neither will you. In his presentation Stuart will talk about how the ‘Commitment’ of Balfour Beatty Highways Division’s Leadership team to achieve the ISO18404 standard is helping to demonstrate to an industry that still thinks Lean is complicated, how Lean can provide a pathway to real solutions that drive effective, efficient tangible results for our projects, clients and supply chain partners.

The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session. Please, find details and register for this online event at https://rss.org.uk/training-ev... 

This is an online event and joining instructions will be sent to those registered, so please do register for this event in advance.

3 Sept 2020

Entertaining and enlightening YouTube video 'Where Science Goes to Die' from Rohin Francis, science communicator and cardiologist, as part of the MedLife Crisis series, with specific mention and discussion of Covid-19, and how scientific research and news can be corrupted by poor practice or interpretation. 

Watch for the Deming mention! Thanks to Julian Simcox for sharing. 

13 Aug 2020

Marcia Daszko, a protégé of Dr. Deming, has, since March 2020, been writing 1-2 newsletters per week to help people pivot and make improvements working from home, etc. She writes a weekly leadership Q&A column for the Silicon Valley Business Journal to answer leaders/managers’ questions. Her website has research papers on transformation and innovation that were delivered at the Deming conferences, and there are also podcasts and videos. 

If any of these may be helpful to Deming Alliance members, you are welcome to visit the website as a resource.

13 Jul 2020

The Deming Alliance webinar series 'Out of the crisis; better management in a post pandemic world' is up and running. We've completed the first of these 'Doing Measurement Well' is available as a podcast, and new events are available to book, addressing 'Change-enabled organisations', on 21st and 28th Jul, then 'Untangling motivation and performance' on 3rd and 20th Aug. Go to the Events page for more details and booking instructions. 

26 Jun 2020

An important new White Paper "Why Six-Sigma Implementation Fails" now available from Terry Peterson and Kevan Leach, highlights the failure of a business fad, and provides pointers for business leaders looking for 'The next Big Thing'

Please read and share views across your networks...

11 May 2020

Thanking Luca - On behalf of the Board I’d like to thank Luca Willington for all that she has done to take the Alliance forward in recent years, as a Board member and before. Luca is one of those wonderful people who quietly gets on and delivers. She has committed huge amounts of time and effort to the DA. The digital presence that we have now, and much of the collateral we have on the website, is in no small part down to her drive and energy. We know that Luca will continue to be a really valuable member of the DA, and understand that the time is right for her to invest time in other exciting start-up activities. We wish her very well with those and look forward to seeing her once we are back at Nettle Hill, hopefully later in the year. 

Ben Simpson, DA Chair

17 Apr 2020

Isn't about time humans start to think differently? We've certainly not adopted a systemic mindset to how we manage and develop our social and technical institutions. We're still centred on power, domination and control, but that era must pass, else humanity will. A great new book, 'The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking' from Ray Ison and Ed Straw, outlines how we can begin to change our thinking. 

6 Mar 2020

Anyone interested in the visionary thinking of Buckminster Fuller? New resource from Open Culture provides access to 42 hours of video footage from his seminal 1975 lecture series; knock yourself out! 

2 Mar 2020

Really nice, concise and thought provoking article on LinkedIn from Kim Boland, entitled "The Deming Paradox and Evangelism", which draws inspiration from a number of sources. We still have a lot to learn! 

30 January 2020

Is anyone interested in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), how it can be evaluated systemically, and implemented to better effect in organisations who use it? If so, there is a new book 'Reframing ITIL' by Steve Hales, supported by Patrick Hoverstadt. Check it out! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Refra... 

29 November 2019

Systems & Complexity in Organisation (SCiO) have their Jan 2020 Open Day in London now ready to book! Four great speakers lined up for a lively event. Don't miss out! 

http://www.systemspractice.org... 

27 September 2019

Great article from Patrick Hoverstadt of Fractal Consulting about Business Agility and the Agile Business on LinkedIn - well worth a read - some ideas that compliment nicely Deming's comments about survival and offer a way to approach the tricky dilemmas at the heart of agility. 

26 September 2019

The Systems Dynamics Network Meeting at ThinkLab takes place on Tues 22nd Oct in Salford University, exploring a number of subjects relating to complex and dynamic situations from a systemic perspective. Further information available via SD Network Eventbrite. 

23 September 2019

SCiO (Systems & Complexity in Organisation) has two Autumn events coming up for those interested in Systems Thinking practice and approaches. The SCiO Development Day runs on Sun 13th Oct in Liverpool for members (only); booking information available via the SCiO web site. The SCiO Open Day runs on Mon 14th Oct in Manchester for anyone interested; booking information available also via the SCiO web site and Eventbrite. 

19 September 2019

The UK Institute for Apprenticeships has agreed the role definition and knowledge, skills and behaviours for the Level 7 (Postgraduate/Masters) Systems Thinking Apprenticeship, the IfA has now published the role as Systems Thinking Practitioner. The next step will be to develop the educational content to support the apprenticeship, and finalise how assessment will be organised and managed. 

29 March 2019

The American Association for Quality (ASQ) today has announced that they have decided to award the Deming Medal to Alan Winlow, former Managing Director of Yorkshire Brick Company and Continuous Improvement Director at Marshalls PLC. Alan is the the second Brit to have won the prestigious prize, after Dr Henry R Neave (2001). The awards ceremony will take place on the 19 of May, in Fort Worth, prior to its annual World Conference on Quality and Improvement. For details, see the ASQ press release on 29 March. The Deming Alliance has also published a brief case study about Yorkshire Brick Company, where Alan Winlow first started to implement Deming's continual improvement methods, with outstanding results.

14 January 2019

Deming Institute's first EU Workshop on the Deming Management Method to be held in Amsterdam on 25 April 2019. Bill Bellows, the Deputy Director of the Deming Institute will be traveling form the Us to lead the event/ For more information, contact Frans Leijse, the Dutch organiser of the event.

23 August 2018

The UK Institute for Apprenticeships has approved a Level 7 (Postgraduate/Masters) Systems Thinking Practitioner Apprenticeship, the Trailblazer committee for this apprenticeship has announced today. The next step will be to develop and prove the standards for this apprenticeship. More information will be added to the Institute for Apprenticeships website.

24 April 2018

NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement team is holding a series of free webinars on Facilitating Large Scale Change, scheduled between 24 May and 12 July 2018. For more more info and bookings, visit the Facilitating Large Scale Change webinar series page on NHS England's website.

7 December 2017

A systems approach to improving A&I services at Luton & Dunstable University Hospital BBC article "Why is Luton & Dunstable University Hospital hitting A&E target?"

21 November 2017

A topical application of process behaviour charts to UK political polling data, by Anthony Cutler.  In his own words, he wanted to present opinion polls and election results “as a movie rather than a snapshot”. Read the full article on Anthony's Unanticipated Knowledge blog. You can find the updates on Anthony Cutler's twitter feed, where the chart is being updated (almost) daily.  You are warmly invited to "post comments and challenges. Please spread the word by linking or retweeting."