Out of the crisis
by W. Edwards Deming · first published 1982
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Deming's 14 Points and systems view of quality: improve the system rather than blame individuals, with enough statistical depth to follow. Suits managers and engineers rethinking goals, targets and process improvement.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The author explains what he believes managers have been doing wrong, informs them what they must do, and shows them Demings' Way Out of the crisis.
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…calculations. A lot of the things one ought to do are not actually necessary. There are way too many books to recommend here, but perhaps some of the most relevant are - Deming's The New Economics, and Out of the Crisis, - Reinertsen's Principles of Product Development Flow, - Ward's Lean Product and Process Development.
on “Ask HN: Best books on managing software complexity?” ↗= Out of the Crisis by Deming. Everyone ought to read and absorb Deming. It's hands-down the most life-changing read I've ever come across, by a wide margin. Dealing with life statistically rather than overreacting to…
on “Ask HN: Name 3-5 books that had the most impact on your career and knowledge?” ↗Out of the Crisis by Edwards Deming is one of those books I think should be read by anyone who is a... human? And active professionally, I suppose.
on “Ask HN: Technical Summer Reading List” ↗…science and psychology isn't the cause of the downvoting... anyway if you're interested, a great book is "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor. And on the business side, W. Edwards Deming's seminal work "Out of the Crisis." Essentially both show a proven way of dealing with any living thing that's based on positive behavior and proven statistical methods and science rather than outdated and misguided beliefs about punishment…
on ““Warning” signs at historical sites tell visitors to relax and enjoy themselves” ↗…https://www.amazon.com/Machine-That-Changed-World-Revolution... Toyota Production System Beyond Large Scale https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Production-System-Beyond-Large... The Toyota Way https://www.amazon.com/Toyota-Way-Management-Principles-Manu... Out of the Crisis https://www.amazon.com/Out-Crisis-W-Edwards-Deming/dp/091137...
on “Applying Lean Startup Principles in Organizations of All Sizes” ↗For me it was a sequence of books that did it. The Phoenix Project first, then David Anderson's Kanban book. Some tine after that was The Goal and Deming's Out Of The Crisis, and a book of Taichi Ohno musings. You're right, what has been seen cannot be unseen.
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗I've read and enjoyed a bit by Edwards Deming recently, specifically Out of the Crisis and The New Economics.
on “The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read” ↗I stumbled upon Deming's "Out of the Crisis" when wandering through the library in school. It has changed how I thought about system improvement ever since. I use the things I learned for marketing, product, and engineering systems. Want to…
on “Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming (2020)” ↗Either The New Economics or Out of the Crisis or both, by Deming. I could recommend twenty more books that I think are essential to be a good leader (in various areas like ownership, communication, continuous improvement, planning, innovation, anthropology,…
on “How I operated as a Staff engineer at Heroku (2020)” ↗…them into themes, and then ranked the themes based on how important I think they are. 1. Deming is the primary writer of the type of management we need to be competitive: Deming, The New Economics & Out of the Crisis. 2. There is a wide variety of ways for humans to organise. Nobody is forcing the default capitalist bureaucracy on you, so be creative: Graeber, Bullshit Jobs & Dawn of Everything & The Democracy Project.…
on “How I operated as a Staff engineer at Heroku (2020)” ↗…don't set the plane on fire. So to speak. For those interested in systems thinking and especially how it relates to people and business, look up W. Edwards Deming and read at least his 14 points. Read "Out of the Crisis" for more. Personally I think systems thinking needs to be more prevalent in business today, but we're still a very individualist society so it's very difficult to make the leap. Something to consider…
on “Why airplane bathrooms have ashtrays” ↗…management, with the goal of quality: seek out W. Edwards Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming. It's not terribly accessible, but it is pragmatic and wise. Highly recommend his book Out of the Crisis, in which he describes the ideas he put in place to pull Japan out of the post WWII recession and turn them into an economic power respected for quality.
on “Forget Setting Goals. Focus on Systems Instead” ↗…almost all credit to W. Edwards Deming—who is the originator of many of the ideas of organizational systems thinking and how it integrates with Management. So, if you want to go deeper, Deming's book "Out of the Crisis" is a good tome.
on “How Completely Messed Up Practices Become Normal” ↗"Out of the Crisis" by W. Edwards Deming. The author was one of a handful of people who helped the Japanese apply methods of statistical control to their manufacturing processes, which in turn helped them to become an economic…
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗For more on this I recommend both The Goal and Out of the Crisis (the latter more, but the former also discusses this). Targets are often useful because they're proxies for the unmeasurable. But, as discussed in the article, they can easily become goals themselves,…
on “When targets and metrics are bad for business” ↗