Raise your hand if you want things to get better. Well the least we can do is talk about it. There is too much talk and too little action. Why so little action? No one knows what to do. As a country we have no template for change. Dr. Deming, who you will read much about on these pages, left us an excellent tool for creating and sustaining change. The PDSA Cycle is used by many of the world’s top companies, and will work well to get us started.

It is so very simple, but you must not cheat. Once you see the results of using a tool like this you will be even more dissatisfied than before. Ha! Let’s apply the cycle to just one of our current problems. Education. I know the issue is complex, but bear with me. There are at least two sides to the debate, maybe more. One side says we have poor results because we don’t hold everyone accountable, the other side says we have the results we have because we don’t spend enough money. Pick a side, they are both wrong. My side is the one that wants to hold everyone accountable. Accountable for what? Following precisely a broken system? The current system accepts as normal that some students will be educated, some will be uneducated but passed, and some will, well let’s not talk about those kids. Well clearly the problem is money.

One of the foundations of Dr. Deming’s teaching is the understanding of variation.  There is variation in everything.  You don’t think so?  Deming said, “You cannot describe for me being exactly on time.”  Silly you say.  Try it.  Any two people’s idea of meeting at noon could vary by at least 20 minutes, one-third hour.  For me meeting at noon means arriving at 11:45 am, no later.  You may show up at 12:10 and consider yourself on time.  That there is variation in everything is one principle.  Another is the idea that there are different kinds of variation.  If you don’t learn anything else here, learn this.  There are two kinds of variation, common cause and special cause.  Common cause variation is inherit in the system you are using, an example being tardiness at work brought about by an alarm clock that loses 15 minutes a day.  Special cause variation is unique to the situation and acts upon your system, an example being tardiness at work caused by stopping to help a stranded motorist.  So now that you have an education, let’s take a test.  Look at the picture.  Answer this.  Are we seeing common cause or special cause variation?  The last person, probably a man, used the last piece of toilet paper and left the empty roll.  Did he, I am almost certain it was a man, think, oh oh, out of toilet paper, someone better get in here and replace it, or did he look at his watch and think, oh my, look at the time, I better get back to work, or as I believe, did he just not think at all.  Here is why I think it was the later.  You could not know this, but in this company restroom the spare rolls are just three feet from where the person is sitting and in plain view, so this is not a good excuse, but what about time.  I have replaced these rolls many times and timed it at 17 seconds.  We could still use the “not enough time” defense were it not for texting.  Texting?  Yup, texting. This employee receives 20-30 texts a day and always finds the time to return them, so the time excuse has to be removed from consideration.

Our wish for you is every blessing from the God of Power and Light.

It has been almost 4 years since the passing of my wife, Carolyn. I have requests
to give talks on the work of Dr. Deming and will start to fulfil those requests.

In the meantime I have added a car to my garage. A 1999 Porsche Boxster.

First road trip will be over the holidays to Clearwater
and Ft. Lauderdale.

So proud of the new game paddle. It is a huge leap forward for our Red Bead Game. Games shipped recently to ATT, Michelin, Intel. Previously shipped games to Husqvarna Motorcycles and
Waste Management. This game should be played by every company that wants to see exceptional growth in 2019 and beyond.

We have designed and created a new paddle for our top selling Red Bead Game. Made of ABS Plastic, it is thicker, stronger and warp resistant. All games sold starting on 5/5/2019 have the new improved paddle. The game still comes with 4,000 beads, 3200 white and 800 red, which stays true to the ratio used by Dr. Deming. In the US, the game ships in a shoe box size plastic container with snap lid and link to many Deming  resources. For International sales, only the beads and paddle are shipped to minimize shipping costs. The customer obtains their own plastic box to contain the game.

There has been an increasing interest in Dr. Deming coming from India.  Small businesses as well as large management institutes. We will prepare a special red bead game for sale there. What a great thing it would be for a wave of Deming Philosophy to happen in that great country.

Sales of our Deming Style Red Bead Game have been going up, up, up. Recent games were shipped to Michelin, Nissan, Husqvarna, and Waste Management. It is our sincere hope that these companies find what we have long known, that the business world just skipped over Dr. Deming, one of the greatest business minds of the last 100 years.

I will be attending the 2018 Deming Conference in Manhattan Beach, Ca, October 4-7. This years conference is titled “Why Deming, Why Now?”. This will be a wonderful time of reunions for me as there will be 8-10 long-time Deming fanatics there I have not seen in 7 years.

Sales of the Red Bead Game have been steady with 5 going to an engineering firm in Thailand, a third game shipped to the Australian government, a game sent to the makers of the Patriot Missile and an inquiry from Tyson Farms. I keep a stock of 20-30 games but that can be depleted very quickly.

We have just purchased a Roland MDX-40, 4 axis Benchtop CnC machine.
After Advance Machine of Clearwater, Fl creates all the tooling needed, we
will be able to make game paddles at  the touch of a button. Cool. This will
greatly help us keep ahead of incoming orders. The machine listed for more
than $14,000.

Hope the hustle and bustle has not done too much to dampen your spirits. Many years ago I was visiting with a family when gifts were opened. A 4 year old boy tore through the 8-10 gifts that were his under the tree. After he opened the last one he threw it aside and screamed, “Is that all!” Most of my Christmases growing up were pleasant but I can remember thinking mostly of me, me, me.
Be a servant to those around you. It really is the greatest gift of all.

The Deming app we launched in May 2017 has performed way beyond our expectations. My fault that the online courses have been slow to emerge, but my wish is to finish something before year’s end. Download the app now at Demingco at IOS or Play Store.