Tales from the Inner Genius

This article is the second in a series of articles addressing the application of W. Edwards Deming’s principles in developing software. Previous parts can be found here: Part 1.

In order to help foster the growth of a quality movement within a company, certain conditions and obstacles need to be avoided. Dr Deming referred to these conditions as the “7 Deadly Diseases.” These diseases can corrupt and thwart quality efforts and need to be avoided.

Deadly Disease 1 - Lack of Constancy of Purpose

Management that continually changes strategies creates confusion in the workforce. Employee will not take serious any new strategy because they know that another new one is right around the corner. Enthusiasm will be sorely lacking. To ensure that your strategies are taken seriously, you will need to make sure that your purpose does not waiver. Corrections can be made but they need to be in line with previous corrections and they need to be aimed at the same purpose. This purpose can be stated in a vision statement but beware of overly complex sounding or vague statements. The former will confuse and the later will not be taken seriously.

Deadly Disease 2 - Emphasis on Short-Term Profits

Short-term profit taking can be detrimental to long-term profits. Unfortunately Wall Street’s emphasis on quarterly earnings makes it difficult to take the path to long-term success. Much of the tech bubble was built on short-term profit taking. Channel stuffing and dubious revenue booking all contributed to quarterly numbers but eventually the foundations crumbled. Companies employing these short-sighted tactics fell. A balance needs to be achieved between long-term and short-term profits to properly foster a quality movement. Read the rest of this entry »

“The 14 points all have one aim: to make it possible for people to work with joy.” - W. Edwards Deming

This series of articles is meant to address the issues of quality in software development. We begin by studying a brief overview of the theories developed by the Father of the Quality Movement, W. Edwards Deming (1900-93). These 14 points were originally presented in his seminal work, Out of the Crisis, and serve as management guidelines. We will then use these 14 points to address quality as it relates to software development in future parts of this series.

Obligation 1 - Constancy of Purpose

Management needs to have a consistent vision that is communicated to their employees. While change can be made, implementing the strategy-du-jour needs to be avoided. Constantly changing directions is like the boy who cried wolf: eventually people will stop believing.

Obligation 2 - Adopt the New Philosophy of Cooperation

Competition between departments rarely results in the best results. Best efforts of individuals can result in less than perfect results. Cooperation is the path to the optimal results.

Obligation 3 - Cease Dependence on Mass Inspection

Dependence upon mass inspection to catch defects is rarely the most cost effective way to ensure quality. The cost of a defect will increase exponentially the farther from the point of it’s origin it is fixed. Quality needs to be independent of the inspection process. Mass inspection is like a crutch: it will help for awhile but eventually the crutch becomes a hinderance and is not necessary. Quality cannot be inspected into a product. It must be built in. Focusing on quality at the inspection stage leads to the failure to examine the process and improve it. Read the rest of this entry »