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The W. Edwards Deming Institute
Company blog · blog.deming.orgbusinesseconomics
The W. Edwards Deming Institute is the company blog at blog.deming.org, writing about business and economics. Since 2013, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 18 times, most often “Myth: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-01-13, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (8) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link this blog as a reference on W. Edwards Deming's management ideas, citing posts on performance appraisal, the 'if you can't measure it' myth, Toyota's management history and minimum viable product.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 8 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
THE DEMING INSTITUTE BLOG November 30, 2022 | Appreciation for a System, Theory of Knowledge | 3 Comments The Starfish and the System In this guest post, Dr. Doug Stilwell looks at The Starfish Story of a humble hero through the Deming lens, and sees how, by understanding the System…
Most-linked posts?
- Myth: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-08-23
- /2013/02/the-idea-of-performance-rating-to-capture-merit-is-alluring/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-11-12
What Hacker News says?
They should call this "The Deming Way" since most of it sounds identical to Deming's management philosophy and he taught Toyota back in the 1960s[1]. His system also had 14 points, which probably isn't a coincidence[2]. [1] https://blog.deming.org/2016/10/toyotas-management-history/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Comment linking /2016/10/toyotas-management-history/
on “The Toyota Way”Submitted If Japan Can, Why Cant We? (1980) as a story · 13 points
HN discussionIt turns out what you say is not true in reality, but it persists as the myth of individualism in the corporate workforce. It is simply false; it doesn't happen. When you align the incentives, uncomplicate rewards, clearly guide people in the same direction toward clear and logical goals, and enable them to do good work they can be proud of, all of that individual infighting and politics goes away. You can still com…
Comment linking /
on “Against Productivity”Submitted Myth: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It as a story · 5 points
HN discussionBut of course, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it", said by Drucker, says EVERYONE. Hence the cherry picking of preferential KPIs or OKRs. But, actually, Drucker didn't say it. In fact, W. Edwards Deming said it. And what he actually said was "It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth.". So, basically, the quote held up as the "reason" behind excessive over-t…
Comment linking /2015/08/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-manage-it/
on “Goodhart's Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”Submitted Bill Scherkenbach Interview with Dr. W. Edwards Deming as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIn an individual manner commensurate with their contribution and market value, as simply and clearly as possible. It is not complicated, and making it complicated is how we end up in cultural negative feedback loops. The standard performance assessment does more harm than good, and we absolutely should not use it. Some external resources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201211/wh... http://www.the…
Comment linking /2012/10/dr-deming-called-for-the-elimination-of-the-annual-performance-appraisal/
on “Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems That Never Happened (2001) [pdf]”Submitted Deming Library Video with Dr. Deming Discussing the 14 Points as a story · 1 points
HN discussionFor more on Deming's ideas see http://blog.deming.org/ http://blog.deming.org/2013/09/online-resources-for-w-edwards-demings-management-ideas/ http://blog.deming.org/tag/performance-appraisal/ "The idea of a merit rating is alluring. The sound of the words captivates the imagination: pay for what you get; get what you pay for; motivate people to do their best, for their own good. The effect is exactly the opposite o…
Comment linking /2013/02/the-idea-of-performance-rating-to-capture-merit-is-alluring/
on “Why are Amazon, Facebook and Yahoo copying Microsoft's stack ranking system?”It can be eliminated, and it's extremely simple to lay out exactly how to do so. Getting there is not so simple, but the analysis is. This type of office politics are a direct result of a specific set of ingrained beliefs about people, and a lack of scientific understanding of three areas: psychology and behavioral theory, statistics, and systems theory. In sum, they produce Quality. Lacking, you get the problems we…
Comment linking /2013/08/is-the-results-due-to-mathematical-probability-or-individual-merit/
on “Set Up to Fail: How Bosses Create Their Own Poor Performers (1998) [pdf]”Absolutely. In attempting to solve the problem of the influence of testing, they've also taken a huge step toward improving quality. This applies to all of us. http://blog.deming.org/2013/02/the-idea-of-performance-ratin...
Comment linking /2013/02/the-idea-of-performance-rating-to-capture-merit-is-alluring/
on “To Stop Cheating, Nuclear Officers Ditch the Grades”The problem is the one tackled by W. Edwards Deming in his Quality philosophy. He takes the same stance: the quality of a product, in any production, is a result of management and leadership, organizational psychology, effective processes, and dedication to a systems-focused approach. Start with Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming Continue to this blog: http://blog.deming.org/ Read his dry and…
Comment linking /
on “The Fire Phone Is Officially a Failure”Online resources on applying Deming's ideas https://blog.deming.org/online-deming-resources/
Comment linking /online-deming-resources/
on “Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming”Deming actually wrote the opposite in The New Economics. https://blog.deming.org/2015/08/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-...
Comment linking /2015/08/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-manage-it/
on “Metrics-Driven Development”Q: Should we use Henrik Kniberg's original illustrations, and credit him for this product development meme or whatever? A: Nah, let's just recreate his visuals and call the whole idea our own. (for reference: https://blog.deming.org/2014/11/minimal-viable-product/ )
Comment linking /2014/11/minimal-viable-product/
on “Skateboard, Bike, Car: Building Products the MetaLab Way”This article sounds much like the view of W. Edwards Deming, who called for the elimination of the annual performance appraisal. His rationale was, "The fact is that the system that people work in and the interaction with people may account for 90 or 95 percent of performance."[1] [1] https://blog.deming.org/2012/10/dr-deming-called-for-the-eli...
Comment linking /2012/10/dr-deming-called-for-the-elimination-of-the-annual-performance-appraisal/
on “Performance Reviews Can Kill Your Culture”Here are some of the ones which have informed my thinking. Mooers' law - "An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a customer to have information than for him not to have it." Derek Price's "exponential curve of science". This of course is connected to a number of exponential growth laws, including Moore's Law and Engelbart's Law ("The intrinsic rate of…
Comment linking /2013/08/unknown-and-unknowable-data/
on “Ask HN: What are the laws/rules/aphorisms of the tech industry you subscribe to?”