Quote by W. Edwards Deming
Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.
Comment
The source of this quote is in question: It is certainly very consistent with Deming's ideas on management. There seems to be a good chance Paul Batalden altered a quote from Arthur Jones: “All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get!”
An early source exploring the origin suggested 1 of 2 people Dr. Deming worked with, Dr. Paul Batalden or Donald Berwick originated the quote. Given that the newer article from IHI lists Paul Batalden as a co-author and he remembers slightly altering Arthur Jones' quote it seems likely Arter was the original source.
Categories:
blame, design, process thinking, responsibility, results, systems thinking
Please suggest source details if you know: book, page, year, online article address (url), correction (different author...), etc.. Thanks.