Quotes in problem solving

A problem never exists in isolation; it is surrounded by other problems in space and time. The more of the context of a problem that a scientist can comprehend, the greater are his chances of finding a truly adequate solution.

Making it harder to make mistakes and making mistakes that are made more visible is good. Preventing them is even better.

A good question for anybody in business to ask is What business are we in? To do well what we are doing-i.e., to turn out a good product, or good service, whatever it be? Yes, of course, but this is not enough. We must keep asking - What product or service would help our customers more? We must think about the future. What will we be making 5 years from now? 10 years from now?

The quality revolution is nothing more, or less, than the dramatic expansion of scientific problem solving using informed observation and directed experimentation to find out more about the process, the product and the customer.

When we have a fact-based worldview, we can see that the world is not as bad as it seems - and we can see what we have to do to keep making it better.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

Putting out fires is not improvement of the process. Neither is discovery and removal of a special cause detected by a point out of control. This only puts the process back to where it should have been in the first place.

blame the process not the person. We need to ask, "how did the process allow this to happen?"

The important thing in my view is not to pin the blame for a mistake on somebody, but rather to find out what caused the mistake.

A disciplined approach to problem solving moves a team from wishful thinking to new knowledge, specific countermeasures, and permanent results.