BBC radio has an online podcast of a discussion of W. Edwards Deming’s ideas. As far as I can tell the program is available for downloading just for the next couple days (I am exploring if we can find a way to make the program available online permanently - if anyone has experience working with BBC and has some helpful info please let me know).

The program is “In Business” on BBC 4. Peter Day moderates the discussion with guests:

Norman Speirs
European Director, Management Wisdom

Hazel Cannon
Leader of the Deming Forum

Jane Seddon
Process Management International

Debbie Ray
Good Samaritan Hospital Dayton, Ohio

Myron Tribus
former professor MIT and Dartmouth Universities in America

David Wormald
Managing Director, Raflatac

Nick Baxter
Chief Executive and Founder of Cornerstone International

I definitely encourage those interested in Deming’s ideas to listen to the podcast. The discussion provides a good overview of the basic concepts (exploring why Deming’s ideas are not “that Quality stuff that we did years ago”), a short history of Deming ideas and the state of affairs now. It is not an advanced tutorial for those who have been working with these ideas and now what to know how to solve specific issues they have run across. For those interested in applying Deming’s ideas, as always, I suggest: The Leadership Handbook, Fourth Generation Management and the Improvement Guide (for more see: books to start with and the