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Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming, page 19
I am reminded of a quote I heard from Dr. Deming (though it may well precede him): “Don’t just do something, stand there.” First think, then act. His quote also relates to the tendency we have to tamper - institute “solutions” without understanding what is going on (often due to a lack of understanding variation). Many managers have learned their job is to act, even if they don’t have the knowledge needed to make a rational decision: they don’t just stand there, they do something. Learning to say, I don’t know, and then spend time learning instead of acting is a valuable skill to develop.
As regular readers of this blog know I think Ackoff is great. Dr. Ackoff’s ideas on this topic are wise (as usual): articles by Russ Ackoff - Doing the wrong things right podcast by Ackoff.
Related: Deming on Management - best efforts - Doing the Wrong Things Righter - theory of knowledge
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December 1st, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I remember taking a manager to his first Deming 4-day seminar. Afterwards my friend said to me “I was very impressed with that man. He said ‘I don’t know.’”