Dr. Deming's aptly named quality improvement chain reaction has been proven over and over since it was first established 70 years ago.
Here is a copy of his version of the chain reaction from his book Out of the Crisis.
This conceptual basis for improving quality can be reworded to fit any work process and it always rings true without question.
In my experience, if there were one enhancement to the wording, I would make sure the student of quality improvement recognized the connection between improving the process and improving quality. So often, in discussions in the workplace, the focus on the process is lost in the zeal to focus on other aspects of this chain reaction.
It reminds me of the time I was meeting with Bill Conway of Conway Associates and in returning to my office with him and in the elevator, one of our employees asked me, in chit-chat fashion, what I was working on at the time. Bill interjected with the comment that I was improving processes, exactly what I was paid to do. Good thing the elevator only served three floors.
You might ask: does this mean that we continue to improve quality to the point of zero defects? The answer is no because statistically zero defects are not reachable.
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