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"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it" is a quote by W. E. Deming. But Deming was fully aware that there are things you can't measure and must manage. H

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it" is a quote by W. E. Deming. But Deming was fully aware that there are things you can't measure and must manage. He also emphasized that data could be used to mislead and that you must... well, use your brain. Deming thought of data as merely something to be collected in order to decide on an action, but before you can decide, you predict. I think this "predictive" potential is a good mental model; just as predicting the future is foolish, you can also reliably predict that the Earth will go around the Sun tomorrow. Deming was (among many things) a professor of statistics, and knew that statistics can lie. Much of his work emphasizes the need for analytical skills and critical thinking. An example is PDSA (not PDCA), which requires study and evaluation of an action and theory in order to learn from it. https://deming.org/explore/pdsa/ https://deming.org/explore/pdsa/

snidane 4y ago
Except that according to the same website he stated the opposite of that quote. > It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth.” – W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics. https://deming.org/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-manage-it/ https://deming.org/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-mana...
- throwaway787544 4y ago
  The author seems to have come across the paraphrased version of the quote and I'm explaining what it's missing. I don't care if Deming or someone else said it first or if Deming was referencing it.
mrerrormessage 4y ago
Came here to reference Deming myself. One thing I've noticed in Deming's work (especially 14 points, sicknesses) is that by contextualizing and properly understanding the use of statistics he humanizes people in an organization. We must look at metrics/statistics correctly, in a way that humanizes and enriches people, not in a way that turns them into numbers in a spreadsheet.

snidane 4y ago

Except that according to the same website he stated the opposite of that quote. > It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth.” – W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics. https://deming.org/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-manage-it/ https://deming.org/myth-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant-mana...

throwaway787544 4y ago
The author seems to have come across the paraphrased version of the quote and I'm explaining what it's missing. I don't care if Deming or someone else said it first or if Deming was referencing it.

mrerrormessage 4y ago

Came here to reference Deming myself. One thing I've noticed in Deming's work (especially 14 points, sicknesses) is that by contextualizing and properly understanding the use of statistics he humanizes people in an organization. We must look at metrics/statistics correctly, in a way that humanizes and enriches people, not in a way that turns them into numbers in a spreadsheet.