Yes, that's the critical paradox: the things that are more measurable or easier to measure are the things that are done, despite them having less impact on quality than things that are difficult to measure or unmeasurable.
Deming said it: "The most important things cannot be measured." How right he was.
I like the old joke about the guy searching around the lamppost at the corner. Another guy asks him what's up, and he says "I dropped my keys." When asked where on the corner he might have dropped them, he replies "Oh, I actually dropped them down the street a couple of blocks, but it's way too dark over there."
I find that joke to frequently be all too relevant to current quality practices.
Comments
Yes, that's the critical paradox: the things that are more measurable or easier to measure are the things that are done, despite them having less impact on quality than things that are difficult to measure or unmeasurable.
Deming said it: "The most important things cannot be measured." How right he was.
I like the old joke about the guy searching around the lamppost at the corner. Another guy asks him what's up, and he says "I dropped my keys." When asked where on the corner he might have dropped them, he replies "Oh, I actually dropped them down the street a couple of blocks, but it's way too dark over there."
I find that joke to frequently be all too relevant to current quality practices.