[Pictured: He (Deming) came up with them. ZD just interprets them. And a world-class interpretation, it is.]Took a trip Downtown, today, to attend the LAPD Police Commission meeting (see video on the blog post below from 6/14/11. So afterwards, Matt Dowd and I walked across the street to City Hall for the L.A. City Council meeting.
I have certain people I go to (people I feel are the "real deal"/know what is up) at City Hall. So first thing I did was go up to my, "Budget Master" (someone who has been right on the money, every step of the way, over the five years I have been attending the meetings/paying attention. And I asked, "So is the city gonna go bankrupt." And this person seems to think the city WILL ACTUALLY pull through, over the course of the next two years, although they will be a very rough two years, admittedly. (Now, I know you're saying the guy works at City Hall and isn't going to say, "Yeah, ZD...the city's going bankrupt, for sure." BUT...again, I know who has credibility with ZD, and so let's just say this person actually DOES believe a miracle will happen. (Cause "miracle" is part of the equation toward the city's upward recovery.)
So I asked, "O.K. So how's the city gonna save it?"
CITY STAFFER REPLY TO ZD: "RE-ENGINEERING."
RE-ENGINEERING!!! THAT IS A DR. W. EDWARDS DEMING "BUZZWORD!" So I say, "You mean 14 Points?" The reply was, "Yeah." I was STUNNED and SHOCKED. I said, "You've heard of the 14 Points?" Replied, "I've read them, yeah." OH MY GOODNESS...he's READ THEM, EVEN!!!
Still stunned, I ask, "WHY!?!?" (I know why. But didn't think the city did.)
He said, "We have to do more with less."
THAT'S RIGHT!!! THAT IS WHY YOU EMBRACE THE 14 POINTS. TO DO MORE WITH LESS! (Like I said, I LOVE THIS GUY!)
So he agreed to read my world-renowned interpretation of Deming's 14 Points, called, "Interpreting Deming's 14 Points," and I emailed it to him. He already sent a reply back, with a follow up comment, noting something out of the article, which proved he read it and pulled out the first thing you need to realize and recognized when reading the 14 points (and it one of the 14 points)...PEOPLE are your #1 asset. (Not equipment or machines or office furniture.)
Here's a little dialogue I had on this topic with Mayor Sam (@mayorsam) blog founder, Michael Higby (http://www.facebook.com/MichaelHigby). He's been following City Hall and the steady decline, this entire time. And he knows I've been posting about "re-engineering" (14 Points) for MY entire City Hall tenure (five years), followed by the article, "Interpreting Deming's 14 Points," FOR ALL CITY STAFF, DEPARTMENT HEADS, GENERAL MANAGERS, CITY COUNCILMEMBERS and everyone else who has to do, "more with less," on the job at L.A. City Hall. This little passage will explain:
- Was @cityhall today. Was told they will "re-engineering" all processes. I said, "You mean 14 Points?" They said...YES! (You KNOW I've been saying it was going to come down to 14 Points.) They'll pick and choose one or two things...
- That's what I was wondering - if they will turn it into 8 points or 42?
- I can tell, they'll pick and choose and are going to try to use it to defend NO FIRING OF PEOPLE. (Cause people are the #1 asset.) But it doesn't mean don't fire anyone and do nothing else. Then they'll start with improving the collection process. (It's a holistic thing. Not just, "improve quality, by improving the city's collection process." I think the city being able to operate under these E-RIP circumstances is UN-SAVEABLE! I told the person, FIRST thing the city should do is make a flow chart of the processes. For example, if you want permits for a coffee shop. And then when you see a tangled web, you'll see the problem. They won't do that.
- Michael Higby
- I don't think they know how to do that.
- Zuma Dogg
- They might have to have an auditing company do it...hire outside consultant. I know everyone will say, "HIRE A CONSULTANT...NO WAY!!!" But it's the CURE for the city!!! Plus, they have smart experts working at city who can do it. The way to get this rolling, is quality people in these departments will just start to embrace it and implement it in their departments. And makes suggestions on how to improve things based on it. So it could help. Cause these top people in the departments are GREAT, TALENTED PEOPLE...they know what's up...they could do it right...it's the upper management=villar/council that prevents good work and common sense. (Everyone knows how they have to "fudge" to get things done. This is how you turn the "fudge factor" into "improving the system," by listening to the feedback of the people who are forced to bend things to get the job done. )
- Dude...I ALWAYS knew it was going to come down to Deming's 14, even if they do it wrong. Cause when you get desperate and have to do more with less, under these types of circumstances..any top expert they go to, will be jammin' it down their throat. It's not unproved methods. So I just jumped in front of a bandwagon I KNEW would be coming... It starts with the philosophy. Villar will never want to embrace it. You can't be a screaming, hostile, vindictive maniac.
MORE ON ZUMA DOGG:
* "I too, as you may know, am a Deming fan. I think your synthesis of his work is fabulous." - Anthony Robbins (Tony was kind enough to bow down to me on his stage in front of thousands of people, during a seminar that was being simulcast across the country. I am told that was the first and only time he did that. Awe shucks!)
* "Very Well Done." - Dr. W. Edwards Deming on "Interpreting Deming's 14 Points," by Zuma Dogg. (Published internationally in "Quality Digest." I was told the letter from Deming had to be a fake, cause all he ever did was scribble red ink on everything. Let alone send a response like that. I had to fax the letter to some folks for verification. LOL! Too good to be true. I was in my 20's and was told, they were expecting someone in their 60's or 70's, because it usually takes that long to be able to write something at that level. Awe Shucks!)
* "I especially liked your of explanation Deming's more controversial points." - Don Dewar/Publisher, Quality Digest
* "You not only took our ideas, but expanded them in ways I thought were very interesting." - Al Ries ("Marketing Warfare," "22 Immutable Laws of Marketing," "Focus.")
* "In the history of our company, we've never seen results like these. They were off the charts. We had to go back and re-enter the data to make sure it was correct." - Broadcast Architecture (The world's PREMIER radio and record industry market research company, serving the U.S., Japan and abroad; on $100,000 NYC radio research project ZD headed/created. Station went from #11 to #2! $MILILLIONS$ for station!)
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