Have you heard of Plan-Do-Check-Act? Or Plan-Do-Study-Act? Both are alternate names for the Deming Cycle, a way of improving products, processes, or services, over time. Many methods for effective change are based on, or incorporate, the Deming Cycle.

Source: Wikipedia.org, The Deming Cycle

The Deming Cycle has 4 stages –

• Plan – Establish a goal and success metrics.
• Do – Validate the plan by putting it into action on a small scale.
• Study/ Check – Measure the outcome and analyze the results, to determine if the goal was achieved, and why the Plan was successful. (If the goal was not achieved, return to the Plan stage and start again.)
• Act – Integrate the lessons learned and implement the validated solution.

The stages are iterated for continuous improvement, and the phrase “driving the wedge” takes on a positive meaning: the wedge, the Standard, is the baseline for the next Plan. Raising standards, driving them higher, is what creates quality improvement over time. I like the image of a mountain climber, driving the wedge (the piton) to reach the next altitude. Like the climber scaling the mountain, we use our current achievements to keep reaching higher.