Written by Cari Borden

Imagine this:
W. Edwards Deming, father of quality, process discipline, and “stop playing management whack-a-mole”, walks into a modern organization in 2025.

He adjusts his glasses.
He looks around.
He sighs the sigh of a man who has seen some things.

And then he pulls out his famous 14 Points… and realizes he would need a stiff drink.

Let’s walk through what Deming would see today — point by point — in full Cari energy.

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1. Create constancy of purpose

What Deming meant:
Know what you’re doing and why.

What he’d find today:
Annual “strategic pivots” inspired by whatever LinkedIn thought leaders are posting this week.
Employees are dizzy. Leaders are dazed. Vision is a screen saver.

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2. Adopt the new philosophy

Deming’s version:
Stop tolerating poor quality.

2025 version Deming would find:
“We value excellence.”
Also them: “Please deliver excellence by Friday with zero resources and half a team. Also we’re reorganizing again.”

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3. Cease dependence on inspection

Deming:
Build quality into the process.

Today:
Leaders: “Why did we have so many errors? Who checked the checker that checked the checker?”
Deming: stares in statistical disappointment.

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4. End the practice of awarding business on price tag alone

Deming:
Buy quality, not bargains.

Today’s workplace:
The cheapest vendor wins until the system crashes, the client screams, and suddenly everyone is shocked that $6 solutions don’t behave like $60,000 platforms.

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5. Improve constantly and forever

Deming:
Continuous improvement.

Today:
“Let’s do continuous improvement… starting next fiscal year… once the chaos slows down… or after we get through Q3… or once Brenda returns from PTO.”

Spoiler: Brenda never comes back.

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6. Institute training on the job

Deming:
Train people properly.

Today:
“Here’s a login, a PDF, and a prayer. You’ll figure it out.”
Deming would quietly open a new tab, Google “occupational stress,” and reconsider humanity.

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7. Institute leadership

Deming:
Lead. Don’t micromanage.

Today:
Leadership is sometimes:
“Did you get my email?”
“Which one?”
“The one I sent five minutes ago.”

Deming would remind everyone: managing people is not a scavenger hunt.

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8. Drive out fear

Deming:
People should feel safe telling the truth.

Today:
Employees: “I have feedback.”
Leaders: visibly flinch
Deming: “Well there’s your first quality defect.”

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9. Break down barriers between departments

Deming:
Collaboration > silos.

Today:
Departments communicate via passive-aggressive Slack messages and invisible turf wars.
Every team thinks the other team is the problem.

Deming would send everyone to a trust fall activity. Half wouldn’t show up.

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10. Eliminate slogans, targets & exhortations

Deming:
Real change > motivational posters.

Today:
Leaders: “No more burnout!”
Employees: sleeping with their laptops like emotional support animals.

Deming would take down every poster that says “Hustle Harder.”

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11. Eliminate numerical quotas

Deming:
Quality over counting.

Today:
“Did you complete your 7.3 tasks? Please log your 15-minute increments. Did you breathe today? Log it in the system.”

Deming would unplug half the dashboards.

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12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship

Deming:
Let people do their jobs well.

Today:
Employees: “I want to do good work.”
Leaders: “Great! Fill out these eight forms, follow these contradictory SOPs, then wait two weeks for approvals.”
Innovation: quietly dies.

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13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement

Deming:
Skills matter.

Today:
“Here’s one free learning license shared across three departments. Make sure you return it by noon.”

Deming would cry into his Kaizen notebook.

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14. Put everyone to work on the transformation

Deming:
Quality is everyone’s job.

Today:
Transformation is a slide deck.
Presented once.
By a VP who left the company two weeks later.

Deming would walk out the door and say, “Call me when you’re serious.”

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So Why Does This Still Matter in 2025?

Because organizations are still chasing symptoms instead of systems, speed instead of sustainability, and “output” instead of outcomes.

Deming’s message wasn’t about perfection; it was about intentionality:

• Build clarity.
• Build capability.
• Build trust.
• Build systems that don’t break people.

Because quality, now more than ever, is a culture. not a checklist.

And if Deming worked here?
He’d tell us the same thing he told the world decades ago:
Fix the system, and you’ll finally fix the chaos.