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• 94% of problems

• Management is responsible for making the improvement of the system a priority.

Special Cause = Random or fleeting events

• 6% of problems

• These are primarily the responsibility of employees.

• Note: Employees are also responsible for helping management improve the system.

The simple way to state the Deming quote is the way my dad always said it to me: “94% of problems are caused by the system—6% by the workers.” Throughout this book, this is the version of the quote that we will use, as it is more directly relevant when applying system thinking to innovation.

Dr. Deming was a tireless advocate for enabling workers to have pride in their work. As he wrote:

A bad system will beat a good person every time. . . . A basic principle presumed here is that no one should be blamed or penalized for performance that he cannot govern. Violation of this principle can only lead to frustration and dissatisfaction with the job, and lower production.

—Dr. W. Edwards Deming

Improvement of a system involves reducing common cause variation. However, you can’t improve a system that doesn’t exist. And frankly, more than 99% of companies have no system for innovation. Now if you reject the idea that you don’t have a system for innovation, you are in good company. Every week, when business leaders tell me they already have a system for innovation, I ask to see it. A moment of confusion then occurs. I follow up by asking to see the operations manual for it, the training program curriculum for teaching new employees and new managers. Confusion is now replaced with bewilderment. I then explain that if you can’t write it down, you don’t have a system. This also means that you can’t blame employees for not following the company system for thinking smarter and more creatively when you don’t have a system.