[Management]PDCA Cycle

excerpt from http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite3/toolkit/pdcacycl.htm

Plan->Do->Check->Act
or
Plan->Do->Check->Improve

Here is what you do for each stage of the Cycle:

• Plan to improve your operations first by finding out what things are going wrong (that is identify the problems faced), and come up with ideas for solving these problems.

• Do changes designed to solve the problems on a small or experimental scale first. This minimises disruption to routine activity while testing whether the changes will work or not.

• Check whether the small scale or experimental changes are achieving the desired result or not. Also, continuously Check nominated key activities (regardless of any experimentation going on) to ensure that you know what the quality of the output is at all times to identify any new problems when they crop up.

• Act to implement changes on a larger scale if the experiment is successful. This means making the changes a routine part of your activity. Also Act to involve other persons (other departments, suppliers, or customers) affected by the changes and whose cooperation you need to implement them on a larger scale, or those who may simply benefit from what you have learned (you may, of course, already have involved these people in the Do or trial stage).

Benefits of PDCA cycle:

• daily routine management-for the individual and/or the team
• problem-solving process
• project management
• continuout development
• vendor development
• human resources development
• new product development
• process trials

Who is Deming