The PDCA circle is a popular model in practicing continuous improvement or kaizen. PDCA abbreviates to a four activity iterative approach—plan, do, check, and act:
This concept was tested in the real world and made popular by William Edwards Deming, and it is also commonly known as the Deming cycle. The cycle was, however, theorized by Walter Stewhart, and Deming during his years in Japan referred to the cycle as the Stewhart cycle.
When you create a new product, it is likely that it is far from perfect. However, you will probably have a basic or vague understanding of what perfect looks like. So, you start taking baby steps towards the perfection through the use of PDCA cycle. You will get to the point of near perfection as you keep making incremental and nonstop improvements. You can see your product evolve in every step of the way. Most, if not all, organizations use this methodology to make their products or services the best they can possibly be. Apple products did not come out chiseled the way they seem to be.
They grew slowly through multiple iterations of improvements, adding one feature at a time and one product launch after another. PDCA plays a major role in industries where the time to market is as long as the lifespan of a housefly. Let me take you through the individual stages of the PDCA cycle:
In communication, you need to plan your communication channels, policies, processes, and style guides among others. It is important to know that the communication planning plays a key role in ensuring that information is exchanged effectively and efficiently as well. Also, it can be done economically through the use of technologies such as VOIP and e-mails.
The output of the planning stage—various planning documents such as policies, controls, and procedures are implemented in the doing stage. Implementation of communication controls will include training the employees, letting customers and vendors know of the frequencies and mediums that will be used and perhaps hand-holding employees, customers, users, and vendors to carry out the necessary communication-related activities.
When we implement communication policy and procedures, say by training employees, some may get it and some won't. It is also possible that the infrastructure does not support the communication needs or the users just don't feel like following the new rules around communication. In such cases, as an analyst, you would make observations on where things are not going as per plan and how they need to be tweaked.
The same goes for communication. Plug all the gaps and ensure that the plan comes to fruition by fulfilling the requirements.
I used the example of a product mainly to explain the concept of PDCA. Apart from products, service industries can leverage on it too to improve the services they provide—potential areas could be IT services, hospitality, utilities and so on. You would definitely need to rely on this model if you are looking to bring about improvements into projects. I can probably go on for the next few pages on the industries where the Deming cycle would be applicable and still have a few more pages left. I will not do this, and instead hope that you understand the depth and compatibility with various systems, objects, and processes.
In this workshop, you will see PDCA in action. You will plan the workshop and then run the training to your employees and at the end of every chapter there is an assessment test provided. This test is a good reflector of how well your students understand the topics of this workshop. If you find the results of the assessment unsatisfactory, take a step back, and find another way to train them on the topics where they didn't score well. This way, you are not just delivering the training, but checking the understanding and doing what is necessary to bridge the gap.
13.59.218.147