Plan–Do–Check–Act (PDCA)

The graphic above shows Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. (Deming himself called it the 'Shewhart Cycle' but Deming's work in Japan has lead to it commonly being named after him.) In BPE, everything is done with the discipline of PDCA. At all levels of the organization we:

• Plan what we are going to do. In this step we assess where we are, where we need to be, why this is important, and plan how to close the gap. Identify some potential solutions.
• Do try out or test the solutions (sometimes at a pilot level).
• Check to see if the countermeasures you tried out had the effect you hoped for, and make sure that there are no negative consequences associated with them. Assess if you have accomplished your objective.
• Act on what you have learned. If you have accomplished your objective, put controls into place so that the issue never comes back again. If you have not accomplished your objective, go through the cycle again, starting with the Plan step.

Frequently, a particular project will define sub-objectives, run thorough the PDCA cycle one or more times to accomplish the sub-objective, then define the next objective and go through the cycle again. Thus, many projects end up "turning the wheel" many times before completion. In ongoing management activities, we find a similar use of the cycle.

What we are trying to avoid by using the PDCA discipline is the "Ready, Fire, Aim" fallacy where people jump to the solution without identifying the problem and assessing if their proposed solution fixes it, or even results in another problem. The Act step makes sure we don't have to fix it again in a couple of years.