Thanks for the suggestion, how does what he says stack up against those who came after, I ask this because this is one of my favourite management talks by Russell Ackoff [1] and he mentions Dr Deming so assume he was influenced by/worked/studied with him and given their relative ages wondered if his work might be valuable to start with?
Many of Deming's findings and ideas now seem so obvious that it's hard to believe their origins are so recent. I'd bet that much of what you think about management and organizations comes from Deming.
Which book?
I started with The New Economics, then read Out of the Crisis, and finally A Theory of Sampling or whatever its name is.
There are few authors that have taught me so much about people, motivation, systems, quality, statistics, what high-leverage effort looks like, and so on.
I first picked up a book by Deming a few years ago, and not a single day has passed that I have not had use for what he taught me through his writing.
The things he says are only becoming more and more relevant with every year. I honestly think it ought to be compulsory reading in school. The world would be a much better place that way; kinder, more efficient, and less superstitial.