Why we need to Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) -Updated 8/1/2020

Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA), a very important practice for everyone at any time doing any task. This is something that we all need to embrace because, without PDCA, we might prone to make silly mistakes. Some minor errors made without proper checking might have a big impact. Think about Pareto's Principle, 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes.

<Updated: 21st January 2020>

I found this video very interesting on 'Checking'. Look at how effective can PDCA be implemented in "Day in the Life of a Japanese Delivery Worker"

<Updated: 8th January 2020>

Spotted another error made by Malaysia's largest bank, Maybank. This is on their membership rewards web page, Treatpoints. Look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6, from 50,000 points, the offer during Chinese New Year is 1,499,500 points. Hmm...really?!

Just to give you an example, The Edge (30 Dec 2019) mixed up the image of the latest GoPro Hero 8 Black (RM1,879) with the new Garmin Marq Commander smartwatch (from RM4,699).

What do you think could be the implication of this error. At a glance, some readers might be excited to see GoPro is finally introducing a smartwatch at RM1,879. Meanwhile, some readers may think that Garmin is now working with GoPro which skimming the price of its joint-development product. When the readers found out about the mistake, it may flatten the curiosity for both new products. All parties do not benefit from this minor error but the implication could be drastic.

Think about the minor errors you have made at work, in your studies and personal life, can it be prevented with better checking? How might it change the results or the impact of our action, only if we check before we act.

What say you?

Checking for Errors - Why Bother?

Is checking for errors important? Why bother for the process and normally, takes longer time to execute a task? There must be a reason and this is why.

At a glance, this promotional panel at GSC Pavilion KL for the upcoming Life (2017) movie looks great with good printing resolution.

However, when I take a closer look, I got confused with who is Ryan Reynolds and Rebecca Ferguson. They designer got mixed up with the two main stars in the movie.

Errors like this do happen and it is very common but the implication of some errors can be fatal!

Is this the designer fault to allow such error to occurs? Maybe but they cannot be blamed for everything. Sometime it could be due to the constraint of time to push things out for production and there is no checking in the entire process - from the person who provides the information, the designer who didn't check or ignorance, the superior who need to approve the artwork (if any), the printer, production, and lastly the personnel at the cinema.

Anyway, we all make mistakes. If only there is compliance to a proper control process, personnel who are more alert or maybe more time were given to designer (whom might be too exhausted with too many deadlines to fulfill until their quality is being compromised), the error could have been corrected before it goes public.

Somehow, I belief in this: "Fast, Good and Cheap - we can only pick TWO". What say you?