MASTER 02 // JURAN
Joseph M. Juran
Quality trilogy & breakthrough improvement
Juran defined quality as fitness for use — designed by those who plan, delivered by those who execute. His trilogy of planning, control, and breakthrough improvement is the backbone of the WE method's middle: improvement is planned and controlled, never improvised.
Juran's Quality Handbook · Quality Trilogy
Quality does not happen by accident; it must be planned.
PRINCIPLES // WHAT WE TAKE FROM JURAN
The Juran disciplines in the method
Fitness for use
Quality is what the user of the output needs — not what the specification says. Requirement gathering in the WE method starts from the downstream user of every process, internal or external.
The quality trilogy
Planning, control, improvement — three distinct managerial processes. Digital/AI initiatives fail when all three are collapsed into one rollout. The WE method keeps them separate and sequenced.
The vital few
Juran's Pareto discipline: a small number of causes produces most of the effect. The diagnostic identifies the vital few processes where transformation investment pays — the rest waits.
Breakthrough is a project, not an event
Chronic waste is designed out through a structured breakthrough sequence: proof of need, project selection, diagnosis, remedy, control. That is exactly how the WE method phases its engagements.
APPLICATION // JURAN IN THE WE METHOD
Where Juran shows up in the seven steps
Juran anchors the improvement core of the method — plan it, control it, break through.
Step 02: Assess
Pareto analysis of process waste isolates the vital few targets worth transforming.
Step 03: Improve pre-digital processes
The breakthrough sequence — diagnose the chronic problem, design the remedy, hold the gain — applied before any automation.
Steps 04–05: AI strategy and design
Quality planning: the digital/AI design is built to the fitness-for-use standard of its users, and control points are specified before deployment.
NAVIGATE // GO DEEPER
Separate the vital few from the trivial many
A diagnostic tells you which processes deserve the transformation investment — and which are noise.
Global remote consulting — businessnavigators.ai