Every System Is Perfectly Designed to Get the Results It Gets

a.k.a. stop complaining and start rethinking your systems, bestie ;)

This stock photo was way too funny to not use it

I’m working on a video about Organization Design—a highly underrated discipline (seriously, stay tuned!)—and I came across this quote:

Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.

[This quote is attributed to several people, including: Donald Berwick, W. Edwards Deming, and Dr. Paul Batalden.¹]

The more I think about it, the more I see it everywhere. The world is full of systems that don’t quite work as intended—but they’re still perfectly designed to produce the results they do get.

• Most organisations are perfectly designed to create stressed employees, delayed projects, and overrun budgets.

• Most Swedish furniture stores are perfectly designed to lure us in for a bedside lamp and send us out with a new houseplant, 17 kitchen gadgets, and a jar of lingonberry jam we’re not sure how to use.

• Most train systems are perfectly designed to cause overbooked trains, last-minute cancellations, and passengers questioning their life choices. (Just the German trains? Oh…)

Now, imagine if we redesigned these systems—not by throwing more technology at them, but by simply making them better fit for their intended purpose. How much progress could we make? I think a lot.

So, if you’re not getting the results you want in any area of your life or business, ask yourself:

• Could it be the system’s fault?

• And more importantly: can you redesign it to get better results?

Because I bet you can.

xx
Anna

Here’s another top-notch stock photo because I couldn’t help myself

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1. I got way too invested in tracking down the origins of this quote because I love me some good academic drama. In my research (read: obsessive Googling), I found an article co-authored by Paul Batalden where he explains that he adapted the quote from Arthur Jones, who originally said, “All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get!”

But then I found a presentation by Batalden with a slide that has the quote—followed by his own name, as if he needed reminding who he was mid-presentation. Which naturally makes me doubt it’s him, because who slaps their own name under a quote in their own slideshow unless they’re trying just a little too hard to take credit?

As for Donald Berwick, the only evidence I found of him saying this quote comes from a keynote speech and a tweet—both from April 2015. Weak case.

And then there’s W. Edwards Deming, who was born 40+ years earlier than Batalden and Berwick and was a major influence on both. While I didn’t find a direct attribution of the quote to Deming, I did find a related one that’s definitely his: “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”

So, my final judgment? Batalden most likely mashed up ideas from Deming and Jones, was either very proud of his remix or deeply concerned about not getting credit for such an earth-shattering innovation, and went on to make at least two different slides crediting himself for it.

TL;DR: The quote is a remix.