Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Catmull: Pixar Employees Do Not Need Permission to Fix Problems

David Senra · Ed Catmull (Founder of Pixar) · Apr 4, 2024 · at 26:54

David Senra reads from Ed Catmull's memoir 'Creativity, Inc.', discussing how Catmull adapted W. Edwards Deming's quality control philosophy to manage Pixar.

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“The responsibility for finding and fixing problems should be aside, assigned to every employee. If anyone at any level spotted a problem, Deming believed they should be encouraged and expected to stop the assembly line. Deming's approach gave ownership of the responsibility for a product, products quality to the people who were most involved in its creation. My approach to managing Pixar going forward was to be guided by the central tenant. You don't have to ask permission to take responsibility.”

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