Deming’s Red Bead Experiment (Red Bead Game)

Executives everywhere struggle with the same problem: How do we improve results without demoralizing people or chasing the wrong fixes?

W. Edwards Deming’s Red Bead Experiment answers that question more powerfully than any slide deck or KPI review. In a short, hands-on simulation, leaders experience firsthand how variation and system design—not individual effort—drive performance. It vividly exposes why performance rankings, targets, and blame so often fail… even when everyone is trying their best.

I facilitate the Red Bead Experiment for executive teams, leadership offsites, conferences, and internal learning events. Participants don’t just hear about variation and systems thinking—they feel it, discuss it, and connect it directly to their own metrics, incentives, and management practices.

Organizations bring me in to run this session when they want:

• Better conversations about performance and accountability

• Fewer reactive decisions driven by noise in the data

• A shared understanding of why “managing the system” matters more than managing people

• A practical foundation for Lean thinking, psychological safety, and continuous improvement

If your leaders are frustrated by recurring problems, mixed signals in performance data, or improvement efforts that don’t stick, the Red Bead Experiment creates clarity quickly—and memorably.

If you’d like me to facilitate this experience at your event or leadership session, I’d be glad to talk. Contact me today!

If you just attended my session of Dr. W. Edwards Deming‘s Red Bead Experiment, aka the Red Bead Game, thanks!

Here's a link to Donald J. Wheeler's book Understanding Variation. I also write about the Red Bead Game in my book Measures of Success. 

On-Site Workshops and Facilitation:

If you'd like to have me come facilitate this at your organization, please contact me. I can combine the Red Bead experience with a teaching session or workshop on “Better Metrics” and the application of basic statistical process control (SPC) / “process behavior chart” methods to better manage data, metrics, and improvement work.

Why This Matters

Executives are often asked to explain results, fix problems, and hold people accountable. The challenge is that many performance issues aren’t caused by individual effort—they’re built into the system itself.

W. Edwards Deming’s Red Bead Experiment makes this visible in a way that no spreadsheet or KPI ever could. It demonstrates how variation, incentives, and management behavior drive outcomes—often despite the best intentions of capable, motivated employees.

For leaders, this isn’t an abstract lesson. It directly affects decisions about performance management, metrics, incentives, and improvement efforts. Misreading variation leads to frustration, wasted effort, and counterproductive actions. Understanding it enables better leadership, better systems, and better results.

That’s why this experiment still matters—especially in complex, modern organizations where blaming individuals feels easier than fixing systems, but delivers far worse outcomes.

Blog Posts:

See some of my blog posts on this topic.

See, in particular, this post on managing and improving a stable system:

https://www.leanblog.org/2016/02/ask-this-question-not-this-one-when-trying-to-improve-a-stable-system/

The famed 1980 NBC documentary that introduced Dr. Deming to the U.S.: