Systems thinking and the National Football League (NFL)

Deming's revolutionary ideas apply to all types of organizations, not just manufacturing

While W. Edwards Deming's work primarily focused on manufacturing firms, his principles of management, and especially his continuous improvement cycle (PDSA), apply to all types of organizations. Fans may not consider National Football League teams to be businesses, but owners like Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Jim Irsay (Indianapolis Colts), and Robert Kraft (New England Patriots) certainly do—according to Forbes magazine, each of the 32 franchises is worth more than $1 billion. The most valuable, the Dallas Cowboys, is valued at $4 billion alone.

From 2001 to 2019, NFL revenues grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2%, about midway between two of America's fastest-growing companies during the same period: Apple (8.68%) and Walmart (5.29 %). The league serves more than 16.5 million devoted customers (fans) viewing the average game on television each week, and most return week after week. While there’s no way to know if Deming is discussed amongst NFL executives, this article will consider several ways that the NFL is demonstrating that Deming principles can be used to build a successful team.

The importance of a system

"A system is a network of interdependent components that work together to try to accomplish the aim of the system. A system must have an aim. Without the aim, there is no system."

W. Edwards Deming in The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education

An NFL team is a perfect example of a system with multiple components coordinating their actions to achieve a Super Bowl win. A misstep in any function — drafting, coaching, training, game planning, execution — during the season can cause failure of the system overall. Therefore, each system must be properly designed to work with every other system, with optimization of all systems together, so that the entire organization can be successful as a whole.

It is also clear that NFL organizations strive to continually improve and remain open new ideas, such as analytics and advanced metrics, to prepare for games and make better decisions. For example, during each game every NFL team relies on real-time coach-to-quarterback communication, and statistical analysis where coaches and players with electronic playbooks scan position-specific game films on club-provided tablets.

Pursuit of a championship

“Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.”

Point #1 of Deming’s 14 Points for Management

Deming taught that constancy of purpose was critical to improvement and achievement. Successful business organizations focus on quality improvement, increased efficiency, and higher customer satisfaction. They have a clear vision for what they want to achieve, with interim goals and objectives and the methods by which to achieve them. For NFL teams, success requires establishing a culture of excellence and striving to win games and championships.

NFL teams have a clear objective they want to accomplish each year. Immediately following the Superbowl, each of the 32 teams' management and players refocuses on winning the following year's championship. That constancy of purpose drives every decision, including the degree of changes in coaches, players, and drafting and training strategies. The aggressive pursuit of improvement never stops.

A constant learning environment

"It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best."

Point #5 of Deming’s 14 Points for Management

Deming taught that perfection is not possible in environments of constant change, emphasizing continuous improvement and alignment of actions with objectives. Coaches study game films for hours in the off-season to gain knowledge about their opponents and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their players. The team's players endure long, grueling hours of practice, getting stronger, learning their position's techniques, and working together as a unit. Discipline toward success is player-centric, with team members intrinsically motivated to hold themselves and team members to their best efforts to reach team goals. This environment reflects Deming's 14th Principle that the transformation to a winning culture is everybody's job.

NFL application of the Deming Wheel

NFL teams widely practice the Deming Wheel – a Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle – in each aspect of their businesses. The process influences the methods and media of attracting customers, acquiring and training players, developing game strategies, and adjusting to unexpected actions by opponents amid the game or weather conditions on the field of play. The PDSA cycle is especially evident on game days.

Plan

Planning is the initial step of the Wheel. In the weeks before a game against a specific opponent, coaches analyze game films to learn the other team's tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. Offensive, defensive, and special-teams coordinators develop a list of specific plays and formations that are expected to be successful. Coaches communicate their game plans to the players on the first day of practice for each upcoming contest.

During the week, individual players hone their skills and practice as a team to coordinate their efforts to implement the coaches' strategies. Quarterbacks communicate plays to the team before each down. In many cases, the quarterback has optional plays at the ready if he senses the intended play will be unsuccessful due to defensive adjustments before the ball is snapped.

Do

The next step in the Deming cycle is doing or putting the game plan into action. The result of each play – loss of the ball (fumble or interception), loss of yardage (sack), minimal gain, first down, or touchdown – affects the coordinator's decision about the subsequent play. If the result is positive, the coach will likely make the same call later in the game. All plays are video recorded in real-time and made available to the respective coordinators for analysis.

Study

The third phase of the Wheel is analyzing play and game data immediately after the action, focusing primarily on negative results. Coaches typically assume rival coaches will adjust their game plans and formations to reduce or eliminate positive plays.

Coaches analyze the film to learn the reason for a play's poor outcome: Did a player miss an assignment? Did the play's design cause its failure? Did a player on the other team make an extraordinary effort?

Act

Based on their study, coaches identify areas for improvement and amend their game plans to reflect the game conditions, the final step in the Deming cycle. Their actions include:

• Abandoning specific strategies and formations.

• Changing the details of a play.

• Making personnel changes.

When play resumes, the PDSA cycle begins anew.

Final thoughts

Deming believed in inspirational leadership, the capacity of people to rise to great challenges and inspire those around them. He said, "The most valuable 'currency' of any organization is the initiative and creativity of its members. Every leader has the solemn moral responsibility to develop these to the maximum in all his people. This is the leader's highest priority."

The NFL has a history of great leaders – Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Bill Belichick, and others – but the quarterbacks must respond with initiative and creativity. Great quarterbacks improvise when everything breaks down, and the system fails, asking team members to follow them to pull victories from the jaws of defeat.