Five Lessons
I've been working on a book about Dr. Deming for about ten years. During the pandemic, however, I became more serious. Starting in February 2021, I worked with a writing consultant and partner, Derek Lewis, to complete the book. I have never written a book on my own before. It's always been a collaboration. I learned the real meaning of done while creating my first self-written book. According to Stephen King, you write your first draft for yourself. I missed that memo in February 2022. I believed I was done after the first draft due to my naiveté.
Ben Rockwood, Dixie Augustine, and Curtis Hill received the first copy around March 2022. My original target readers were Ben and Dixie, so their review was critical. Curtis, one of my closest friends, was the third reviewer. Curtis is the only person I know who has read Ulysses, Gravity's Rainbow, and The Tin Drum (in German). Needless to say his reading IQ is very high. Ben's recommendation was to hear more of my voice in the draft. Curtis was angry at me as if he were coaching his younger brother to learn baseball. My wife's mother, Dixie, loved it. Her background is not in IT. Condensing ten years of research and notes into a one-year project leaves a lot of gaps. The storylines did not connect things I intuitively knew. Like a younger brother looking for approval, I paid Curtis for a detailed review of the second draft. He did such a fantastic job a career as a developmental editor may be an option for him.
After the first draft, I wanted to send a copy to about 20 people. Derek strongly advised against this. The first lesson I learned was to keep the circle of reviews tight from the beginning. Only five people received the third draft. Tom Geraghty was the first to respond. In addition to providing some great advice, Tom took the time to explain his concerns to me. In his review, he said he enjoyed the book. According to him, it felt like I wrote it just for him. He felt some stories, however, seemed out of place and unrelated. His biggest concern was Chapter 3, about Hawthorn Works. He wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly was wrong.
Damon Edwards, my old DevOps partner, gave me a verbal review around this time. The third Chapter also seemed off to him. In light of this, I want to share my second lesson. Reviewers can't always tell you exactly what's wrong with your story. Sometimes they feel something isn't right. Triangulation comes in handy here. I found the culprit by talking to Tom, Damon, and Curtis with a couple of feedback loops. I fully understood my third lesson as I worked on the fourth draft. Early on, Derek told me it's best to wait to sign up with a publisher until you finish the book. By the time I completed the fourth draft, I wasn't in a hurry to finish the book and started thinking I'd do as many drafts as it takes. The third lesson is to take as much time as you need. Keep everyone from putting you on a premature schedule.
I'd like to tell you I strategically waited to send Mak Hinkle and Adam Hawkins my fourth draft. As far as the order is concerned, I just got lucky. Adam produced a fully comprehensive book review. An actual color-coordinated book review. He put a great deal of effort into the review. After just a few hours after sending Mark the draft, he was already up to page fifty and told me he was surprised at how much he enjoyed the book. Many friends send me their books for review, and I rarely call a friend and tell them how much I enjoyed their book. He completed the book within a week. He was so spot on in his review I asked him to write the forward.
The fourth lesson is to send it out for at least one more review once you finish. When I sent Tim Crawford the last update, he found some significant connections everyone else missed. Almost a year after I thought I was done with my first draft, I completed the fifth draft. One of my childhood friends, Eric Luczkow, has been my maniacal copy editor. His parents were English teachers, and he received a master's degree in English literature.
My fifth lesson is this. The most valuable asset in writing a book is your network. Be patient because not everyone will read your book. Keep going; people are extremely busy. You can expect about two out of five people to give you constructive feedback if you keep sending out drafts. By the end of 2022, I will be ready to talk to publishers about this book. I hope to have something of your interest next year.
Also special thanks to many others who have helped be create this book.
Thank you to everyone who helped me write this book. Special thanks to my wife and boys for putting up with my ten-year obsession with Dr. Deming. Thank you to all my friends and associates who contributed to the original outline and helped significantly shape the ideas for this book: Curtis Hill, Damon Edwards, Ben Rockwood, Dixie Augustine, Jabe Bloom, Doris Quinn, Tom Geraghty, Mark Hinkle, and Adam Hawkins. During the past twenty years, many friends and mentors have contributed to my development as a thinker: Thanks to Gene Kim, Mark Burgess, Andrew Clay Shafer, Courtney Kissler, and Josh Corman. I would also like to thank my podcast guests who contributed to this book, namely Carmen DeArdo, Chris Roberts, Laksh Raghavan, Mary and Tom Poppendieck, Dennis Schlagheck, John Hunter, John Waraniak, Tim Crawford, Dr. Steven Spear, Kevin Behr, Harper Reed, Domenico Lepore, Dominica DeGrandis, Steve Pereira, Paula Thrasher, Glen Wilson, Elisabeth Hendrickson, Jeffrey Fredrick, and Bill Bensing. In addition, I would like to acknowledge all the hard work Derek Lewis provided on this project.
