Author Archives: John Hunter

Performance Appraisals – Is Good Execution the Solution?

Performance review proponents say the way it is done matters most[the broken link was removed] (based on reaction to: Performance appraisals get low marks[the broken link was removed]): Deming, it seems, has many fans. His view of performance reviews? He … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

In-house Health Clinics

Big Companies Turning To In-house Health Clinics (article removed – poor usability – so link removed) Today a new wave of clinics is opening, driven largely by a motive that was less of a factor in the past: employers’ desires … Continue reading

Posted in Health care, Management, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

Manufacturing in Asia

The Economist explores the trend to manufacture in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia… instead of China in: The problem with Made in China: helping China’s share of the world’s exported goods to triple to 7.3% between 1993 and 2005. In comparison, every … Continue reading

Posted in China, Economics, India, Manufacturing | 2 Comments

Innovation Examples

Two examples from 37signals: first, Pioneer Theater. Good idea. I am stretching to call it innovation, today, maybe 5 years ago it was. Today I think any reasonably sized theater should have something like this in place. The interface is … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT, Management | Tagged | 2 Comments

Interviewing and Hiring Programmers

Interviewing and Hiring by Tom Van Vleck “Let’s take a break from talking to people. Why don’t you have a seat in this empty office, and write a small program. Use any language you want to. The program can do … Continue reading

Posted in Career, IT, Management, Software Development | 4 Comments

Applied Quality Engineering Education

Classroom projects translate into immediate workplace gains for working professionals in engineering [the broken link was removed] In the final semester of his UW–Madison master’s degree, Bob Aloisi didn’t just earn a letter grade in his quality engineering class: He … Continue reading

Posted in Career, Education, Management, Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Applied Quality Engineering Education

USA Healthcare Costs Now 16% of GDP

U.S. Health Spending Estimates [the broken link was removed]: Health care spending growth in the United States slowed for the third consecutive year in 2005, increasing 6.9 percent compared to 7.2 percent growth in 2004 and 8.1 percent in 2003, … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Health care | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

How Do You Run a Business Without Managers

Ask the CHO: How do you run a business without managers It seems that a lot of the problems seem to come from low to middle management and as someone who is looking to start my own software company I … Continue reading

Posted in Innovation, IT, Management | 1 Comment

Google Millionaires

Last week, in Google’s Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm, I mentioned Google’s turnover was only 4%. This is the context within which I thought that was impressive: O Googlers, where art thou? by Verne Kopytoff: For Google, the … Continue reading

Posted in Google, Management | 1 Comment

Breakthrough Thinking the Toyota Way

The Elegant Solution: Breakthrough Thinking the Toyota Way (pdf) by Matthew May: One Million. That’s how many ideas Toyota implements each year. Do the math: 3000 ideas a day. That number, more than anything else, explains why Toyota appears to … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Creativity, Innovation, Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Comments Off on Breakthrough Thinking the Toyota Way