Author Archives: John Hunter

Bad Visual Controls – Software

Posted on December 18, 2005 by John Hunter

Bad Visual Controls Example: Software via Lean Manufacturing Blog. Funny example. If I had to use it I might use a different adjective. In the example, the software uses icons that are not obvious. The user has pasted labels on … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Joel Management

Posted on December 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement, Lean Thinking Joel Spolsky writes the excellent Joel on Software blog and runs Fog Creek Software. Recently he has been writing about process improvement of the order fulfillment process for a movie on the experience of interns … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Visual Work Instructions

Posted on December 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Via Got Boondoggle? Shorter Text for Visual Work Instructions (link broken 🙁 so removed) by Steven Blackwell: The line worker may not even read text that seems excessive. We have spent the last eight years observing line workers using visual … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, quote | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Engineering Education: China, India and the USA

Posted on December 13, 2005 by John Hunter

I just added a post, USA Under-counting Engineering Graduates, to our Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog on a new report from Duke concerning data on engineering degrees from China, India and the USA: Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate. I … Continue reading →

Posted in China, curiouscat.com, Economics, Education, India | Tagged | Comments Off on Engineering Education: China, India and the USA

Poka-Yoke Assembly

Posted on December 12, 2005 by John Hunter

Got Boondogle asks, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really need to or I basically get it and can put things together well enough. I expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Customer focus, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment

Hopeful About India’s Manufacturing Sector

Posted on December 11, 2005 by John Hunter

Why Am I Hopeful About India’s Manufacturing Sector [the broken link was removed] by Indra: As World Economic Forum Founder and Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab said in recently held India Economic Summit, 2005, “It is indeed important for India to … Continue reading →

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

The 70 Percent Solution

Posted on December 10, 2005 by John Hunter

The 70 Percent Solution [the broken link was removed] by John Battelle, an interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt: We spend 70 percent of our time on core search and ads. We spend 20 percent on adjacent businesses, ones related … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Innovation, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Drucker Opinion Essays from the WSJ

Posted on December 10, 2005 by John Hunter

The Wall Street Journal has posted selected opinion essays by Peter Drucker [the broken link was removed] along with several tributes to Drucker. The Five Deadly Business Sins (article removed so link removed), 1993: the worship of high profit margins … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Six Sigma Hospitality

Posted on December 10, 2005 by John Hunter

The Six Sigma Syndrome [the broken link was removed] by Saurabh Jaggi Starwood has run over 3000 projects worldwide to date in areas such as productivity, menu re-design, resort concierge, email marketing and launching a worldwide sales initiative. Another of … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged | Comments Off on Six Sigma Hospitality

Innovate or “Play it Safe” to Avoid Risk

Posted on December 8, 2005 by John Hunter

The Xooglers blog has some really interesting posts. In one, “But, but, that’s just crazy talk!” [the broken link was removed], Doug Edwards discusses a great example of what true leadership is about. In my defense, my background conspired against … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Google, Innovation, Management, quote | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments