Author Archives: John Hunter

Introductory Videos on Using Design of Experiments to Improve Results

Posted on June 18, 2012 by John Hunter

The video shows Stu Hunter discussing design of experiments in 1966. It might be a bit slow going at first but the full set of videos really does give you a quick overview of the many important aspects of design … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, Science, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged Data, Design of Experiments, engineering, experiments, Process improvement, Science, Six sigma, Statistics, variation, webcast | 6 Comments

Moving Beyond Product Quality

Posted on June 12, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on moving beyond product quality. The opening paragraph of the Quality Council’s perspective is, “For some organizations, ‘quality’ remains a set of tools … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, long term thinking, management, quality, Quality tools, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #169

Posted on June 10, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat management blog carnival is published 3 times a month with some recent management blog posts. The posts generally focus on the areas I have focused on in the Curious Cat Management Guide since 1996. How Kanban visualisations … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged management | 1 Comment

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #168

Posted on June 2, 2012 by John Hunter

Kevin Meyer is hosting the 168th Management Improvement Carnival. Highlights include: As noted in the last Carnival, several bloggers including yours truly took an appropriately harsh look at an article in Harvard Business Review titled It’s Time to Rethink Continuous … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off

Customers Are Often Irrational

Posted on May 31, 2012 by John Hunter

Penney Pinching “The first rule is that there are no irrational customers,” Drucker wrote in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. “Customers almost without exception behave rationally in terms of their own realities and their own situation.” “in terms of their own … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology | Tagged critical thinking, Customer focus, decision making, Drucker, evidence based management, marketing, Psychology, Systems thinking | 6 Comments

Better Management in Government

Posted on May 27, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on quality management in the public sector. I have been involved in quality improvement in government at the Office of Secretary of Defense … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Public Sector | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, government, leadership, management, Public Sector | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #167

Posted on May 20, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Carnival has been published since 2006. We find great management blog posts and share them with you 3 times a month. We hope you find these post interesting and find some new blogs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged management | Comments Off

Richard Feynman Explains the PDSA Cycle

Posted on May 17, 2012 by John Hunter

Ok, really Richard Feynman Explains the scientific method. But his thoughts make the similarity between the PDSA cycle and the scientific method obvious. 1) Plan, hypothesis. You make a guess about a theory (in using the PDSA cycle this step … Continue reading →

Posted in Process improvement, Quality tools, Science | Tagged experiments, PDSA, Popular, prediction, Process improvement, Quality tools, Science | 3 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #166

Posted on May 11, 2012 by John Hunter

Tim McMahon is hosting the Management Improvement Blog Carnival #166, highlights include: Performance Organizations – Art Smalley answers why is there such a resistance to creating learning organizations and why are leaders letting the future deteriorate without doing anything about … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged Lean thinking, management | Comments Off

Long Term Thinking with Respect for People

Posted on May 9, 2012 by John Hunter

Toyota nearly went bankrupt near 1950 and had to lay off a third of their employees. A huge focus of the Toyota Production System as envisioned by Taiichi Ohno was to secure the long term success of the company. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, Deming, Economics, Investing, leadership, lean management, long term thinking, respect for people, Taiichi Ohno, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 6 Comments