Author Archives: John Hunter

Management Improvement Carnival #100

Posted on June 10, 2010 by John Hunter

I started the management improvement blog carnival in 2006. At the time the number of blogs posting useful management ideas had already grown to a large number. It took years after I started my Curious Cat Management Improvement site, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged blogs, Carnival, leadership, Lean thinking, management | 7 Comments

Frugal Innovation

Posted on June 9, 2010 by John Hunter

First break all the rules The device is a masterpiece of simplification. The multiple buttons on conventional ECGs have been reduced to just four. The bulky printer has been replaced by one of those tiny gadgets used in portable ticket … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, India, Innovation, quote | Tagged Creativity, disruptive innovation, Economics, Innovation, purpose, quote, simplicity | 1 Comment

Classic Management Theories Are Still Relevant

Posted on June 7, 2010 by John Hunter

Good management is good management: it doesn’t matter if someone figured out the good idea 100 years ago or last week. Are “Classic” Management Theories Still Relevant? It did make me wonder about the staying power of management models, processes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, management, management experts, management history, Systems thinking, tips | 6 Comments

Statistical Engineering Links Statistical Thinking, Methods and Tools

Posted on June 3, 2010 by John Hunter

In Closing the Gap Roger W. Hoerl and Ronald D. Snee lay out a sensible case for focusing on statistical engineering. We’re not suggesting that society no longer needs research in new statistical techniques for improvement; it does. The balance … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged commentary, engineering, John Hunter, Quality tools, Science, Six sigma, Statistics, William Hunter | 1 Comment

Management Improvement Carnival #99

Posted on June 1, 2010 by John Hunter

Mark R. Hamel is hosting Management Improvement Carnival #99 on the Gemba Tales blog, highlights include: The Downside of Automation by Dan Markovitz – “…When I see companies leaping at technological solutions for time and attention management, I have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged management | Comments Off

Incentivizing Behavior Doesn’t Improve Results

Posted on May 28, 2010 by John Hunter

In the webcast Dan Pink shares research results exploring human motivation and ideas on how to manage organization given the scientific research on motivation. “once a task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill a larger reward led to poorer performance” … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Science | Tagged extrinsic motivation, management research, management webcast, managing people, motivation, Psychology, purpose | 3 Comments

Finding Great Management Articles, Posts and Resources

Posted on May 26, 2010 by John Hunter

Reddit is a web site that ranks web pages by user votes. The site uses an algorithm that has a very large timeliness factor. So top ranked links move down the list fairly quickly. This results in a nice site … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles | Tagged blogs, curiouscat, management, quote | 1 Comment

People Cannot Multitask

Posted on May 24, 2010 by John Hunter

There is plenty of research showing that people can’t multitask. But this knowledge is missed by many people. Here is another study showing this: Why We Can’t Do 3 Things at Once That’s because, when faced with two tasks, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged managing people, Psychology, Quality tools | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #98

Posted on May 23, 2010 by John Hunter

Karen Wilhelm is hosting Management Improvement Carnival #98 on the Lean Reflections blog. She highlights the LeanBlog Podcast #90 featuring Tim Turner, a plant team member at Toyota Kentucky, who compiled stories from 80 fellow team members from every level … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged management | Comments Off

Mistake Proofing Deployment of Software Code

Posted on May 19, 2010 by John Hunter

This is a continuation of my previous post: Improving Software Development with Automated Tests. Lets look at a typical poka-yoke example. A USB connector must be put in the right way up – for the connection to work properly and … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Ruby, Software Development | 6 Comments