Author Archives: John Hunter

Acting Without Theory Often Results in Wasted Effort

Posted on May 25, 2016 by John Hunter

When you act without theory you can find yourself beating your head against the wall, in ways similar to this woodpecker bangs its head against this sign. This bird may have copied the pecking behavior without understanding the theory. Pecking … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Software Testing and the Impact on Quality

Posted on May 9, 2016 by John Hunter

My response to a question on Reddit. “Software quality does not come from testing” Does anybody have any thoughts on the validity of the above statement? That statement is similar to the idea you can’t inspect in quality. Basically “Inspection … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Functional Websites are Normally Far Superior to Apps

Posted on April 23, 2016 by John Hunter

An email to I just sent to Uber I understand the regular Uber app not having a functional website. Uber Eats not having a functional website is super lame. It strikes me similar to Walmart 15 years ago telling people … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Decades Later The USA Health Care System is Still a Deadly Disease for Our Economy

Posted on March 30, 2016 by John Hunter

Decades ago W. Edwards Deming named 7 deadly diseases of western management. One of those was excessive health care costs. Sadly that deadly disease has become much worse in the last several decades. Americans pay 300% more for this prostate … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Economics, Health care | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

Posted on March 21, 2016 by John Hunter

I have previous written on my belief that excessive executive compensation had reached the level of a deadly disease of western management (building on the W. Edwards Deming’s list of 7 deadly diseases). I named excessive executive pay and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

Seek to Improve How You Learn, Don’t Just Accept That You Can’t Do Better

Posted on March 3, 2016 by John Hunter

As a speaker or coach or teacher it is wise to learn what impacts how people absorb information and learn. Factoring those ideas into how you communicate (one on one, coaching, training, presenting…) is wise. Learning about how people learn … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Transform the Management System by Experimenting, Iterating and Adopting Standard Work

Posted on January 19, 2016 by John Hunter

In this short video, Dr. John Toussaint describes how ThedaCare applied leadership standard work to create a successful management transformation. The changes to the management system were tested by applying standard work for all positions in 2 parts of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Most Popular Management and Leadership Quotes on Our Site in 2015

Posted on January 12, 2016 by John Hunter

These were the most popular quotes on the Curious Cat Management and Leadership Quotes web site in 2015 (based on page views). Follow the link on the quote text for the source and more information on the quote. Having no … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

20 Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Blog in 2015

Posted on January 5, 2016 by John Hunter

This is a list of the 20 most popular posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog last year (as measured by page views, as recorded by my analytics application). The Toyota Way – Two Pillars (2010) Stated Versus Revealed … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management, Popular | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Culture Change Requires That Leaders Change Their Behavior

Posted on December 28, 2015 by John Hunter

This month The ASQ Influential Voices are reacting to Luciana Paulise’s post: Facing Cultural Barriers by Leaders to Strengthen a Culture of Quality [the broken link was removed]. As Luciana stated: leaders need to change their behavior first if they … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments