Category Archives: Data

Cease Mass Inspection for Quality

Posted on March 4, 2006 by John Hunter

Comment in response to, Re-Discovering W. Edwards Deming, a partial quote from that post: Not all of the Deming approach is part of core TPS thinking. In particular, Deming advocated a statistical sampling approach to quality inspection, while Toyota focuses … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged Deming, inspection, management, organization as a system, Process improvement | 4 Comments

Visible Data

Posted on February 18, 2006 by John Hunter

Effective visual signals are important for effective management improvement: lean thinking emphasizes such ideas. Top 5 Rules of Effective Measurement Boards is an excellent post on how to make measurement effective. Take the time to find the important measures and … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged Data, Lean thinking, management, Quality tools, visual communication, visual management | 2 Comments

Management Excellence

Posted on January 23, 2006 by John Hunter

My comments on, Take off the Blinders [the broken link was removed]: I think the question of what other companies have management practices worth studying is interesting. The answer could be very helpful as others could learn from what those … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, quote | Tagged continual improvement, Data, Lean thinking, management, respect for people | 2 Comments

Great Charts

Posted on January 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Karl Hartig displays some excellent charts that he created (for the Wall Street Journal) on his web site. The charts seem very similar to what would result from applying Edward Tufte’s ideas. Rarely do I see charts that do such … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged Data, design, usability | 5 Comments

Data Based Decision Making

Posted on December 6, 2005 by John Hunter

Acumen visits Google: As a first step, we hope to collaborate with interested Googlers to find better ways to learn what works around the world. Identifying powerful solutions to poverty that are useful to people in different settings, and that … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Google, Management | Tagged critical thinking, Data, evidence based management, Google | 4 Comments

Google: Experiment Quickly and Often

Posted on November 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Google Thinks Small by Quentin Hardy, Forbes: Brin and Page have created a corporate organism that tackles most big projects in small, tightly focused teams, setting them up in an instant and breaking them down weeks later without remorse. “Their … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Google, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, quote, Software Development | Tagged experiments, Google, iteration | 12 Comments

Manufacturing and the Economy

Posted on October 30, 2005 by John Hunter

In Global Market, Iowa Manufacturers Fight for Survival: The conventional wisdom has been that expanded trade would result in the United States losing low-pay, low-skilled manufacturing jobs, said David Swenson, an economic scientist at Iowa State University. But “a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Management, Manufacturing, Popular, quote | Tagged China, commentary, curiouscat, economic data, economy, Europe, Germany, Japan, John Hunter, Manufacturing, UK, USA | 3 Comments

Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations

Posted on October 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Forward [the broken link was removed] (by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister) to Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations: measurement is almost always part of an effort to achieve some goal. You can’t always measure all aspects of progress against … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged Data, evidence based management, management, organization as a system | 2 Comments

The Lion of Lean

Posted on September 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Great article – The Lion of Lean: An Interview with James Womack [broken link was removed] by Francis J. Quinn, Supply Chain Management Review: Let’s just take one example in the purchasing area. People say, “Yes, we’re going to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged lean manufacturing | Comments Off

Operational Definitions and Data Collection

Posted on September 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Americans’ Dirty Secret Revealed [the broken link was removed] by Bjorn Carey See also: Google News on washing hands [broken link was removed] – Soap and Detergent Association press release [another broken link was remove] A study released recently spawned … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management | Tagged critical thinking, Data, evidence based management, operational definition, Statistics | 1 Comment