Category Archives: Management

Interview with Mary Poppendieck

Posted on February 24, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean for Software: Interview with Mary Poppendieck: We start by asking people to draw a Value Stream Map. You start with a customer problem-need request, and you go to where that request is filled. So, you put on “customer glasses”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development | 1 Comment

Transformation and Redesign

Posted on February 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Here is an excellent article from 1999: Transformation and Redesign at the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) (pdf link) by March Laree Jacques This article describes an organizational transformation effort undertaken at the White House Communications Agency. It shares the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged Ackoff, organization as a system, Public Sector, transformation | Comments Off

New Zealand Creativity

Posted on February 22, 2007 by John Hunter

Saving money by thinking creativity and leanly. $10 wok keeps TV station on air [the broken link was removed]: Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged Creativity, problem solving | 1 Comment

Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service

Posted on February 20, 2007 by John Hunter

Once again Joel Spolsky spins a great post with, Seven steps to remarkable customer service. Read it. It’s crucial that tech support have access to the development team. This means that you can’t outsource tech support: they have to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, IT, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged customer service, Deming, Software Development | 2 Comments

More Positive Press for Toyota Management

Posted on February 19, 2007 by John Hunter

via NY Times Magazine on Toyota, a very good article: From 0 to 60 to World Domination Certainly the most obvious example of Toyota’s long view is the Prius hybrid. I don’t think so, that is an example of their … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Comments Off

What Job Does Your Product Do?

Posted on February 19, 2007 by John Hunter

Finding the Right Job for Your Product* by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, Gerald Berstell and Denise Nitterhouse (available online for a limited time only). The article has a very simple point. Customers buy your product or service to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Management Articles, Process improvement | Tagged Customer focus | 12 Comments

SWAT Raids – Systemic Failures?

Posted on February 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned Reddit (an online community that is highly skewed toward software engineers who are a bit irreverent) before: Dell, Reddit and Customer Focus. The site highlights stories voted up by the community and so the makeup of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged management, mistake-proofing, Public Sector, risk, society, Systems thinking | 4 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #5

Posted on February 16, 2007 by John Hunter

New Directions, Bad Lean Strategies and Leading Lean by Jamie Flinchbaugh – “Throughout my travels, I continue to be frustrated with the lack of creative thinking that is going into lean transformation strategies… When you begin convincing yourself that you … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off

Kaizen Online

Posted on February 15, 2007 by John Hunter

Kaizen, That Continuous Improvement Strategy, Finds Its Ideal Environment by Hal R. Varian Kaizen doesn’t just mean a business should keep trying new things. Rather, it refers to a disciplined process of systematic exploration, controlled experimentation and then painstaking adoption … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Management Articles, Software Development | 1 Comment

Scientific Thinking – the Modern Way

Posted on February 14, 2007 by John Hunter

“Scientific thinking” the modern way [the broken link was removed] by Bill Harris: What does this all mean? It simply means that Fisher’s designed experiments give us better and faster means to extract insight from tests on system dynamics models … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Science | 1 Comment