Category Archives: Management

Simple Cell Phone

Posted on October 31, 2006 by John Hunter

Awhile back we posted about the lack of simple phones now Motorola is looking at this market. See: Motorola’s Dumb Phone: Looking for more customers, the company did extensive market research in poor countries. The result: the company’s slimmest phone … Continue reading →

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Deming in Japan

Posted on October 26, 2006 by John Hunter

Great article by John Dowd [the broken link was removed], How the Japanese learned to compete: This is a key lesson because with attention to quality, the company begins a journey on a “virtuous circle” of simultaneously improving quality and … Continue reading →

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Management Improvement Search Engine

Posted on October 25, 2006 by John Hunter

Google has launched a nice new feature that allows users to create customized search results. I have talked about this idea before: Improve Google. Last year I posted about Rollyo, which allowed what Google now does (using Yahoo for the … Continue reading →

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Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy

Posted on October 23, 2006 by John Hunter

Another interesting post from Panta Rei: Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy [the broken link was removed]: In order to use IT effectively as a tool, we think that it is important for the top management to not see IT as … Continue reading →

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Deming Prize 2006

Posted on October 22, 2006 by John Hunter

The Union of Japanese Scientists have announced the 2006 Deming Application Prize [the broken link was removed] winners: Nishizawa Electric Meters Manufacturing Co., Limited (Japan) Sanden International PTE Limited (Singapore) Sanden International, Inc. (USA) Also announced: The Deming Prize for … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged | 2 Comments

Management Consulting – Web Site Evidence

Posted on October 18, 2006 by John Hunter

In, How Wipro Adapted the Toyota Production System to IT Work [the broken link was removed], Jon Miller highlights several keys to adopting lean thinking: involve everyone, learn and then do, and learn together. In Wipro’s case they should also … Continue reading →

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Deming Institute Conference: Tom Nolan

Posted on October 16, 2006 by John Hunter

I attended the annual W. Edwards Deming Institute conference this weekend: it was quite good. Tom Nolan [the broken link was removed] lead off the conference with: Developing and Applying Theory to Get Results. He discussed the theory of knowledge: … Continue reading →

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Designing In Errors

Posted on October 12, 2006 by John Hunter

TiVo’s “self-destruct button” destructs [the broken link was removed] In so doing, they’ve created a bunch of potential failures in which the user is locked out of her own equipment. It’s like those movies where an accident or a bad … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Righter Performance Appraisal

Posted on October 9, 2006 by John Hunter

Speaking of “doing the wrong things righter” Microsoft has eliminated forced rankings in performance appraisal: to do performance appraisals righter. Microsoft exec puts her stamp on human resources: The forced curve was company policy. And it climbed up a list … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Doing the Wrong Things Righter

Posted on October 8, 2006 by John Hunter

The more we manage, the worse we make things by Simon Caulkin The distinguished systems theorist Russ Ackoff describes the trap as ‘doing the wrong thing righter’. ‘The righter we do the wrong thing,’ he explains, ‘the wronger we become. … Continue reading →

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