Category Archives: Popular

Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog in 2020

These posts were the most popular posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog in 2020 (as measured by page views recorded by my analytics application). I wrote very few posts for this blog last year. The historical Curious Cat … Continue reading

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20 Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Blog in 2016

These posts were the most popular posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog in 2016 (as measured by page views, as recorded by my analytics application). Toyota Post Record Profit: Splits $15 million in Pay and Bonus for top … Continue reading

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

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

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Toyota Posts Record Profit: Splits $15 million in Pay and Bonus for top 21 Executives

After posting record profits of $17.9 billion Toyota proposes to increase the pay and bonus for the top 21 executives to $14.9 million. That is not as you might expect just the increase in the bonus to the CEO. That … Continue reading

Posted in Competition, Deming, Investing, Management, Popular, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Building a Great Software Development Team

Elliot: I worked with some of the best programmers I’ve ever known at the tiny, obscure ASEE Adam Solove: Why do you think that happened? They hired for passion, rather than experience? If I had to pick one thing, passion … Continue reading

Posted in IT, Management, Popular, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Deming and Software Development

I am sometimes asked about how use Deming’s ideas on management in a software development context. My belief is Deming’s ideas work extremely well in a software development context. The main issue is often unlearning some assumptions that people might … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Managers Are Not Non-Leaders: Managers Need to Practice Things We Classify as Leadership Traits

Saying “Managers care about efficiency and leaders care about effectiveness” is like saying “Doctors care about theory and nurses care about patients.” Managers that don’t care about effectiveness are lousy managers. Leaders that don’t care about the gemba are lousy … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Stated Versus Revealed Preference

My father provided me a good example of the flawed thinking of relying on stated preference when I was growing up. Stated preference is, as you might deduce, the preferences voiced by customers when you ask. This is certainly useful … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Popular, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

94% Belongs to the System

I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special. Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Keys to the Effective Use of the PDSA Improvement Cycle

The PDSA improvement cycle was created by Walter Shewhart where Dr. Deming learned about it. An improvement process is now part of many management improvement methods (A3 for lean manufacturing, DMAIC for six sigma and many other modifications). They are … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments