Category Archives: Systems thinking

Improvement Tools and Improving Management

Posted on August 21, 2007 by John Hunter

Tools are just tools [the broken link has been removed] by Lee Fried We have begun to shift away from a tool driven approach to one more centered on improving our management systems. This makes the work far more difficult, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Education, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged management tools, Quality tools | 1 Comment

Don’t Empower

Posted on August 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I believe I learned this from Peter Scholtes, though maybe I am remembering it wrong or explaining it wrong (so give him the credit and if I mess it up it is my fault). I believe there is a problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Providing Customer Service – Web Hosting

Posted on August 16, 2007 by John Hunter

Web Hosting how to: Save your server and customer when digg/reddit/slashdot effect hits his/her website One of your customers gets lucky – a huge burst of traffic hits his website. If you don’t do something quickly, your server will go … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Comments Off

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno

Posted on August 8, 2007 by John Hunter

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno is an excellent management book. Taiichi Ohno is known as the father of the Toyota Production System (TPS), also called lean manufacturing. He dictated the text to the Japan Management Association (in a series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Books, Japan, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Taiichi Ohno, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 3 Comments

Hiring: Silicon Valley Style

Posted on August 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Interviews on how to hire in Silicon Valley. I especially like Guy Kawasaki’s comment – “the key to getting great people to work for you is to have a great product. That is why Google does so well. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Google, IT, Management, Software Development, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged Career, hiring, IT | 4 Comments

iPhone + AT&T = Yikes

Posted on July 30, 2007 by John Hunter

What a surprise – lousy customer service from a cell phone company. What a shame that it is no surprise at all. Don’t they have tons of MBAs with 6 figure salaries? They do have a CEO paid over $31 … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Good Customer Service Example

Posted on July 9, 2007 by John Hunter

IRA Toyota – Milford; Great Service [the broken link was removed] I was pleasantly surprised to find a “Service wizard” available. You create an account, specify the standard details about the car (make, model, year, mileage). If you add the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, IT, Management, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged cars, customer service, lean manufacturing | 1 Comment

Focus on Customers and Employees

Posted on July 5, 2007 by John Hunter

As I have stated I believe it is the purpose of organization to serve many stakeholders (customer, employees, stockholders, community…). Thankfully some companies agree: Compensation at Whole Foods – Starbucks: Respect for Workers – Google: Ten Golden Rules – Amazon … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Customer focus, leadership, management, managing people, organization as a system, respect for people | 4 Comments

Process Improvement and Innovation

Posted on July 4, 2007 by John Hunter

Every so often an article appears discussing the need to change focus from process improvement to innovation (and recently they are followed with quite a bit of blog talk). I disagree on several grounds. First you have needed to focus … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged change, continual improvement, Innovation, iteration, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | 5 Comments

Why Isn’t Work Standard?

Posted on June 21, 2007 by John Hunter

Are You Really Asking? by Mark Graban The worst form would be, “Why the hell aren’t you following the standard work??? How many times do I have to emphasize that??” A better approach might be, “It appears that the standard … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Systems thinking | 5 Comments