Tag Archives: Lean thinking

Improving Software Development with Automated Tests

Posted on March 8, 2010 by John Hunter

Automated software testing is a mistake proofing (poka-yoke) solution for software development. The way automated testing works is that software code is written that tests the software code of the application. This automated testing code test that business rules are … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged agile management, Deming, John Hunter, Lean thinking, poka yoke, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Ruby, Software Development, software testing | 8 Comments

More Reasons to Avoid Layoffs

Posted on February 11, 2010 by John Hunter

Lay Off the Layoffs by Jeffrey Pfeffer As its former head of human resources once told me: “If people are your most important assets, why would you get rid of them?” … In fact, there is a growing body of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Respect | Tagged Deming, health care system, layoffs, Lean thinking, Management Articles, managing people, Psychology, respect for people | 1 Comment

Management Improvement Carnival #82

Posted on November 22, 2009 by John Hunter

Mike Wroblewski is hosting the Management Improvement Carnival #82 on the Got Boondoggle? blog, highlights include: A Problems First Culture by Mark Rosenthal “‘Problems first’ is one of the mantras used by Phil Jenkinson, the CEO character in The Lean … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Lean thinking | Tagged Carnival, Lean thinking | 1 Comment

Lean Inventories Do Not Excuse Failing to Deliver

Posted on November 20, 2009 by John Hunter

Low inventory levels do not mean failing to have products available for customers. Now, if you manufacturing in huge batches and can’t respond to customer feedback then it might mean failure to predict customer demand does mean failure to deliver. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged Customer focus, customer service, Economics, lean management, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, Process improvement | 2 Comments

Learn Lean by Doing Lean

Posted on November 13, 2009 by John Hunter

In response to: Developing Your Lean Education Plan [the broken link was removed] If you actually let the lean leaders practice lean management you are probably doing more to help them learn than anything else. Reading is great, but 10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Education, Lean thinking, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, coaching, curiouscat, Education, John Hunter, Lean thinking, management, managing people, respect for people, Systems thinking, training | 6 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #80

Posted on November 3, 2009 by John Hunter

Jamie Flinchbaugh is hosting Management Improvement Carnival #80 on his new blog, highlights include: A New Strategy for the Kaizen Blitz from Lean Homebuilding – on PDCA, kaizen, with lots of good comments To Err is Human…To Error Proof is … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged Carnival, Lean thinking | Comments Off

Management Improvement Carnival #77

Posted on October 1, 2009 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival provide links to recent blog posts for those interesting in improving management of organizations. A lesson in strategy, taught by a Cat by Mark Hurst – “Without direction, we’re presenting our flipcharts and our … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged Carnival, Lean thinking, management | 2 Comments

Baking in Quality to Software Development

Posted on August 15, 2009 by John Hunter

One of the reasons my organizations switched to Ruby on Rails for software development was the great integration with automated testing. We always wanted to have good test coverage on our software applications (which are web applications – some used … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged agile management, Deming, inspection, Lean thinking, Quality tools, Ruby, Software Development, software testing | 2 Comments

Don’t Hide Problems in Computers

Posted on August 11, 2009 by John Hunter

Making things visible is a key to effective management. And data in computers can be easy to ignore. Don’t forget to make data visible. Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston recently hosted Hideshi Yokoi, president … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Data, Health care, IT, lean healthcare, lean management, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 3 Comments

Bogus Theories, Bad for Business

Posted on August 6, 2009 by John Hunter

The Wall Street Journal has a book review of The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart. The book flushes out the ideas Matthew Stewert explored in a previous article in the Atlantic about the failure of management to mature as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Science | Tagged Deming, Lean thinking, management, management experts, management research, managing people, Systems thinking | Comments Off