Monthly Archives: August 2005

Failed Practice: Forced Ranking

Posted on August 19, 2005 by John Hunter

The ABCs of Rank and Fire Management [the broken link has been removed] by Mark Edmondson Due in part to the influence of GE, employee ranking has become more widely adopted over the past 20 years. According to a 2004 study, currently about 34 percent of firms rank employees. … Our clients have learned that a performance management system that reinforces a culture of engaged employees can be at tremendous competitive advantage. While at least one-third of your competitors are … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal | Tagged | 1 Comment

Going Lean in Health Care

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Going Lean in Health Care [the broken link has been removed] a report from the Institute for Healthcare improvement based on presentation by James Womack and others. This report is an another excellent resource from IHI, which I have mentioned before is doing great things. This is definitely worth reading. Lean principles hold the promise of reducing or eliminating wasted time, money, and energy in health care, creating a system that is efficient, effective, and truly responsive to the needs … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Respect | 7 Comments

David Anderson CMMI Webcast Aug 18

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

CMMI Webcast Scheduled for August 18th [broken link removed] David Anderson will present the Microsoft Solutions Framework for CMMI Process Improvement material live at 11am Pacific Daylight Time on August 18th. After the presentation he will answer questions in a chatroom session. Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for CMMI Process Improvement is a highly iterative, adaptive planning, agile software development process which meets the requirements for the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 3 and provides a … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged ,

Collaboration Rules

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Collaboration Rules [broken link was removed] by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf: We have found that Toyota’s managerial methods resemble, in a number of their fundamentals, the workings of the Linux community; the Toyota Production System (TPS) owes some of its vaunted responsiveness to open-source traits. In fact, Toyota itself is evolving into a hybrid between a conventional hierarchy and a Linux-like self-organizing network. … Both emphasize granularity: They pay attention to small details, eliminate problems at the source, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , ,

Purpose of an Organization

Posted on August 16, 2005 by John Hunter

W. Edwards Deming described the purpose of an organization in New Economics, on page 51, as: The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term. Like so much of what Deming said that makes sense to me. It is my sense the “conventional wisdom” would state something more along the lines of the purpose of a company is to make money. I do not … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Indian Firms Learning From Toyota

Posted on August 15, 2005 by John Hunter

Taking A Page From Toyota’s Playbook [the broken link has been removed], Business Week: The goal for Wipro is to become the Toyota of business services. Toyota preaches continuous improvement, respect for employees, learning, and embracing change. “It’s the soft stuff that makes a big impact on the hard numbers,” says Kurien, a cheerful 45-year-old. There is plenty of hard-edged analysis, as well. To embrace Toyota’s methods, Kurien last year assigned teams to examine business processes, break them into discrete … Continue reading →

Posted in India, IT, Management, Process improvement, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Science and Engineering Macroeconomic Investment

Posted on August 10, 2005 by John Hunter

I posted to the Curious Cat Science Blog on the Science and Engineering Doctoral Degrees being granted around the world. Why do I post this here as a Economic post? I believe, as do some countries that have made significant commitments to investing in science and technology education that such investments can have a large impact on long term economic success. A couple points from that post: From The Brain Drain [the broken link has been removed] by Debra W. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, quote, Science | Tagged , ,

Design of Experiments in Advertising

Posted on August 9, 2005 by John Hunter

How Two Guys From the Gold Country Are Changing Advertising Forever [the broken link has been removed] by Robert X. Cringely James Kowalick and Mario Fantoni, two guys who say they can show you how to use science to design ads that cost less while being 10 or more times as effective as doing it the old way. Their secret is the Taguchi Method, which is a technique for designing experiments that converge on an ideal product solution. … “I … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What Business Can Learn from Open Source

Posted on August 9, 2005 by John Hunter

What Business Can Learn from Open Source by Paul Graham As usual Paul Graham’s new article is a great read. I think the most important of the new principles business has to learn is that people work a lot harder on stuff they like. Well, that’s news to no one. So how can I claim business has to learn it? When I say business doesn’t know this, I mean the structure of business doesn’t reflect it. … When I’m writing … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Software Development | 5 Comments

Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases

Posted on August 7, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Dr. Deming noted seven deadly diseases in chapter 3 of Out of the Crisis, 1986. Below his words from pages 97-98 are bolded. As with Deming’s other thoughts, his list of deadly diseases was continually modified as he learned more (to adjust the focus, the basic concept of the diseases were not changed). It is amazing how true all of these points still are. Seven Deadly Diseases Lack of constancy of purpose Emphasis on short term profits … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management | 2 Comments

Six Sigma at Jaguar

Posted on August 3, 2005 by John Hunter

Six Sigma at Jaguar interview with David Brunson, Powertrain Quality & Reliability, Jaguar Cars Limited by onesixsigma.com. Are there particular tools you want to focus on using more in the future? Yes, it’s very important to focus on the tools you are getting the most value from, and try to apply them to as many areas as possible. There are tools that we want to be using more in the future: Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) Modeling using design of … Continue reading →

Posted in Management