Monthly Archives: October 2005

Shackled by Bad Six Sigma?

Posted on October 13, 2005 by John Hunter

Shackled by Bad Six Sigma? [the broken link was removed] by Fred Mullavey, Quality Digest: Technical experts, customers and suppliers–both internal and external–all need to be involved, regardless of their department or discipline. When boundaries aren’t crossed in this manner, problems remain entrenched, and the Six Sigma effort fails.

Posted in Management Articles | Tagged

Malcolm Gladwell – Synchronicity

Posted on October 12, 2005 by John Hunter

Today I had lunch with a friend of mine, Sean Stickle [the broken link was removed], who continually provides me with interesting ideas to contemplate. One of the things he mentioned during lunch was a story in the New Yorker about the current college admission process. On the way home I listened to a podcast. I have been meaning to write about what a nice addition listening to podcasts has been to my commute, but I always seem to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged | 2 Comments

Lean Consumption: the Customer’s Perspective

Posted on October 12, 2005 by John Hunter

Lean Consumption: Defining Value from the Customer’s Perspective [the broken link was removed], AutoAsia magazine. The recently released, Lean Solutions, as well as, The Toyota Way Fieldbook, are required reading for anyone serious about applying lean concepts. And truly both should be read by anyone interested in management improvement (even those who are not lean experts or even that familiar with lean ideas). A short portion of the full article (exploring the ideas James Womack and Daniel Jones write about … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged | 1 Comment

Box on Quality

Posted on October 11, 2005 by John Hunter

Dr. George Box is not as well known in the general management community as his ideas merit (in my biased opinion – photo of Bill Hunter and George Box). He is well know in the statistics field as one of the leading statistical minds. Box on Quality is an excellent book that gathers his essays from his 65th to 80th year. The book has just been issued in paperback (which helps as the hardback was pricey). While some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Design of Experiments, Management, Management Articles, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Quick Fix

Posted on October 10, 2005 by John Hunter

The Fall 2005 issue of the Deming Institute newsletter (I removed the broken link) includes a copy of a letter Dr. Deming sent to Time magazine in 1981. Dear Sir, Your article about Japan in TIME for 30 March 1981 is excellent, but the paragraph concerning my work is ridiculous and can do a lot of harm to American industry at the very time when they need guidance. Dr. Deming did not just give a lecture in 1950. He gave … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Innovation in Organizations

Posted on October 10, 2005 by John Hunter

Assessing Your Organization’s Innovation Capabilities [the broken link was removed] by Clayton M. Christensen: Three classes of factors affect what an organization can and cannot do: its resources, its processes, and its values. When asking what sorts of innovations their organizations are and are not likely to be able to implement successfully, managers can learn a lot about capabilities by sorting their answers into these three categories. Innovation is one of the areas of management improvement that is not given … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creativity, Deming, Innovation, Management, quote | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Rates

Posted on October 9, 2005 by John Hunter

Fairly frequently I am asked, by friends, for investing advice. One topic I am asked about frequently is mortgages (locking in rates, etc.). Often they are concerned about what a Federal Reserve decision to raise or lower rates will effect the 30 year fixed mortgage rate. Essentially the decision by the Fed won’t have any predictable impact (this is not the complete truth but close enough for the question being asked – this article has more, though it still just … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing | 1 Comment

Education Improvement

Posted on October 9, 2005 by John Hunter

Pattillo Tutors Granville School on Teaching Method [unfortunately the newspaper broke the link so I removed it] by Natalie Jordan, Rocky Mount Telegram (North Carolina, USA): The model uses a PDSA – plan, do, study and act – component. “Plan” clarifies the purpose; “do” is when an action plan is made and done; “study” involves analyzing results; and “act” is to make improvements. Through core values and strategic categories, the model is improving the way teachers teach and students learn, … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Management | Tagged

Management Improvement in Healthcare

Posted on October 9, 2005 by John Hunter

Thinking out-of-the-box Helps Alexandra Hospital Reduce Patient Waiting Time, Singapore News, via Panta Rei. Another example of lean principles being used by government: When looking for solutions to cut patients’ waiting time, Alexandra Hospital took an out-of-the-box approach and looked at a factory’s production line. More specifically, the Toyota production line. … While a team of 12 staff used to screen 22 patients per hour, the same team can now screen 70 patients per hour – a 400-per-cent increase in … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations

Posted on October 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Forward [the broken link was removed] (by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister) to Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations: measurement is almost always part of an effort to achieve some goal. You can’t always measure all aspects of progress against the goal, so you settle for some surrogate parameter, one that seems to represent the goal closely and is simple enough to measure. So, for example, if the goal is long-term profitability, you may seek to achieve that goal by … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

More Lean Government

Posted on October 7, 2005 by John Hunter

Lean thinking ideas are about eliminating waste. Some who believe the government should just be smaller, talk about a lean government, but that is not the same thing as a government that applies the concepts of lean thinking. Toyota is very lean and very large. Most business apply lean concepts with the goal of growing the size of their organization as they are better able to serve customers and compete in the marketplace. The first Public Sector Shingo Prizes [the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Public Sector | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Peter F. Drucker on a Functioning Society

Posted on October 6, 2005 by John Hunter

Peter F. Drucker on a Functioning Society by Joseph A. Maciariello: Drucker’s concern that the institutions of society function for the common good has led him to be critical of business practice from time to time and to take on the preaching role of a prophet. For example, some of the ratios between the compensation of top executives and those of the frontline worker are well above 500 to 1… To Drucker this is shameful and sends the wrong message … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles

The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Posted on October 6, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement The Toyota Way Fieldbook – a Practical Guide to implementing Toyota’s 4Ps by Jeffrey Liker has just been released. For this book he is joined by David Meier, and they delve into applying the concepts from his excellent book: The Toyota Way. Toyota’s 4Ps: Philosophy, Processes, People, and Partners. “The Toyota Way Fieldbook details the language, concepts, and tools that managers need to use Toyota’s success-proven practices in any organization. Readers are given valuable insights into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Toyota and the Art of Continuous Improvement

Posted on October 6, 2005 by John Hunter

Oh, What A Company! [the broken link was removed] by by Gary S. Vasilash TPS is not for those who are looking for the fast solution. While implementing any single element of TPS will undoubtedly bring some rather startling results in comparatively short order, it is only through the continuous, persistent application of the principles that fundamental change is realized. Very true.

Posted in Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Deming Institute Conference

Posted on October 5, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement For those who might be interested in meeting in person, I will be in Indiana for the Deming Institute Conference [the broken link was removed] and the seminar, How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business [the broken link was removed], this month. Feel free to drop me a note if you want to try and meet. I look forward to seeing some of you.

Posted in Management

Innovation in Software Development Process

Posted on October 5, 2005 by John Hunter

Innovation in MSF v4.0 [the broken link was removed] The Work Remaining report uses a cumulative flow chart developed for Lean Manufacturing. Work-in-progress and queuing can be monitored with this report in order to identify bottlenecks and address issues which are affecting throughput and reducing capacity. … MSF takes advantage of trustworthy transparency by focusing on the use of reports to drive objective, rational management decisions and interventions. MSF metrics have been selected to be simple, self-generating, relevant and leading … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Software Development | Tagged