Monthly Archives: February 2007

Curious Cat Management Improvement Web Site

Posted on February 28, 2007 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement site includes a wide array of resources for management professionals (and has been growing and improving, I hope, since 1996). Our calendar now includes several interesting opportunities including Performance Measures and Statistics Workshop [the broken … Continue reading →

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Six Sigma City Government

Posted on February 28, 2007 by John Hunter

A recent report from the Brookings Institution, Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities [the broken link was removed], has some good words on the efforts of Fort Wayne, Indiana: In a short time, the city reduced water main replacement costs by 18 … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Sector, Six sigma | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Georgetown Kentucky Way

Posted on February 27, 2007 by John Hunter

The Scott County Way [the broken link was removed] by Jillian Ogawa: It seemed only natural that Toyota’s corporate culture would influence the local schools, said Superintendent Dallas Blankenship. He estimated that one in three students in the school district … Continue reading →

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Firing Workers Isn’t Fixing Problems

Posted on February 26, 2007 by John Hunter

I commented on a post on Evolving Excellence that Jim Jubak is a wall street guy who has good ideas. He has posted another good article: Firing workers isn’t fixing problems [the broken link was removed] Both CEOs, Edward Zander … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Dell Innovation

Posted on February 25, 2007 by John Hunter

Dell has been taking some interesting actions recently. Several months ago they started blogging and interacting with bloggers. Those steps have been interesting since few other companies of their size have taken such action (nothing amazing, but seem much beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, IT, Management | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Interview with Mary Poppendieck

Posted on February 24, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean for Software: Interview with Mary Poppendieck: We start by asking people to draw a Value Stream Map. You start with a customer problem-need request, and you go to where that request is filled. So, you put on “customer glasses”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development | 1 Comment

Talking with Toyota’s CEO

Posted on February 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Talking with Toyota’s Top Man [the broken link was removed] But there’s still more work to be done? The scariest symptom of “big-company disease” is that complacency will breed in the company. To be satisfied with becoming the top runner, … Continue reading →

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Transformation and Redesign

Posted on February 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Here is an excellent article from 1999: Transformation and Redesign at the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) (pdf link) by March Laree Jacques This article describes an organizational transformation effort undertaken at the White House Communications Agency. It shares the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Transformation and Redesign

New Zealand Creativity

Posted on February 22, 2007 by John Hunter

Saving money by thinking creativity and leanly. $10 wok keeps TV station on air [the broken link was removed]: Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Performance Appraisals Performance

Posted on February 21, 2007 by John Hunter

Appraising the Performance Of Performance Appraisals [the link that IEEE broke was removed] by Harry Goldstein: The traditional annual review covers a lot of ground: coaching and guidance for the employee, feedback and communication, compensation, staffing decisions and professional development, … Continue reading →

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