Good is not almost as good as great by Seth Godin – “They understand what a customer wants. They’re not just better than good. They’re playing a totally different game.”
Great point (says John Hunter)
“Fire half your salesforce. Then, give the remainder, the top people, a big raise, and use the money left over to steal the best salespeople you can find”
Not a great point (John again), instead change your system to support the behaviors you want to encourage.
- Demystifying Design of Experiments by Ron Pereira – “This engineer was using your traditional OFAT [One Factor At a Time] problem solving approach. The problem with this technique is that you cannot determine how the various parameters interact with one another.”
- Kaizen tips for Getting your music heard by George Howard – “For instance, ‘Actively pursue a superior, complete customer experience,’ becomes relevant when we replace the word ‘customer’ with ‘fan.'”
- Management By Standing Still by Mike Wroblewski – “this technique can be directly linked to the famous ‘Ohno Circle’, a circle drawn by Taiichi Ohno on the Toyota shop floor for engineers to stand in for hours on end ‘to see and understand’.”
- Nine Rules for Fighting Endless Meetings by Jon Miller – “Meetings will be more productive when you start with an agenda that answers the questions: Why am I at this meeting? Who requires that I be here? When does this meeting end? How will we know if the meeting is successful?”
- Multitasking is NOT Part of Standard Work by Dan Markovitz – “When you multitask (and you’re not really multitasking, of course; you’re actually doing serial processing, with rapid switching between tasks), you’re reducing your efficiency and quality.”
- The Gemba – what it is and why leaders should care by Kent Blumberg – “Going to the gemba is a core principle of the Toyota Way, and should be a core tool that every leader uses.”
- How About Partnership Instead? by Mark Graban – “When will the Detroit Three ever learn? Instead of whining about ‘legacy costs,’ why not change the way you are doing business?”
- Even More Lean At New Balance by Kevin Meyer – “Knowledge is an asset, not a cost. Used correctly and respectfully it can create immense value. New Balance has to continually improve because their offshored competitors are also improving.”
- The Art of Nemawashi by Jon Miller – “Ask each person if they understand the current condition, the root causes and the actions proposed. If you are a leader, prepare to listen and teach but resist the temptation to justify or explain.”
- Podcasts include: Norman Bodek: Building People – Innovation with Joel Barker – Kevin Meyer: Onshoring – more management podcasts
- Metrics and Software Development by John Hunter – “Focus on fewer measures and really pay attention to them. Don’t become buried by all the metrics that can be collected – take the time to find the measures that matter and really pay attention to those measures.”
