Management Improvement Carnival #8

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 PeopleInnovation with Joel BarkerKevin Meyer: Onshoringmore 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.”

More management improvement carnivals

This entry was posted in Carnival, Management. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *