Monthly Archives: August 2007

Data Can’t Lie

Posted on August 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Many people state that data can lie. Obviously data can’t lie. There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics – Mark Twain Many people don’t understand the difference between being manipulated because they can’t understand what the … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Psychology | Tagged curiouscat, Data, evidence based management, Statistics | 13 Comments

Lean Dentist Podcast

Posted on August 8, 2007 by John Hunter

This podcast by Mark Graban with Dr. Sami Bahri, “The World’s First Lean Dentist” is well worth listening to. It offers a wonderful example of how to apply lean ideas (I really appreciate how obvious the focus on learning and … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, webcast | Comments Off

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno

Posted on August 8, 2007 by John Hunter

Workplace Management by Taiichi Ohno is an excellent management book. Taiichi Ohno is known as the father of the Toyota Production System (TPS), also called lean manufacturing. He dictated the text to the Japan Management Association (in a series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Books, Japan, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Taiichi Ohno, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 3 Comments

Hiring: Silicon Valley Style

Posted on August 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Interviews on how to hire in Silicon Valley. I especially like Guy Kawasaki’s comment – “the key to getting great people to work for you is to have a great product. That is why Google does so well. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Google, IT, Management, Software Development, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged Career, hiring, IT | 4 Comments

Help Wanted: Lean Manufacturing Experts

Posted on August 4, 2007 by John Hunter

Is There A Lean Employee Deficit?: Two recent articles in respected manufacturing publications highlighted a topic of interest for us at Ultriva: The difficulty of finding and retaining manufacturing talent. The first was an article from the American Society for … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Lean thinking, Management | 2 Comments

Toyota Reports Best Quarter Ever

Posted on August 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota Reports Best Quarter Ever Despite concerns in the industry about sluggish auto sales in the U.S. and Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. got help from a weak yen and cost cuts in its earnings announced Friday for its first fiscal … Continue reading →

Posted in Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #16

Posted on August 1, 2007 by John Hunter

Management Improvement Carnival #16 is hosted by Mark Graban at the Lean Blog. Some highlights include: How Toyota Handles Disaster, by Matthew May at “Elegant Solutions”: “Sometimes the Wall Street Journal has at best one use: wrapping fish. To wit, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Comments Off