Monthly Archives: November 2007

Getting and Keeping Great Employees

Posted on November 29, 2007 by John Hunter

I am not convinced of the premise of The new war for talent: that there will be a great shortage of talent soon. But the article makes some interesting points. The Conference Board CEO Challenge of 2007 points out that “Cracking the U.S. Top 10 this year is finding qualified managerial talent and top management succession.” … If we neglect to engage our own employees, those who are frustrated can surf hundreds of job boards to see what other opportunities … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Performance Appraisal, Respect | 1 Comment

Arbitrary Rules Don’t Work

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Hunter

Procedurally Enforcing Workflow by Michael Salamon: UI gem, and a great reminder for the RIAA/MPAA: You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary. I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it. Why matters. You can’t just expect people to act in a way that seems arbitrary. As I stated in Poka-Yoke Assembly, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Joy in Work – Software Development

Posted on November 25, 2007 by John Hunter

The wonderful cartoon in this link illustrates the all too common despair in work. Software programmers are more likely to really enjoy what they do. There are many reasons for this not the least of which is that they have a fair amount of control over their careers. If they don’t like what they are asked to do, the tools they are asked to work with… they will (more than others) leave for another job. Some managers get frustrated that … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Toyota’s Effort to Stay Toyota

Posted on November 22, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota’s All-Out Drive To Stay Toyota “We are making every effort not to lose our DNA,” says Shigeru Hayakawa, president of Toyota Motor North America. … Just in case St. Angelo forgets any of his Toyota training, he has someone watching his back. His retired predecessor, Gary Convis, still gets paid to advise him. That’s an idea Toyota imported from Japan, where the company asks retiring engineers to stick around to mentor young employees. The ranks of these old-timers are … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

Insights from Jim Womack

Posted on November 21, 2007 by John Hunter

Jim Womack provides great insights in a recent interview, Thought Leaders — Lean On Me: All the Japanese car companies did the quality thing based on the Deming Prize criteria and so forth back in the 1960s and 70s. What that meant was, they tried to get from end-of-the-line inspection to inspection at the source. And they did a pretty good job on that, no question about it. … Toyota has a supplier management system that is still the best-in-class, … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management

Management Improvement Carnival #23

Posted on November 17, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Assessing Results vs. Reflection by Mark Rosenthal – “Your plan for the year consisted of a designed experiment. ‘If we do these things, we expect this results.’ Then do that thing, and check that you actually did it. Compare your actual result with the expected result. Explain any difference. Learn.” – This process is key to improving, see my previous post: Predicting Improves Learning John Leadership … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

3M Cuts Back on Six Sigma for Research and Development

Posted on November 14, 2007 by John Hunter

3M Shelves Six Sigma in R&D For the past two years, 3M Corp. has been giving back freedom and decision-making to its researchers following four years of Six Sigma mania under former CEO and Chairman W. James McNerney Jr. Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology and associated toolset for eliminating process defects. … Under McNerney’s successor, 3M CEO George Buckley has de-emphasized Six Sigma in R&D. At the same time, R&D spending in 2007 has been increased by 11 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Six sigma | 2 Comments

Six Sigma for Erie County Government

Posted on November 12, 2007 by John Hunter

Chris Collins proposed bringing six sigma to Erie County government in his campaign for county executive. He won the election. From his web site: In business, you satisfy your customers or you fail. But in Erie County government, if you fail taxpayers who are your customer, nothing happens. Under Chris Collins, that will change. As County Executive, Chris Collins will reform county government to make sure it serves its customers: the taxpayers. He will implement new management techniques – Total … Continue reading →

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

Engineering Innovation for Manufacturing and the Economy

Posted on November 11, 2007 by John Hunter

Editorial: Engineering Innovation, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: They are the invisible heroes in business, the men and women who make innovation possible. They are people like Mary Ann Wright at Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, the former chief engineer for the Ford Escape hybrid who is leading a team bent on establishing world leadership in hybrid battery systems. Or Werner Zobel, a Modine Manufacturing engineer working in Germany who hatched the idea for a new cooling system that the Racine-based company believes … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Science, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Good Customer Focus Idea for Banks

Posted on November 8, 2007 by John Hunter

Why Your Bank Needs a Free Coin-Counting Machine But this overall strategy also included a Trojan horse, and that Trojan horse was the bank’s Penny Arcade. If you walk into most Commerce branches, you’ll see a machine or two that will count buckets of loose change. Unlike the Coinstar machines that you might find at supermarkets, Penny Arcades don’t take a cut of your change as a fee if you want plain cash in exchange for your coins. Instead, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management

Win a 2 day visit from Norman Bodek

Posted on November 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Shingo Sweepstakes: The grand prize is a 2 day visit of your organization by Norman Bodek, 2 Free admissions to the 20th Annual Shingo Prize, 5 copies of Dr. Shigeo Shingo’s latest book and more. Related: Zero Defects – Constant Change and Growth – 2007 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing – Lean Podcast with Bodek – Toyota Production System History

Posted in Lean thinking, Management

The Problem with Targets

Posted on November 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Targets can seriously damage your health by Simon Caulkin Targets, claim their defenders, are simple, they provide focus, and they work. Yes, they do. Unfortunately, these are also their fatal flaws. The simplicity is a delusion. As Russ Ackoff put it: ‘The only problems that have simple solutions are simple problems. The only managers with simple problems are those with simple minds. Problems that arise in organisations are almost always the product of interactions of parts, never the action of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking

“2007 has been a difficult year for Toyota”

Posted on November 5, 2007 by John Hunter

I find the quote “2007 has been a difficult year for Toyota” found in The Dings and Dents of Toyota a bit amusing. Toyota has had some problems as the article notes like product recalls and losing a handful of employees to Ford and Chrysler. They are about even with GM in worldwide sales and posted a profit of nearly $14 Billion (I believe maybe 20 companies have ever earned that much in any year) in the year ending March … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

The Lazy Unreasonable Man

Posted on November 5, 2007 by John Hunter

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman That quote sprang to mind when I read the great post – In praise of the lazy employee They want to know why it takes five signatures to get something approved when one should do. They want to know why the forecasting effort should take … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Management, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Design of Experiments in Operational Testing

Posted on November 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Edwards looks toward future of testing We are fielding a Design of Experiments concept to ensure we conduct the right amount of testing — not too much or too little, but just right. We will field this approach in phases as we must train our people and put the right tools in place. However, it is already showing great promise. In a recent Benefield Anechoic Facility test, the 412th Electronic Warfare Group used Design of Experiments methodology to cut a … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Public Sector, Quality tools

Management Improvement Carnival #22

Posted on November 2, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. How Many People Did You Cut? by Mike Wroblewski – “As lean thinkers, we should focus on our growth strategy. With a growth strategy, we reassign people from kaizen to perform other tasks that add value to our customer.” (this is so important – lean companies do not have layoffs, companies lead by poor mangers do- John) Do You Understand the System of Profound Knowledge? by … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management