Monthly Archives: March 2008

Tesco Pauses USA Expansion

Posted on March 31, 2008 by John Hunter

Pausing for reath at fresh & easy (Tesco’s USA stores) We’ve opened 31 stores in 66 days so far this year…now we’re pausing for breath… However, after opening our first 50, we planned to have a 3 month break from openings, and other than a couple more in Phoenix, we’re taking it (albeit, in our usual fashion, with 59 stores already open). … We’ve learnt a huge amount about running the operation, and talked to thousands of customers about what … Continue reading →

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

Coopers Rock State Forest

Posted on March 29, 2008 by John Hunter

See more photos of my visit last year to Coopers Rock State Forest in West Virginia. The day before I visited Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland. Photos by John Hunter. Related: Nature Recreation Declining – Mason Neck State Park, Virginia – Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky

Posted in curiouscat.com, Travel photos | Tagged | 2 Comments

Deming’s 14 Points (for software development)

Posted on March 28, 2008 by John Hunter

Deming’s 14 points (for software development) by Jamie Dinkelacker (Geo/Maps Engineering Program Manager at Google Inc. Focus on lean principles and agile practices for software development): W. Edwards Deming’s work on quality, while widely misinterpreted and misapplied in the USA, was nonetheless a watershed that Japanese companies, especially Toyota, took to heart… Below are Deming’s 14 points accompanied by commentary related to software development. … Design quality in, don’t use inspection to find errors. Mistake proof the system. … In … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Google, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , ,

How Downsizing is Handled When Management Respects People

Posted on March 27, 2008 by John Hunter

Three Amazing PHP/MySQL/Perl Developers Now Available [broken link removed] – Posting on Craigslist. The url will expire so I included everything but the contact info below (follow the link for contact info). Yesterday I had to do one of the more difficult things — lay off three of my good friends, all of whom are talented and professional developers. I’m posting here today in hopes that someone out in the world is looking for some seasoned talent, people who can … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , ,

Losses Covered Up to Protect Bonuses

Posted on March 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Does it surprise you to learn traders would cover up losses to protect bonuses? It shouldn’t, it happens over and over. Would it surprise you that almost any bonus (or quota) scheme increases the odds that the data will be doctored to meet the goals? It shouldn’t. Intelligent measures to make such doctoring difficult can help reduce the practice. But it is a likely risk of any such goal. As we have quoted Brian Joiner as saying: there are: “3 … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Investing, Management, Psychology | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Unconscionable Executive Pay

Posted on March 19, 2008 by John Hunter

WaMu: Skip customers; save the execs [the broken link was removed] Since last summer, the company’s shares have lost nearly 80% of their value. But the bank is a softy when it comes to bonus pay for top brass. After CEO Kerry Killinger and other top executives missed all or a big part of their bonus pay last year, Washington Mutual wasted little time taking steps to apparently make sure it won’t happen again — even if the mortgage market … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Respect | Tagged | 6 Comments

Drug Price Crisis

Posted on March 18, 2008 by John Hunter

In 2005 I posted about some of the problems with drug pricing. It is nice to find at least a couple of people at MIT that want to have MIT focus research on the public good instead of private profit. As I have mentioned too many universities now act like they are for-profit drug or research companies. That is wrong. Drug companies can do so, institutions with purported higher purposes should not be driven to place advancing science below profiting … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Economics, Health care, Science | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

NCAA Basketball Challenge 2008

Posted on March 17, 2008 by John Hunter

Once again I have created a group on the ESPN NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge for curiouscat college basketball fans. To participate, go to the curiouscat ESPN group and make your picks. This year we also have a second challenge, using sportsline, that rewards picking upsets. So those that enjoy the tournament please join the fun. The password for this one is cat Go Badgers and Go Davidson,

Posted in curiouscat.com, Fun | Tagged

Management Improvement Carnival #31

Posted on March 14, 2008 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Lean *is* About Quality, Folks by Mark Graban – “The two ideas are connected — improving flow (in itself) ends up improving quality and improving quality improves flow.” Statistical software is not six sigma by Rob Thompson – “With a good understanding of the process at hand, practitioners can solve many problems using statistical software. However, if there’s a lack of process knowledge, it’s hard to … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged ,

Webcast on 2-Bin Systems

Posted on March 11, 2008 by John Hunter

Illustration of how 2-Bin Systems work, by Bill Hanover. Related: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) video by Bill Hanover – Messiness is Bad – Drum-Buffer-Rope Example – lean manufacturing resources

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, webcast | Tagged , , ,

Pleasing Customers

Posted on March 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Why is 37signals so arrogant? by Don Norman The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Brash is an understatement. I was quoted in the article because of my article arguing that simplicity is highly overrated: the tasks that we do require tools that match the requirements, and these add complexity. … Yes, they are arrogant — and proud of it: “Arrogant is usually something you hurl at somebody as an insult,” Hansson said. “But when … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Psychology, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Toyota’s Commitment

Posted on March 8, 2008 by John Hunter

From Toyota’s blog, Living Up to Our Commitment We’ve received reports that on a small number of model-year 1995 to 2000 Tacomas, excessive corrosion of the frame has caused perforation of the metal. The reason for this, it appears, is that the frames of some of the 813,000 vehicles built during this time-frame may not have adequate corrosion protection. … Because of our oft-stated commitment to standing behind our products, we’re extending the rust-perforation warranty covering these trucks for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Inside Honda’s Brain

Posted on March 7, 2008 by John Hunter

Inside Honda’s brain by Alex Taylor III why is Honda playing with robots? Or, for that matter, airplanes? Honda is building a factory in North Carolina to manufacture the Hondajet, a sporty twin-engine runabout that carries six passengers. Or solar energy? Honda has established a subsidiary to make and market thin-film solar-power cells. Or soybeans? Honda grows soybeans in Ohio so that it can fill up cargo containers being shipped back to Japan. The list goes on. All this sounds … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Systemic Workplace Experiments

Posted on March 6, 2008 by John Hunter

Workplace Experiments At our company-wide get together last December we decided that 2008 was going to be a year of workplace experiments. Among other things, we discussed how we could make 37signals one of the best places in the world to work, learn, and generally be happy. … Last summer we experimented with 4-day work weeks. People should enjoy the weather in the summer. We found that just about the same amount of work gets done in four days vs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Quotas are Not the Answer

Posted on March 5, 2008 by John Hunter

Rich Sharpe posted to his blog on his recent reading of Dr. Deming – The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality by Rafael Aguayo in Lean Programming and Dr. Deming. And he posted a response he received from Rafael Aguayo with some good points including: But in your case you have a company that demands quotas or targets. Maybe there is a belief within management that this will help the stock. It will not, but that is a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , ,

Management Advice from Warren Buffet

Posted on March 4, 2008 by John Hunter

As usual, Warren Buffett’s letter to shareholders is packed with wisdom. He is best know for his investing genius but his writing provides great thoughts for managers also: Berkshire Hathaway 2007 Letter to Shareholders: We will soon purchase 60% of Marmon and will acquire virtually all of the balance within six years. Our initial outlay will be $4.5 billion, and the price of our later purchases will be based on a formula tied to earnings. … This deal was done … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment