Post Number 1,000

This is the 1,000th post to the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Here are some highlights:

• Post number 2: Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data – “We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system. Often people forget that the desired end result is not for the number to be improved but for the situation to be improved.”
• Most viewed post: Eliminate Slogans – management by slogan is not an effective management strategy

Information Technology: Toyota IT Overview – “customizing the code, to its business processes, and not the other way around.”

• Manufacturing: Top 10 Manufacturing Countries – Manufacturing Jobs Data by Country
• Health Care: Going Lean in Health Care – USA Healthcare System Costs 16% of GDP ($2.0 trillion or $6,697 per person in 2005) – Drug Prices in the USA – Change Health Care
• The Purpose of an Organization quoting Dr. Deming: “The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term.”
• Process Improvement: Better and Different – Process Improvement and Innovation Go Together – PDSA Cycle: “One slow turn is much less effective then using it as intended to quickly test and adapt and test and adapt…”
• What to do: Write it Down – Visible Data – Lean Thinking and Management – Use Books to Ignite Improvement – Management is Prediction – Standardized Work Instructions – Find the Root Cause Instead of the Person to Blame – Design of experiments – Performance without Appraisal – Bring Me Problems Even if you Don’t have the Solutions – Stop Demotivating Me! – Don’t Empower – Respect for People – Most Meetings are Muda – Managing the Supplier Relationship
• Commentary: Obscene CEO Pay – Management Excellence – Management Advice Failures – Data Can’t Lie – New Rules for Management? No! – Be Careful What You Measure – Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay
• Why blog? The Importance of Management Improvement – Bad Management Results in Layoffs