Monthly Archives: August 2008

Kiva Fellows Blog: Nepalese Entrepreneur Success

Posted on August 30, 2008 by John Hunter

Kiva is a great charity and example of how to use the web effectively. Kiva has added a fellows blog – which is a great idea. Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Respect | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Posts from August 2005

Posted on August 28, 2008 by John Hunter

Purpose of an Organization – New Economics, page 51: The aim proposed here for any organization is for everybody to gain – stockholders, employees, suppliers, customers, community, the environment – over the long term. Going Lean in Health Care – Lean ideas will not work, as they should, without changes to the way the organization makes decisions. Failing to understand this factor is one reason some organizations are frustrated with the results they experience when trying to apply lean thinking. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Future Directions for Agile Management

Posted on August 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Agile management (agile software development specifically) is something that makes a big difference in my work life. David Anderson consistently provides great ideas on agile management and he does so again in this 90 minute presentation on the future directions for agile. As I learned about agile software development, what I saw was a great implementation of management improvement practices focused on software development that was very compatible with Deming’s management philosophy and lean thinking practices. The Agile manifesto: Individuals … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Innovation, IT, Lean thinking, Management, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Tiger Woods and Lightning Bolt

Posted on August 22, 2008 by John Hunter

You have done pretty well when you can get people to post your ads on their blogs for the enjoyment of their readers. Enjoy this creativity and have a nice weekend. While on sports I also will mention Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt’s performances in the Olympics: they were amazing. In contests (100 and 200 meter dash where the victor is usually a few hundreds of a second faster he won the 100 by 20/100s and 200 by 66/100s officially [52/100 but … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity | Tagged ,

Gobbledygook

Posted on August 21, 2008 by John Hunter

How is this for Gobbledygook? Your home banking access code is expired! You must change your access code at this time. Your access code: * may be between 4 and 20 characters in length * must not have been changed within the last 0 days * may not be one of 3 previously used access codes * must not repeat the same character more than 0 times * must not contain 0 characters from previous access code * must contain … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Power of Small Teams

Posted on August 20, 2008 by John Hunter

The power of small teams [broken link was removed] by Avi Muchnick Choose a project that is simple to implement. Don’t try to create a complex suite of applications… Focus on solving a single problem. Philip Kaplan made email more efficient to use by stalling it instead of managing it. Dead simple approach and a great idea.Take the easier approach when possible. Choose people that can wear multiple hats. Can your designer code? Can your programmer manage a community? Can … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged , ,

Lean IT Systems – Not ERP

Posted on August 19, 2008 by John Hunter

I am not sure, IT needs to get lean on manufacturing [broken link was removed], does the clearest job of explaining some things, but it does state some things well: …you can see how typical offshoring doesn’t work here, as it is counterproductive to true lean manufacturing. If your plant is 8,000 miles away, you need to plan even further out, building in as much as an extra month for transoceanic shipping. Manufacturers also need to carry a larger safety … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Lean Management in Policing

Posted on August 18, 2008 by John Hunter

Justice served up Jacksonville–style is all lean [broken link was removed] by Joe Jancsurak: The Jacksonville Sheriff Office’s (JSO) Crime Reducing Initiatives Management and Enforcement Strategies (CRIMES) measures, tracks and analyzes crime-fighting statistics, such as the number of arrests and value of stolen and recovered property. Such findings are instrumental in determining the overall effectiveness of the JSO and where improvements need to be made. Investigations stress uniformity. Lean “changed how we approach investigations,” says Sheriff Rutherford. “We found that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Public Sector | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Management Improvement Carnival #41

Posted on August 16, 2008 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Could Microsoft’s Windows Be Disrupted? by Scott Anthony – “as Clayton Christensen pointed out in his seminal book The Innovators’ Dilemma, market leadership isn’t just an insufficient buffer against disruption, in some cases it is the root cause of failure.” Learning to say no by Dan Markovitz – “The CFO says no when the president want to renovate the offices or hire new people, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Don’t Do What Your Users Say

Posted on August 11, 2008 by John Hunter

In, Don’t do what your users say [the broken link was removed], Hanford Lemoore, provides a nice illustration of why customer focus is important but must be done with care. in UI design it’s important to understand that what a user says and what a user is telling you can be two different things. … I got a good variety of comments back. Constructive thoughts. But I noticed an interesting trend: The most common thing suggested was “Add an undo … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , ,

Toyota Winglet – Personal Transportation Assistance

Posted on August 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota has a long term vision. The population of Japan is aging rapidly. Toyota has invested in personal transportation and personal robotic assistance for quite some time. I must admit this new Winglet doesn’t seem like an incredible breakthrough to me (their earlier iUnit seems much better to me – though I am sure much more expensive too). The interest to me is in their continued focus on this market which I think is a smart move. The aging population … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , ,

Individual Bonuses Are Bad Management

Posted on August 7, 2008 by John Hunter

Gojko Adzic provides a nice post on Mary Poppendieck’s presentation at Agile 2008 on bonus, compensation and motivation: Paying programmers: are bonuses bad and what to do about it? In software development, it is very hard to establish the effects of individual contributions and good teamwork is key to the project. Most individual compensation schemes, according to the presentation, absorb vast amounts of management time and resources and leave nobody happy, but team compensation strategies are not easy to implement. … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, IT, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How to Develop Thinking People

Posted on August 6, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota’s Top Engineer on How to Develop Thinking People [broken link was removed] Hayashi says, “Developing people requires physical endurance.” Frequent follow up is necessary, in person. It is not acceptable to give an assignment and follow up or scold only after three months, during a progress report meeting. Specific actions and detailed follow up are necessary. Excellent advice. Also, when we are required to deliver results with speed, we only give our subordinates small projects so that even if … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , ,

India Lean Management

Posted on August 4, 2008 by John Hunter

India’s Economic Times has an interview with James Womack, Now is the time for lean management, with an interesting quote: When I last visited India in 2002, I looked carefully at several operations of the TVS group in the Chennai area. I found that they were the best examples of lean manufacturing I had ever seen outside of Toyota City. In my mind these facilities completely eliminated any questions as to whether “lean” would work in India. However, I have … Continue reading →

Posted in India, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , ,

Management Improvement Carnival #40

Posted on August 1, 2008 by John Hunter

Mark Graban is hosting the Management Improvement Carnival #40. Mark recently authored a new book, Lean Hospitals. Health care highlights from this carnival include: Hospital Error – Heparin in the news again (The Lean Thinker Blog): “I am reasonably certain that the two workers who went on “voluntary leave” (yeah, right) will absorb more than their share of blame as the system solves the problem by asking the “Five Who?” questions.” Management 101, 201, 301, and 401 (Paul Levy – … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Health care, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Multitasking Decreases Productivity

Posted on August 1, 2008 by John Hunter

The problems with multitasking are becoming more and more well know, thankfully. Here is another article on the lower productivity multitasking produces – Multitasking Madness Decreases Productivity [the broken link was removed] by Barbara Bartlein: In a recent study by Eric Horvitz and the University of Illinois, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They often strayed … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments