Monthly Archives: July 2009

Lean Manufacturing Webcast from India

Posted on July 28, 2009 by John Hunter

This lean thinking webcast from India actually does a pretty decent job of providing an overview (for a business TV channel) even if they get some things a bit confused. The discuss TQM in India preceding lean which is an … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, India, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast | Tagged India, Lean thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast, Womack | 1 Comment

Akio Toyoda’s Message Shows Real Leadership

Posted on July 26, 2009 by John Hunter

Speech by Akio Toyoda Since the birth of Toyota, the company’s philosophy has always been to “contribute to society.” … “Contributing to society” at Toyota means two things. First, it means, “to manufacture automobiles that meet the needs of society … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, quote, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Customer focus, Deming, Japan, leadership, management, Manufacturing, purpose, quote, Systems thinking, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 14 Comments

Zappos and Amazon Sitting in a Tree…

Posted on July 23, 2009 by John Hunter

Amazon is acquiring the unique company – Zappos: we have written about Zappos previously: Paying New Employees to Quit. Jeff Bezos uses the webcast above to talk to the employees of Zappos. Excellent job. The letter from Tony Hsieh, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Deming, Fun, Innovation, Investing, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Amazon, Bezos, Customer focus, customer service, Innovation, Investing, long term thinking, respect for people | 7 Comments

Narcissistic Cadre of Senior Executives

Posted on July 22, 2009 by John Hunter

In yet another voice against the looting mentality of the current crop of executives Chris Bones, dean of Henley Business School writes a A crisis of confidence? This has resulted in the creation of a narcissistic cadre of senior executives … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged business, commentary, executive pay, overpaid executives | Comments Off

Management Improvement Carnival #70

Posted on July 20, 2009 by John Hunter

Shaun Sayers is hosting the Management Improvement Carnival #70 on the Capable People blog, highlights include: 8 ways to get total involvement by Jon Miller: “How do we get total involvement from our people in the good things?” Total company … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged blogs, Carnival | Comments Off

Three Years of Real-World IT Projects In Ruby

Posted on July 16, 2009 by John Hunter

Nice webcast by Martin Fowler, Three Years of Real-World Ruby. This talk is probably only of interest to those of you in software development, but for them I think it is an excellent presentation. At work we have been use … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Software Development, webcast | Tagged IT, program management, programming, project management, Ruby, Software Development, webcast | Comments Off

Management Improvement Carnival #69

Posted on July 13, 2009 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival provide links to recent blog posts for those interesting in improving management of organizations. Starving the Golden Goose by Michael Neiss – “Where they [the Human Resource Department] should be obsessed with growing talent, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged Carnival | Comments Off

Peter Scholtes

Posted on July 11, 2009 by John Hunter

Peter Scholtes died peacefully this morning [11 July 2009] in Madison, Wisconsin. His family was with him. My father wrote about the First Street Garage project in W. Edwards Deming’s Out of the Crisis (pages 245-247). Peter (who was working … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged Bill Hunter, Deming, John Hunter, Madison, management, Peter Scholtes | 34 Comments

Management By IT Crowd Bosses

Posted on July 9, 2009 by John Hunter

The IT Crowd is a great BBC show on an IT support office in a large organization. The IT staff are knowledgeable and tired of dealing with foolish users of IT. And you wouldn’t want to watch for any customer … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged customer service, internet, IT, management, motivation, respect for people | 3 Comments

United Breaks Guitars

Posted on July 7, 2009 by John Hunter

Unfortunately companies like United have created cultures where people take pride in doing their job poorly. And the continued long term customer hostility companies take shows no sign of letting up. My suggestion is to take Southwest or Jet Blue … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, webcast | Tagged bad customer service, customer service, management, webcast | 2 Comments