Monthly Archives: December 2009

2009 Annual Management Blog Review Part 1

Posted on December 30, 2009 by John Hunter

The 2009 annual management improvement blog review is underway. Jamie Flinchbaugh found excellent posts from In Pursuit of Elegance, Shmula blog and Got Boondoggle? Those posts include: The Art of Symmetry: Fractals and the Mandelbrot by Matthew May Respect for … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Systemic Health Care Failure: Small Business Coverage

Posted on December 27, 2009 by John Hunter

There are many significant problems with the medical care system in the USA. It makes sense that a system that costs over 50% more than other countries and has no better outcomes, from all that extra spending, suffers from many … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Innovation, Systems thinking | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Soren Bisgaard

Posted on December 22, 2009 by John Hunter

Soren Bisgaard died earlier this month of cancer. Soren was a student of my father’s who shared the commitment to making a difference in people’s lives by using applied statistics properly. I know this seem odd to many (I tried … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

2009 Annual Management Blog Review

Posted on December 21, 2009 by John Hunter

Over the next 2 weeks several management blogs will be posting their contributions to the 2009 year in review of management blogs. Posts will highlight some of the best posts on other management blogs in the last year. The home … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , | Comments Off on 2009 Annual Management Blog Review

Video Overview of the PDSA Cycle

Posted on December 20, 2009 by John Hunter

Robert Lloyd, PhD From the IHI Open School‘s, presents a nice overview of the PDSA Cycle (plan-do-study-act). The webcast includes an example of using PDSA to improve the discharge process for a hospital. As I have said many times the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Science, webcast | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The CEO is Only One Person

Posted on December 14, 2009 by John Hunter

The CEO is important but they are only one person. Rarely do they determine the success of a company. The instances where they seem to are so rare as to almost seem like just random luck. I think they can … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #84

Posted on December 12, 2009 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival provides links to recent blog posts on improving the management of organizations. How Do You Get from Here to Agile? Iterate. by Mike Cohn – “…following an iterative transition process. Making small changes on … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged | 1 Comment

Habits

Posted on December 10, 2009 by John Hunter

Some things about what people do also have their roots in psychology. Deming had an understanding of psychology as one of 4 areas in his system of management. A huge factor in what people do is based on what they … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Biggest Manufacturing Countries in 2008 with Historical Data

Posted on December 7, 2009 by John Hunter

Once again the USA was the leading country in manufacturing for 2008. And once again China grew their manufacturing output amazingly. In a change with recent trends Japan grew output significantly. Of course, the 2009 data is going to show … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Eric Schmidt on Google in 2010 and the Economy

Posted on December 3, 2009 by John Hunter

CEO Eric Schmidt Reveals ‘Centerpiece’ Of Google’s 2010 Strategy, speaking at the White House jobs summit. Google is definitely hiring. “We’re hiring a couple thousand people over the next year,” he said. And looking at the White House summit he … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Google | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Eric Schmidt on Google in 2010 and the Economy