Monthly Archives: May 2010

Incentivizing Behavior Doesn’t Improve Results

Posted on May 28, 2010 by John Hunter

In the webcast Dan Pink shares research results exploring human motivation and ideas on how to manage organization given the scientific research on motivation. “once a task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill a larger reward led to poorer performance” “Pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table. Pay people enough so they are not thinking about money they are thinking about the work.” “3 factors lead to better performance: autonomy, mastery and purpose” [not additional … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Finding Great Management Articles, Posts and Resources

Posted on May 26, 2010 by John Hunter

Reddit is a web site that ranks web pages by user votes. The site uses an algorithm that has a very large timeliness factor. So top ranked links move down the list fairly quickly. This results in a nice site to look at to find links others have found interesting recently. I created a management sub-reddit (a distinct topic-focused-area on the management improvement topics covered in this blog) in 2008. The sub-reddit seems to be about ready to reach a … Continue reading →

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

People Cannot Multitask

Posted on May 24, 2010 by John Hunter

There is plenty of research showing that people can’t multitask. But this knowledge is missed by many people. Here is another study showing this: Why We Can’t Do 3 Things at Once That’s because, when faced with two tasks, a part of the brain known as the medial prefrontal cortex (MFC) divides so that half of the region focuses on one task and the other half on the other task. This division of labor allows a person to keep track … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #98

Posted on May 23, 2010 by John Hunter

Karen Wilhelm is hosting Management Improvement Carnival #98 on the Lean Reflections blog. She highlights the LeanBlog Podcast #90 featuring Tim Turner, a plant team member at Toyota Kentucky, who compiled stories from 80 fellow team members from every level of the organization about what it feels like to be part of Toyota. She also mentions the management “subreddit” which I have been encouraging people to use. The sites community votes to highlight management links they found valuable which provides … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged

Mistake Proofing Deployment of Software Code

Posted on May 19, 2010 by John Hunter

This is a continuation of my previous post: Improving Software Development with Automated Tests. Lets look at a typical poka-yoke example. A USB connector must be put in the right way up – for the connection to work properly and the communication to occur as intended. So to mistake proof the process the connector won’t allow the USB device to be put in upside down – the hardware connection designed to not allow that type of connection. Using a deployment … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Combinatorial Testing – The Quadrant of Massive Efficiency Gains

Posted on May 17, 2010 by John Hunter

My brother, Justin Hunter, gives a lightning talk on Combinatorial Testing – The Quadrant of Doom and The Quadrant of Massive Efficiency Gains in the video above. The following text is largely directly quoted from the talk – with a bit of editing by me. When you have a situation that has many many many possible parameters and each time only a few possible choices (a few items you are trying to vary and test – in his example in … Continue reading →

Posted in Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Management Blog Posts From May 2006

Posted on May 14, 2010 by John Hunter

I think looking back at some previous posts to the blog is worthwhile. Here are links to some of the posts from May 2006. The photo shows some South American artwork at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: I took the photo on a trip to New York. Using Data Effectively Requires Thought – The numbers are just proxies for the real situation. Look beyond the numbers you see to what they mean and understand how the numbers presented may not … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged

Interruptions Can Severely Damage Performance

Posted on May 12, 2010 by John Hunter

Interruptions can severely degrade your performance. The type of work you are doing impacts the cost greatly. I have spent some of my time programming web applications. When I am doing that interruptions are a huge drain on my performance (for me the costs of interruptions while programming are far higher than any other type of work I have done – many times higher). If the interruption disrupts my flow (an interruption needn’t necessarily disrupt it I found, instant messages … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #97

Posted on May 11, 2010 by John Hunter

Mike Wroblewski is hosting Management Improvement Carnival #97 on the Got Boondoggle? blog, highlights include: Bagel with a side of Jidoka by Evan Durant – “And the more we explore the concept of Jidoka the more we are forced to challenge our assumptions about what exactly the human and machine elements are. Often there are untapped opportunities to separate the two.” The Human in the Loop by Mark Rosenthal – “If we truly want to construct a work environment where … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged | 1 Comment

Manufacturing in the USA, and Why Organizations Often Don’t

Posted on May 9, 2010 by John Hunter

Manufacturing in the USA continues to do well. But it could do better. There are reasons manufacturing that could be located in the USA is not. And addressing those can increase USA manufacturing. Some reasons are sensible, based on the existing economics and realities of comparative advantage. Some reasons are just flawed thinking, such as the “spreadsheet management” taught at many business schools that Deming and lean thinkers can understand the flawed thinking that leads to outsourcing. Typical wall street … Continue reading →

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

Ignoring Unpleasant Truths is Often Encouraged

Posted on May 4, 2010 by John Hunter

We can’t Handle the Truth Unfortunately, the proverbial “kill the messenger” is alive and well in American business. People who speak the truth are often labeled as a non-team player, a disrupter, a trouble maker or the current tag of being “not a good fit”. … It doesn’t take much to see that the truth can get watered down, altered or hidden entirely inside a company, especially as it moves vertically up the ladder. We may believe, at least in … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Curious Cat Management Carnival #96

Posted on May 2, 2010 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management blog carnival selects recent management blog posts 3 times each month. Also visit the Curious Cat Management Library for online management improvement articles. Kanban Systems in Software Development – “In the field, I’ve seen Kanban work best in chaotic environments where upcoming features don’t have much in common.” Renegade Recruiting by Chris Ferdinandi – “I think world-class recruiting is really about three things: Building a pipeline of qualified talent before you need to hire someone. Accurate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival | Tagged , | 1 Comment