The Curious Cat Management blog carnival highlights recent management blog posts 3 times each month. The posts generally focus on the areas I have focused on in the Curious Cat Management Improvement guide since 1996 (lean manufacturing, Deming, agile software development, innovation, six sigma, customer focus…).
- Tradable Quality Hypothesis by Martin Fowler – “Instead it’s vital to focus on the true value of internal quality – that it’s the enabler to speed. The purpose of internal quality is to go faster” (add I believe better reliability – John)
- Lean Mindsets for Healthcare by Mark Graban – “Problem solving, leadership, and kaizen can’t be done effectively from an office or conference room… Instead of fighting the same fires each and every time, it’s time to focus on improving systems and processes.”
- Working smarter by Gabriel Weinberg – “By planting a lot of different seeds, you are spreading your risk a bit hoping that some of them will blossom, or more often than not, prompt you to think of new related or combined efforts that eventually turn into something meaningful.”
- The Fine Line Between Micro-Management and Surfacing Problems by Jamie Flinchbaugh – “The difference between engagement and micro-management is how management responds to this increased transparency.”
- Toyota’s Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned? by Jeffrey Liker – “We also learned that the NHTSA knew all along that the only problems were floor mats and sticky pedals, but they had to go ahead with the NASA study to convince members of Congress who believed electronics were the cause of sudden acceleration despite a total lack of evidence to support that belief.”
- What’s Next for the Agile Manifesto by Dennis Stevens – “We need to learn how to do a better job of defining value and aligning the cadence across the organization and improving the flow of value from concept to delivery.”
- Lean Consulting, Packaging and the Slow Path to Success by Jon Miller – “we abandoned TQM years ago for reasons that were less related to packaging and more to the fact that it was too much like real work. TQM involved real change in behavior, real commitment and long-term dedication…”
- Real Leaders Let Others Shine by Esther Derby – “When person takes the lead, others don’t have the opportunity to learn and develop their own capabilities. If there’s no place to grow, people will check out and leave—or, worse, check out and stay.”
- Fighting Fire with Planning by Wally Bock – “Critical incidents will happen. Your job is to identify the likely ones, plan to handle them, and take steps to make sure you can implement the plan if necessary.”
- Building Consensus? Try Standard Work by Dan Markovitz – “I think the A3 is a perfect structure for building consensus. It replaces difficult-to-schedule, bloated meetings with shorter 1:1 meetings between stakeholders. It eliminates turgid Powerpoint decks with a concise story told on one page.”
