Monthly Archives: April 2011

Sometimes Micro-managing Works

Posted on April 27, 2011 by John Hunter

Sometimes micro-managing works. That doesn’t mean it is a good strategy to replicate. If you benchmark Apple you might decide that you should have a tyrannical obsessive involved CEO who is directly involved in every detail of products and services. After all Apple is now the second most valuable company in the world with a market capitalization of $324 billion (Exxon Mobil is the top at $433 billion) and a huge part of that is Steve Jobs. Nice quote from … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Innovation, Management | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Factorial Designed Experiment Aim

Posted on April 25, 2011 by John Hunter

Multivariate experiments are a very powerful management tool to learn and improve performance. Experiments in general, and designed factorial experiments in particular, are dramatically underused by managers. A question on LinkedIn asks? When doing a DOE we select factors with levels to induce purposely changes in the response variable. Do we want the response variable to move within the specs of the customers? Or it doesn’t matter since we are learning about the process? The aim needs to consider what … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Science, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #129

Posted on April 20, 2011 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Blog Carnival selects recent management blog posts 3 times each month. You may submit a link to the management Reddit to have it considered for inclusion in our carnival Let’s Dance by Ron Pereira – “I am supremely confident injecting a little fun with all the seriousness of life and business will do nothing but help.” How To Hold A Lean Meeting by Matt May – “In one to three sentences, define the overall purpose of … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged

Problems with Management and Business Books

Posted on April 18, 2011 by John Hunter

We really need to change how we improve the practice of management. Far too often management strategies are just the latest fad from some new book that successfully marketed an idea. The marketing effectiveness of a book, or consultant, has very limited correlation to their ability to improve management, in my experience. It is often true that they make very good keynote speakers, however. So if you want an entertaining keynote speaker looking at the authors of the best selling … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Engage in Improving the Management System

Posted on April 14, 2011 by John Hunter

To actually improve management you need to engage in continual improvement of your management systems. This requires doing the hard work of challenging complacency. The job of those improving the practice of management is not to make everyone happy and just ignore that the words about improvement are not actually carrying through to changes in behavior. Do Executives “Get It?” So many times executives spout the importance of new initiatives like wellness programs, safety programs, or improvement projects like Lean, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why Lean is Different

Posted on April 12, 2011 by John Hunter

[the broken link to the embedded video was removed] Short webcast by Michael Ballé discusses what makes lean manufacturing different: going to where the work is done, standardize processes (from the gemba view), practice respect for people and continually improve. Lean thinking focuses on achieving better results and through that process improves trust and teamwork internally, as well as better supplier and customer relationships. Related: Non-technical Control Chart Webcast – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, Fulfillment and Flow – lean management, books, … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Respect, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #128

Posted on April 10, 2011 by John Hunter

The management blog carnival is published 3 times a month with select recent management blog posts. I also collect management improvement articles through Curious Cat Management Articles, you can subscribe via RSS to new article additions. Resist your machine thinking! [the broken link was removed] by Jeff Liker – “To maintain consistent output, one must continually adjust the system to changing environmental conditions. This is called dynamic homeostasis in systems thinking, or running to stay in place. … Maintenance comes … Continue reading →

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

Quality is Made in the Board Room

Posted on April 8, 2011 by John Hunter

Dr. Deming stated “Quality is made in the board room,” page 202 Dr. Deming: the American who taught the Japanese about quality. I believe, once the board and executive leadership has put in place the right management system (one that respects people, continual improves using a standardized improvement process (that itself is being improved), practices evidence based management, focuses on customer value, improves processes rather than blames people, builds the capacity of the organization over time…) then quality is everyone’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Finding, and Keeping, Good IT People

Posted on April 6, 2011 by John Hunter

Finding good IT people, wherever you located globally, is hard. Waiting for the good IT people to apply for positions, is not likely to gain enough good candidates. To get really good IT people you need to actually manage your current IT staff properly. Then word will get out that your organization is not run by pointy haired bosses (phb) and good IT people will be open to joining. This obviously is not a quick fix. But this practice is … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, IT, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Toyota Kata Song – The Times They Are Changing

Posted on April 4, 2011 by John Hunter

Very well done song, Toyota Kata – Managing by Means, by Doug Hendren – to the music of “The Times They are A-changing” by Bob Dylan. Doug sounds impressively similar to Dylan and the words are actually wonderful. Managing by results, it don’t work anymore. Don’t stand in your office, go to the shop floor … to really improve you must iterate, see our problems as treasures before its too late, and eliminate waste, whether little or great. Take baby … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Lean thinking, webcast | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #127

Posted on April 2, 2011 by John Hunter

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 Guide since 1996 (Deming, agile software development, systems thinking, lean manufacturing, customer focus…). Jim Womack, lean blog podcast #116 – Great, as you would expect. Includes a great explanation of the problems that have made adopting lean ideas in medicine, which somewhat counter-intuitively includes the reluctance to use the … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Google, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment