Monthly Archives: February 2012

Learn to Code to Help Your Career

Posted on February 22, 2012 by John Hunter

I believe there are big benefits to knowing how to code (programing, software development). What is possible for your organization is often significantly impacted by understanding how to properly use software (and create it, coding, when needed). The lack of understanding of software is a significant problem not just for those wanting a job coding (that are available for those with the right skills) but also for those making decisions about what the organization should do. The profound ignorance (meant … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Creativity, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #158

Posted on February 20, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Carnival has been published since 2006. We find great management blog posts and share them with you 3 times a month. We hope you find these post interesting and find some new blogs to start reading. Follow me online: Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, instant management consulting, and more. For complex systems there is no root cause by John Allspaw – “We like to simplify complex problems so we can work on them in a reductionist … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged ,

Why Use Lean if So Many Fail To Do So Effectively

Posted on February 15, 2012 by John Hunter

If less than 1% of companies are successful with Lean, why are we doing it? Lots of us are not. I would say the efforts I see “fail” are because they don’t do it. They have something they call TQM, six sigma, lean management or whatever and try out 10-30% of it in some half-measures, with big doses of Dilbert’s pointy haired boss methods and then don’t get great results. Wow. The biggest complaint (with some merit) I see is … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

ASQ Influential Voices: Future Engineers and Scientists

Posted on February 13, 2012 by John Hunter

As I mentioned previously, I will be posting on a topics raised by Paul Borawski, CEO, ASQ as part of ASQ Influential Voices. This month Paul’s post, New Bloggers, STEM & More, looks at the development of future engineers. How can we, those who understand, use, and love science and technology, pass it along. I have discussed this issue often, on one of my other blogs: Curious Cat Science and Engineering blog: Encouraging Curiosity in Kids, Passion for Mechanical Engineering … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Science | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #157

Posted on February 10, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat management blog carnival is published 3 times a month with hand picked recent management blog posts. I also collect management improvement articles for the Curious Cat Management Articles site; you can subscribe via RSS for new article additions. Maximize Test Coverage Efficiency And Minimize the Number of Tests Needed by John Hunter – “The steeper the slope the more efficient your test plan is. If you repeat the same tests of pairs and triples and… while not … Continue reading →

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Agile Story Point Estimation

Posted on February 8, 2012 by John Hunter

In agile software development tasks are documented as user stories. Then the level of effort for those stores can be estimated by assigning each story points. The velocity that can be produced in a period (called a sprint, for us 2 weeks) can be estimated. Thus you can predict what can be delivered in the next sprint (which can help business managers make priority decisions). I have found estimation to be worthwhile. In doing so, we accept there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, IT, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Software Development | Tagged , , , , ,

Looking at Auto Manaufacturing in the USA

Posted on February 6, 2012 by John Hunter

America’s Dirty War Against Manufacturing Bob Lutz, the former head of GM, says it was neither uncompetitive wages nor unions that drove the Big Three into decline. It was a management with its eye focused on the bottom line and the short term. That sentiment should be familiar to students of Deming (it is one of Deming’s 7 deadly diseases). It is sad that this bad management practices, short-term thinking, continues to do harm several decades later. Hopefully we can … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pull Consulting: Immediate Management Consulting As You Need It

Posted on February 2, 2012 by John Hunter

2013 Update – New method for by the minute consulting with John Hunter. As happens in this fast paced world this service is no longer available. The company has shut down their web site. I think the potential for consulting as you need it is great. I actually was looking into creating an application to support the ability to provide this service with someone else; but we just had too many other things going on. I have now made myself … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, IT | Tagged , , , , ,

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #156

Posted on February 1, 2012 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, evidence based management, lean manufacturing, agile software development, systems thinking…) The Key Questions for a Minimum Viable Product Project by Anthony Panozzo – “What are you trying to learn with this particular MVP? What data are you collecting about your experiment? What determines the success … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , , ,