Monthly Archives: May 2014

Building a Great Software Development Team

Posted on May 29, 2014 by John Hunter

Elliot: I worked with some of the best programmers I’ve ever known at the tiny, obscure ASEE Adam Solove: Why do you think that happened? They hired for passion, rather than experience? If I had to pick one thing, passion would likely be it but really it is a complex assortment of things. Passion for the right things, based on what we aimed to be, mattered a great deal. That took the form of being passionate about the user experience, … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Popular, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You

Posted on May 27, 2014 by John Hunter

The webcast above is from the excellent folks at Crash Course. This webcast provides another view into the area of Deming’s management system on the theory of knowledge (the one most people forget), how we know what we know and how that belief isn’t always right. Two of the four components of Dr. Deming’s management system were about our brains (psychology is the other) which makes a great deal of sense when you think about how focused he was on … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology | Tagged , , , ,

A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

Posted on May 22, 2014 by John Hunter

Imagine a big clock, the big and little and sweeping second hands moving with absolute accuracy for years and years. Then, imagine various people working within it, somehow swapping out gears and cogs without the clock stopping or slowing down even a little. This is a fairly good quote on a good management system. Some people might not like the mechanistic model – comparing an organization to a clock, and I agree that isn’t the right model, but even so … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Your Purpose Must Be About You

Posted on May 19, 2014 by John Hunter

Guest post by Jurgen Appelo I’m a writer. It’s the one thing that I intend to do for the rest of my life. That means, when I focus on writing, I cannot focus on knitting. Somebody else will have to do the knitting, so I can focus on the writing. And maybe later, I can trade my wonderful book for someone’s beautiful sweater. This concept applies to all other professionals too. Everyone is entangled in a web of economic dependencies, … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

George Box Articles Available for a Short Time

Posted on May 14, 2014 by John Hunter

A collection of George Box articles have been selected for a virtual George Box issue by David M. Steinberg and made available online. George E. P. Box died in March 2013. He was a remarkably creative scientist and his celebrated professional career in statistics was always at the interface of science and statistics. George Box, J. Stuart Hunter and Cuthbert Daniel were instrumental in launching Technometrics in 1959, with Stu Hunter as the initial editor. Many of his articles were … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interview on PDSA, Deming, Strategy and More

Posted on May 8, 2014 by John Hunter

Bill Fox interviewed me and has posted part one of the interview on his web site: Predicting Results in the Planning Stage (sorry, the link has been hijacked to forward to an unrelated page [so obviously I removed the link], I have posted the interview which can now be reached here): Bill: John, what is your best process improvement strategy or tactic that has worked well for you or your clients? John: I would say the PDSA improvement cycle and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments