Author Archives: John Hunter

Google: Good Service not Arbitrage

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

My comments on: Seth on Arbitrage from John Battelle’s Searchblog Thanks for the great blog. I have to disagree with this post however. First, I think Google chooses not to disclose more to investors mainly because the founders don’t go along with conventional wisdom. They would rather examine whether something is a wise use of management resources, and if not, don’t just do something just because most everyone else does. I don’t think the keeping trade secrets has much to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google, Management | Tagged

Thinking Lean

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

Thinking Lean [the broken link was removed] by Doug Rich and Dave Bassett, from the May 2005 edition of Manufacturing Engineering. The first thing the kaizen initiative did was to simulate the process layout. This was accomplished through a series of steps ranging from AutoCAD and paper dolls to an actual scale model set up on a portion of the shop floor. By going through this exercise, we were able to review the logical flow of all process steps, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles

Competing on the Basis of Time

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

Competing on the Basis of Time: The way to get rid of the big delay at verification is to move testing closer to coding – much closer. In fact, testing should happen immediately upon coding; if possible the test should have been written before the code. New code should be integrated into the overall system several times a day, with a suite of automated unit tests run each time. Acceptance tests for a feature should pass as soon as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Software Development

SEC chief quotes Deming

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

Security and Exchange Chairman William H. Donaldson Speaks At Chartered Financial Analysts Institute Annual Conference [broken link removed]: This approach will, ultimately, better serve investors, and it will also gradually temper the pressures on some corporate executives to fudge the numbers. It would behoove us all to remember the words of W. Edwards Deming: “People with targets, and jobs dependent on meeting them, will probably meet the targets – even if they have to destroy the enterprise to do it.”

Posted in Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Search for Improvement With Complex Six Sigma

Posted on May 15, 2005 by John Hunter

Search for Improvement With Complex Six Sigma [the broken link was removed] by Helen D’Antoni: To understand what companies are doing to curtail costs while improving performance, InformationWeek’s sister publication, Optimize magazine, conducted a survey of 156 business-technology executives, asking them about their company’s business-process frameworks, quality models, and technology standards. … of the 156 business-technology executives surveyed by Optimize Research, fewer than 40% report their company even employs Six Sigma.

Posted in Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged

Hands on Lean Process Improvement

Posted on May 15, 2005 by John Hunter

Shingo’s ‘Know Why’ Hands-On Lean [the broken link was removed] by Bill Waddell. From Superfactory: The essential element here is to be sure to identify every move the part makes from receipt to finish. How you represent it on the flow chart is not important, as long as each step is clearly identified and denoted whether it is value adding or not. It is also important that you develop the chart by personally walking the flow. Do not rely on … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles

New Management Blog Focus

Posted on May 15, 2005 by John Hunter

We will use this blog to note blog post, articles and management resources. With this blog we will focus on serving as a central point to keep up with blogs and online articles relating to Management Improvement: Customer Focus, Process Improvement, Deming, Lean Thinking, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Statistical Tools, Quality Tools, Agile Management… This is the newest edition of the Curious Cat Blog Roster, which also includes: curiouscat.com Blog – focused on management improvement, economics, investment, travel, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Google and Acquiring Tiny Companies

Posted on May 12, 2005 by John Hunter

I like Google and enjoy reading about the company. Even so I find the number of articles about the minor moves they make strange. At some point this fascination with the minor moves Google makes will stop but for now it is hard to miss stories about Google anywhere I look. The post on John Battelle’s Searchblog (a great bog) about Google buying Dodgeball was a great example. The entire post: News is here. What is Dodgeball? I dunno, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Investing, Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on May 10, 2005 by John Hunter

Michael Porter’s Big Ideas by Keith H. Hammonds The world’s most famous business-school professor is fed up with CEOs who claim that the world changes too fast for their companies to have a long-term strategy. If you want to make a difference as a leader, you’ve got to make time for strategy.” 3 Six Sigma Articles (link to one document in word format) by Gerry Hahn 20 Key Lessons Learned: May 2002 What Does it Take to be a Master … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Six sigma

Traffic Congestion and a Non-Solution

Posted on May 9, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement, Problem Solving I read, Study: Nation’s Traffic Jams Worsening [the broken link was removed], today on CNN.com. That same headline could have appeared in newspapers every day for the last few years. For decades traffic congestion has been a problem in American cities and one that has continued to get worse. The typical proposed solution is to increase the number of roads. The theory behind this solution is not normally stated but, I believe, it amounts to: … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Brain Joiner on Dr. Deming

Posted on May 2, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement The Spring 2005 MAQIN newsletter [link broken, so it was removed] includes an interesting piece on a recent MAQIN event where the life and work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming was celebrated. Dr. Brain Joiner, author of Fourth Generation Management, gave a toast that included several Dr. Deming quotes: Best efforts are not enough, you have to know what to do. A numerical goal without a method is nonsense. The most useful numbers are unknown and unknowable. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Annual Report by Warren Buffett

Posted on May 1, 2005 by John Hunter

The annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway is being held this weekend in Omaha (cnn article). Recently the 2004 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report (by Warren Buffett) was published. The report is excellent reading for anyone interested in investing. Some quotes from the annual report: In one respect, 2004 was a remarkable year for the stock market, a fact buried in the maze of numbers on page 2. If you examine the 35 years since the 1960s ended, you will find that … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing, Management

Call for Papers – Deming Research Seminar

Posted on April 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Call for Papers 12th Annual Research Seminar The W. Edwards Deming Institute and Fordham University 13-14 February 2006 New York City Papers that link Dr. Deming’s work to the academic literature or to the works of other great thinkers are particularly sought, as are papers that extend or expand Dr. Deming’s work, and those that describe applications of Dr. Deming’s management ideas in organizations. The Annual Research Seminar brings together people from around the world, and from … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

10 stocks for 10 years

Posted on April 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Investment I decided to look at selecting a portfolio of stocks I would be comfortable putting into an IRA for 10 years. My main criteria was companies with a history of large positive cash flow (that seemed likely to continue that trend). The 10 stocks I came up with are (closing price on 22 April 2005 – % of portofilo invested): Templeton Dragon Fund (TDF – 16.40 – 16%) – a closed end mutual fund investing in China, Hong … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Popular | 17 Comments

Beginning of the End of Housing Bubble?

Posted on April 19, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Economics – Investing re: Beginning of the End of Housing Bubble? – Dan Gilmor blog post I doubt we are at the end of the bubble. However, financial bubbles are very difficult to time. My guess is the bubble will continue for over a year for most, if not all locations in the USA. And unless the bubble continues and prices reach levels much higher than they are now, the end of the bubble will not be dramatic decline … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Investing

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on April 10, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management – Library Articles Recent additions to the Curious Cat Management Improvement Library include: Six Sigma and Kaizen Compared by Raphael L. Vitalo Deming Retrospective Inputs by Gerry Hahn Bringing Lean Systems Thinking to Six Sigma by Paul Mullenhour and Jamie Flinchbaugh Risk Management during Requirements by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister Innovation Now! by Gary Hamel Find links to these, and other new additions, on the Curious Cat Management Improvement New Articles Page or search for management improvement … Continue reading →

Posted in Management