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Author Archives: John Hunter
How to Lead From Any Level In the Organization
By successfully helping other people get better results, whether it is your manager, peers, or subordinates, you will grow trust and influence with those around you. “You grow your influence with them by showing them that allowing you to have influence is good for them.” The more you show positive outcomes from your input, the more influence you will have over time. Continue reading
Remembering Peter Scholtes
Guest Post by Fazel Hayati [the broken link was removed] Fall always reminds me of my friend Peter Scholtes. It was during 2008 annual Deming Institute fall conference in Madison, Wisconsin when Peter said farewell to his friends and colleagues. He gave a keynote titled Deming 101 (that full speech can be watched online). Although inactive for many years and managing numerous health challenges, he was sharp, witty and very happy to be talking about Dr. Deming, systems thinking, problems … Continue reading
Your Purpose Must Be About You
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 aim, guest post, intrinsic motivation, motivation, Psychology, purpose, Systems thinking
1 Comment
Analysis Must be Implemented by People to Provide Value
Guest Post by Bill Scherkenbach Every time I look at this picture, I think of Dr. Deming’s words to drive out fear and take joy in your work. We were talking in my home office when Sylvester saw a good lap and took it. Our conversation immediately shifted when both Dr. Deming and Sylvester started purring. The greatest statistical analysis is nothing if it can’t be implemented by people. But people learn in different ways. Some like good stories, others … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Psychology
Tagged Deming, guest post, Joy in Work, photos, Psychology, Statistics
1 Comment
Value Stream Mapping for Fun and Profit
Guest post by Evan Durant, author of the Kaizen Notebook blog [The broken link was removed]. I tend to get a little preachy about the importance of value stream maps, but they really can be useful tools not only to plan an improvement effort but also to monitor your progress going forward. In particular they provide a way to quantify the impact of changes to your process. Here’s a real life example as a case in point. For a particular … Continue reading
Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools
Tagged guest post, lean manufacturing, Manufacturing, Quality tools
1 Comment
The Impact of Leadership on Business Outcomes
Guest post by Joe Folkman Have you ever been part of an organization where things were proceeding smoothly, where goals were achieved, people were busy and the organization was doing well? Then, a new leader came and everything suddenly changed for the better. The energy level of employees went up substantially, pride in the organization increased, the effort and dedication of individuals jumped, bold objectives were enthusiastically accepted and even greater results were achieved. The differences were not only measurable … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Psychology
Tagged customer service, guest post, leadership, Psychology
6 Comments
Good Execution Can Make Management Tools Like Time and Motion Studies Useful
In my experience most management concepts are applied poorly. Many of the concepts may also be bad. For example, performance appraisals are both done poorly and a bad idea. The solution is not to do performance appraisal righter: for what to do read Peter Scholtes. But, many tools and concepts that are applied with poor results, where the actual application is criticized (with good reason), can be used successfully. I would put benchmarking and time and motion studies in that … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Quality tools
Tagged management, Quality tools
One factor at a time (OFAT) Versus Factorial Designs
Guest post by Bradley Jones Almost a hundred years ago R. A. Fisher‘s boss published an article espousing OFAT (one factor at a time). Fisher responded with an article of his own laying out his justification for factorial design. I admire the courage it took to contradict his boss in print! Fisher’s argument was mainly about efficiency – that you could learn as much about many factors as you learned about one in the same number of trials. Saving money … Continue reading
Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, Popular, Quality tools, Science, Six sigma, Statistics
Tagged Design of Experiments, guest post, Popular, Quality tools, Science, Six sigma, Statistics
6 Comments
Embrace Diversity, Erase Uniformity
Guest Post by Jurgen Appelo, author of the Managing Software Development blog. Five years ago, when I started working for my current employer, the entire organization (about 30 people) consisted only of 20-something white straight single males. The atmosphere was what you would expect from such an environment: conversations on football/soccer, lewd jokes, the smell of beer, and trash in every corner. In short, the perfect place to work, if you were a 20-something white straight single male. Then the … Continue reading
Dr. Deming’s 15th Point
Guest post from John McConnell, Wysowl Pty Ltd Dr. Deming opened his first Australian seminar in 1986 with the question, “What are we here to do”? After some discussion he answered his own question with, “To learn”, and “To have a good time”. He repeated this opening at subsequent seminars. The Fifteenth Point Mr. Murray Mansfield of Melbourne has what I believe to be the only completely up to date version of Dr. Deming’s famous Obligations for Top Management. After … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Fun, Management, Psychology, Respect
Tagged Deming, guest post, Joy in Work, respect for people
Change for Your Customer
Lets say you buy a some ice cream. You get your wonderful ice cream cone from the employee and they point you to a small metal dish to pick up the coins you should recieve as change (the currency is handed to the customer by the employee). A fair number of stores in the USA do this (the change is automatically put in the dish – essentially by the cash register). It is a small thing but it seems to … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology