Category Archives: Books

I Have Published an Update to Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability

Posted on June 29, 2020 by John Hunter

I have published some edits and additional content for my book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. One of the things I really like about how I have published the book (with Leanpub) is that anyone that has previously purchased the book gets these, and all future, updates for free. So if you have purchased it, go get your free update. If you haven’t purchased it, please consider buying a copy. Another nice feature of Leanpub publishing is that I … Continue reading →

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Factfulness – The Importance of Critical Thinking

Posted on June 4, 2019 by John Hunter

Factfulness by Hans Roling (of TED talks and Gapminder charts fame) is an exceptionally good book. It provides great insight into how to think more effectively and how to understand the reality of the world we live in (versus the large distortions so common in most people’s view of the world). Today the people living in rich countries around the North Atlantic, who represent 11 percent of the world population, make up 60 percent of the Level 4* consumer market. … Continue reading →

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Lean Blog Podcast with John Hunter

Posted on May 13, 2013 by John Hunter

Mark Graban interviewed me for the Lean Blog podcast series: Podcast #174 – John Hunter, “Management Matters” (listen using this link). Links to more information on what we discussed in the podcast. Madison, Wisconsin: William G. Hunter, George Box, Brian Joiner, Peter Scholtes, Joe Sensenbrener (Quality Comes to City Hall), Statistics for Experimenters, Out of the Crisis, Doing More with Less in the Public Sector: A Progress Report from Madison, Wisconsin My online efforts: Curious Cat Management Guide, Curious Cat … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Software Process and Measurement Podcast With John Hunter

Posted on February 25, 2013 by John Hunter

In my podcast with Tom Cagley, Software Process and Measurement Cast: John Hunter on Management Matters, as you might expect there was a bit of a focus on software development and agile software development as related to the ideas I expressed in Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. Deming: management system, continual improvement, respect for people (the 3rd point I said I would mention, but didn’t) Why do so many management improvement efforts fail? The proxy nature of data Building Adoption … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Customer focus, Deming, Six sigma | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Podcast Discussion on Management Matters

Posted on February 19, 2013 by John Hunter

I continue to record podcasts as I promote my new book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. This the second part, of 2, of my podcast with Joe Dager, Business 901: Management Matters to a Curious Cat. The first part featured a discussion of 2 new deadly diseases facing companies. Listen to this podcast. Links to more information on some of the topics I mention in the podcast: Appreciation for a System Using the PDSA improvement cycle Dangers of Targets … Continue reading →

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

Process Excellence Network Podcast with John Hunter

Posted on February 10, 2013 by John Hunter

Diana Davis with the Process Excellence Network interviewed me for their podcast series, process perspective – Management Matters: Interview with author John Hunter (listen to podcast). Additional details on some of the ideas we discussed: How could they know? Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge: psychology, understanding variation, viewing the organization as a system, theory of knowledge “the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable” Lloyd Nelson as quoted by Dr. Deming in Out of the … Continue reading →

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

Leanpub Podcast on My Book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability

Posted on January 23, 2013 by John Hunter

I recently was interviewed for a podcast by Len Epp with Leanpub: Leanpub Podcast Interview #9: John Hunter. I hope you enjoy the podcast (download the mp3 of the podcast). In the podcast we cover quite a bit of ground quickly, so the details are limited (transcript of the interview). These links provide more details on items I mention in the podcast. They are listed below in the same order as they are raised in the podcast: John Hunter’s professional … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My New Book: Management Matters

Posted on August 2, 2012 by John Hunter

I have a new book in progress: Management Matters. It is now available in “pre-release format” via leanpub. The idea I am experimenting with (supported by leanpub) is pre-publishing the book online. The ebook is available for purchase now, and comes with free access to the updates. My plan is to continue working on the book for the next few months and have it “release ready” by October, 2012. One of the advantages of this method is that I can … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, curiouscat.com, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Maslow on Dealing with Authoritarians

Posted on August 8, 2011 by John Hunter

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is well known as a fundamental principle of human psychology. Maslow also said: “It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” Maslow on Management is a great book I was referred to by Kelly Allan. The following quote, from page 92, is quite dramatic and showed an understanding that some people (many CEOs) will just take what isn’t theirs, if others don’t stand … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , ,

Best Selling Books In the Curious Cat Bookstore

Posted on August 3, 2011 by John Hunter

The most popular books in July at Curious Cat Books were, Statistics for Experiments (1st edition), followed by Statistics for Experiments (2nd edition) and the Leader’s Handbook by Peter Scholtes. These books are great, I am happy others have been finding them and reading them. Statistics for Experimenters is co-authored by my father. Top sellers so far this year (adding together all editions, including Kindle): 1) The Leader’s Handbook 2) Statistics for Experimenters 3) New Economics 4) Abolishing Performance Appraisals … Continue reading →

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The aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men

Posted on June 13, 2011 by John Hunter

The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people to do a better job with less effort. W. Edwards Deming, page 248, Out of the Crisis This is a great quote, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

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

The Achilles’ Heel of Agile

Posted on December 14, 2010 by John Hunter

Guest post by Jurgen Appelo When I wrote this, I was working in a big open office space in the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam (see photo). About 100 people work in an office that was the first of its kind in Europe, when it was built in 1929. And more than 80 years later, architecture lovers from all over the world still come to admire it, take pictures, and make drawings. I sometimes waved at them. Van Nelle office, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Get Rid of the Performance Review

Posted on February 25, 2010 by John Hunter

How Much Do You Hate Performance Reviews? by Bob Sutton Deming emphasized that forced rankings and other merit ratings that breed internal competition are bad management because they undermine motivation and breed contempt for management among people who, at least at first, were doing good work. … If you want to read the most compelling and complete case against the traditional performance evaluation, however,I suggest that you pre-order UCLA Professor Sam Culbert’s new book Get Rid of the Performance Review. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Creativity, Fulfillment and Flow

Posted on February 24, 2010 by John Hunter

“After a certain basic point, which translates, more or less, to just a few thousand dollars above the minimum poverty level, increases in material well being don’t see to affect how happy people are.” The speech includes, the first purpose of incorporation at Sony: To establish a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation, be aware of their mission to society, and work to their heart’s content. Excellent books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow: The Psychology … Continue reading →

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Bogus Theories, Bad for Business

Posted on August 6, 2009 by John Hunter

The Wall Street Journal has a book review of The Management Myth by Matthew Stewart. The book flushes out the ideas Matthew Stewert explored in a previous article in the Atlantic about the failure of management to mature as a discipline. Mr. Stewart quotes Bruce Henderson, the founder of the Boston Consulting Group, who describes consulting as “the most improbable business on earth” and who goes on to ask: “Can you think of anything less improbable [sic] than taking the … Continue reading →

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