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Category Archives: Deming
Don’t Do What Your Users Say
In, Don’t do what your users say [the broken link was removed], Hanford Lemoore, provides a nice illustration of why customer focus is important but must be done with care. in UI design it’s important to understand that what a … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management, Software Development
Tagged Creativity, Customer focus, Software Development, usability
Comments Off on Don’t Do What Your Users Say
“Pay for Performance” is a Bad Idea
Pay for performance is a bad investment [the broken link was removed] by Pete Waters “Teacher pay set by the results” was the headline of a (Baltimore) Sun article I read the other day which suggested that “performance-based bonuses (were) … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking
Tagged bonus, Deming, Performance Appraisal
1 Comment
Outcome and In-Process Measures
An outcome measure is used to measure the success of a system. For example, the outcome measure could be the percentage of people who do not get polio (the result). An output measure, for example, would be the number of … Continue reading
Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Process improvement, quote
Tagged curiouscat, Data, Process improvement
2 Comments
Better Meetings
Meetings are perennial problems. People sit through meetings and then complain about how big a waste of time it was. Here are a couple very simple tips to try and actually improve (instead of just agreeing that meetings are wasteful, … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking
Tagged curiouscat, management, meetings, Process improvement, Psychology
4 Comments
Management Improvement Jobs
Curious Cat Management Improvement Career Connections provides a source of jobs targeted to those interested in this blog. Take a look at the jobs listed now including: Lean Manager at Erlanger in Kentucky; Senior Lean Six Sigma Specialist at Cooper … Continue reading
Posted in Career, Deming, Lean thinking, Management
Tagged Career, jobs
Comments Off on Management Improvement Jobs
Zipcar Innovation
Zipcar is an intriguing idea where you rent cars by the hour. The whole process is a significant change from the previous rental model (gas, parking and insurance included). Zipcar makes deals with local governments to secure zipcar parking near … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Deming, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Systems thinking
4 Comments
Respect for Employees at Southwest Airlines
“You have to treat your employees like customers” “We’ve never had layoffs,” he told me the day before the annual meeting, sitting on the couch of the single messiest executive office I’ve ever seen. “We could have made more money … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking
Comments Off on Respect for Employees at Southwest Airlines
Continual Improvement
Dr. Deming used the term continual improvement (rather than continuous improvement) later in his life because that would include continuous and dis-continuous improvement (innovation, etc.). I use continual improvement for that reason also. I think the improvement process must be … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, quote
Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, Process improvement
19 Comments
Deming Auto Repair
Here is an interesting example of an auto repair shop applying Deming’s ideas, AGCO Automotive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: In this section we hope to present our business philosophy, through a series of articles written by president Louis Altazan. Our … Continue reading

Toyota Execution Not Close to Being Copied
The Open Secret of Success Toyota’s innovations, by contrast, have [focused] on process rather than on product, on the factory floor rather than on the showroom. That has made those innovations hard to see. But it hasn’t made them any … Continue reading →