Category Archives: Fun

Friday Fun: Correlation

Posted on March 6, 2009 by John Hunter

From the excellent xkcd comic. Related: Correlation is Not Causation – Does the Data Deluge Make the Scientific Method Obsolete? – Understanding Data – Theory of Knowledge – What Makes Scientists Different 🙂 – Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Fun, Science, Statistics | Tagged Data, Fun, Statistics | Comments Off

Helping Employees Improve

Posted on February 12, 2009 by John Hunter

One aspect of managing people is to provide positive feedback and show appreciation. Doing so is important. People benefit from encouragement and reinforcement. In addition to just telling them, take action to show your appreciation. The Dilbert workplace is alive … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Fun, Management Articles, Popular, Respect, Software Development, Statistics, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, managers, managing people, Psychology, respect for people, tips | 2 Comments

Dr. Deming’s 15th Point

Posted on September 24, 2008 by Guest Post

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Fun, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged Deming, guest post, Joy in Work, respect for people | Comments Off

Hiring the Right Person

Posted on September 2, 2008 by John Hunter

Malcolm Gladwell presented at the New Yorker conference on the Challenge of Hiring in the Modern World. As usually, he provides some great thoughts. I wrote on Hiring the Right Workers The job market is an inefficient market. There are … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Fun, Management, webcast | Tagged Data, hiring, management, Systems thinking, webcast | 1 Comment

Management Blog Posts From June 2005

Posted on June 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Here are the blog posts from 3 years ago this month on the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog: From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking – Targets Distorting the System – Dilbert and Deming. The Dilbert site has learned to take … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Management | Tagged bad usability, blogs, management, Performance Appraisal | Comments Off

Find Joy and Success in Business

Posted on April 21, 2008 by John Hunter

David Heinemeier Hansson Talk [the broken link has been removed] at Startup School 2008 (Paul Graham‘s Y-combinator school). It is helpful to appreciate the importance of some simple ideas. Working on web focused businesses people often get carried away with … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Fun, Innovation, IT, Management, Psychology, Respect, Software Development | Tagged Customer focus, Software Development, startup, webcasts | 3 Comments

Making a Difference

Posted on April 13, 2008 by John Hunter

Kiva provides loans through partners (operating in the countries) to the entrepreneurs. Those partners do charge the entrepreneurs interest (to fund the operations of the lending partner). Kiva pays the principle back to you but does not pay interest. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Fun, Respect | Tagged Data, Economics, entrepreneur | 5 Comments

NCAA Basketball Challenge 2008

Posted on March 17, 2008 by John Hunter

Once again I have created a group on the ESPN NCAA Basketball Tournament Challenge for curiouscat college basketball fans. To participate, go to the curiouscat ESPN group and make your picks. This year we also have a second challenge, using … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Fun | Tagged Fun | Comments Off

Car Powered Using Compressed Air

Posted on February 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Jules Verne predicted cars would run on air. The Air Car is making that a reality. The car would be powered by compressed air. Certainly seem like an interesting idea. Air car ready for production: Refueling is simple and will … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, India, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged cars, cool, engineering, France, global, green, India, Innovation, lean manufacturing, Manufacturing, pollution, Toyota | 11 Comments

Toyota’s Partner Robot

Posted on December 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Latest robot in Toyota’s line showcases violin skills [the broken link was removed] But Toyota’s new robot played a pretty solid “Pomp and Circumstance” on the violin Thursday. The 152-centimetre [about 5 feet] tall white robot used its mechanical fingers … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Fun, Science, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged engineering, Innovation, Toyota | 4 Comments