Category Archives: IT

In Praise of Data-Driven Management (AKA “Why You Should be Skeptical of HiPPO’s”)

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Curiouscat

Guest post by Justin Hunter, originally published 18 August 2009. Jeff Fry recently linked to a fantastic webcast in Controlled Experiments To Test For Bugs In Our Mental Models. I would highly recommend it to anyone without any reservations. Ron Kohavi, of Microsoft Research does a superb job of using interesting real-world examples to explain the benefits of conducting small experiments with web site content and the advantages of making data-driven decisions. I firmly believe that the power of applied … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, IT, Management, Psychology, Quality tools, Software Development, Statistics | Tagged , , , ,

Robots for Health Care from Toyota

Posted on April 12, 2017 by John Hunter

Japan has an extremely rapidly aging population. This increases the need for health care and for assistance with everyday tasks from the elderly. Japan is also among the leading countries for developing robots for health care and living assistance. I have written about the efforts to have robots fill some needs in Japan previously, on this management blog and also my partner Curious Cat Engineering blog: Toyota Develops Thought-controlled Wheelchair (2012), Toyota’s Partner Robot (2007), Toyota Human Support Robot (2012) … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, IT | Tagged , , , , , ,

Add Constraints to Processes Carefully

Posted on November 23, 2016 by John Hunter

Take great care in adding constraints to processes to avoid doing so needlessly. Online you will frequently find forms that have required fields that needn’t be. Certainly if you were designing with focus on what is best for customers those requirements rarely make sense. Occasionally a required field is a sensible constraint on an online form but so often they add unnecessary constraints. I frequently find those forms even requiring a false answer since a response is required and none … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Software Testing and the Impact on Quality

Posted on May 9, 2016 by John Hunter

My response to a question on Reddit. “Software quality does not come from testing” Does anybody have any thoughts on the validity of the above statement? That statement is similar to the idea you can’t inspect in quality. Basically “Inspection is too late. The quality, good or bad, is already in the product.” W. Edwards Deming I agree with those ideas. Software testing is a bit different (at least some of it is) from the inspection mentioned above. You are … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Functional Websites are Normally Far Superior to Apps

Posted on April 23, 2016 by John Hunter

An email to I just sent to Uber I understand the regular Uber app not having a functional website. Uber Eats not having a functional website is super lame. It strikes me similar to Walmart 15 years ago telling people “we only have stores go to them, we just use the internet for advertising our stores.” Today for Uber: we only have apps, “we only use the web for advertising our apps.” Both you and Walmart want to use a … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Good Startup Ideas from Startup Weekend JB (Malaysia)

Posted on November 27, 2014 by John Hunter

I like all these startup ideas from Startup Weekend JB (Malaysia). I can’t figure out how to comment on their blog (I am guessing Tumbler just eliminates commenting?), so I started this post – and ended up adding much more than I planned on putting in a comment. All of these ideas are not very technically challenging and pretty much versions of these businesses are already successful around the globe. But creating great user experiences (in apps or on web … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Building a Great Software Development Team

Posted on May 29, 2014 by John Hunter

Elliot: I worked with some of the best programmers I’ve ever known at the tiny, obscure ASEE Adam Solove: Why do you think that happened? They hired for passion, rather than experience? If I had to pick one thing, passion would likely be it but really it is a complex assortment of things. Passion for the right things, based on what we aimed to be, mattered a great deal. That took the form of being passionate about the user experience, … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Popular, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Deming and Software Development

Posted on March 17, 2014 by John Hunter

I am sometimes asked about how use Deming’s ideas on management in a software development context. My belief is Deming’s ideas work extremely well in a software development context. The main issue is often unlearning some assumptions that people might have about what the Deming management system is. It really is surprising to me how many “knowledge workers” respect Deming’s ideas but then say his attempts to treat factory workers as thoughtful people who should be respected and involved in … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Process Thinking: Process Email Addresses

Posted on October 18, 2012 by John Hunter

This is just a simple tip. When providing email address think about what the purpose is. If it is to contact a specific person then an individual’s email address makes sense. But if you are really emailing the software testing manager then it may well make sense to provide people the email address software_testing_manager@ Essentially, I think it is often sensible to break out email addresses for specific functions or processes. Then the email address can just be routed to … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Process improvement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Simple Customer Care: Communicate

Posted on July 17, 2012 by John Hunter

Some management issues are hard. You are often balancing priorities. Sometimes though it is extremely simple: either you have concern for customers and take actions to back that up or you have some concern but don’t do anything about it. Here are some examples that show you really just don’t care. If you have invested millions in setting up computer systems to authorize, and reject, payments for say a credit card and you fail to notify customers when you reject … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Respect for People: Optimize for Developer Happiness at Etsy

Posted on April 3, 2012 by John Hunter

The webcast above discusses the culture of software engineering at Etsy (a very popular site providing a marketplace and community for small businesses – artisan focus). Some of the key points of the talk. Etsy trusts employees. Etsy’s strategy is to optimize for developer happiness. Etsy has lunches twice a week where employees build community. Etsy sees code as craft. The echos Etsy’s value on authorship: “the people behind what we buy make commerce meaningful.” It re-inforces the belief that … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Psychology, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Learn to Code to Help Your Career

Posted on February 22, 2012 by John Hunter

I believe there are big benefits to knowing how to code (programing, software development). What is possible for your organization is often significantly impacted by understanding how to properly use software (and create it, coding, when needed). The lack of understanding of software is a significant problem not just for those wanting a job coding (that are available for those with the right skills) but also for those making decisions about what the organization should do. The profound ignorance (meant … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Creativity, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Agile Story Point Estimation

Posted on February 8, 2012 by John Hunter

In agile software development tasks are documented as user stories. Then the level of effort for those stores can be estimated by assigning each story points. The velocity that can be produced in a period (called a sprint, for us 2 weeks) can be estimated. Thus you can predict what can be delivered in the next sprint (which can help business managers make priority decisions). I have found estimation to be worthwhile. In doing so, we accept there is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, IT, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Software Development | Tagged , , , , ,

Pull Consulting: Immediate Management Consulting As You Need It

Posted on February 2, 2012 by John Hunter

2013 Update – New method for by the minute consulting with John Hunter. As happens in this fast paced world this service is no longer available. The company has shut down their web site. I think the potential for consulting as you need it is great. I actually was looking into creating an application to support the ability to provide this service with someone else; but we just had too many other things going on. I have now made myself … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, IT | Tagged , , , , ,

Steve Jobs Discussing Customer Focus at NeXT

Posted on September 8, 2011 by John Hunter

Video from 1991 when Steve Jobs was at NeXT. Even with the customer focus however, NeXT failed. But this does show the difficulty in how to truly apply customer focus. You have to be creative. You have examine data. You have to really understand how your customers use your products or services (go to the gemba). You have to speculate about the future. The video is also great evidence of providing insight to all employees of the current thinking of … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Finding, and Keeping, Good IT People

Posted on April 6, 2011 by John Hunter

Finding good IT people, wherever you located globally, is hard. Waiting for the good IT people to apply for positions, is not likely to gain enough good candidates. To get really good IT people you need to actually manage your current IT staff properly. Then word will get out that your organization is not run by pointy haired bosses (phb) and good IT people will be open to joining. This obviously is not a quick fix. But this practice is … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, IT, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments