Category Archives: Management

Massively Unjust Executive Compensation Damages Companies and Investments

Posted on March 13, 2012 by John Hunter

For years I have believed the massively unjust executive compensation packages have been doing great harm to American businesses. As an investor, one of the big risks that has to be evaluated is how much of the business profits executives … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Respect | Tagged bonus, Deming, ethics, executive pay, incentives, Investing, motivation, overpaid executives, respect for people | 4 Comments

Engineering Management Thoughts Based on Facebook Experience

Posted on March 8, 2012 by John Hunter

Yishan Wong is the new CEO at Reddit, an excellent social media site I have written about previously. In looking at his background I found some interesting articles he wrote on engineering management based on his experience at Facebook engineering. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged engineering, internet, IT, leadership, management | 4 Comments

Keys to the Effective Use of the PDSA Improvement Cycle

Posted on March 6, 2012 by John Hunter

The PDSA improvement cycle was created by Walter Shewhart where Dr. Deming learned about it. An improvement process is now part of many management improvement methods (A3 for lean manufacturing, DMAIC for six sigma and many other modifications). They are … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Data, Deming, experiments, management, PDSA, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote | 15 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #159

Posted on March 1, 2012 by John Hunter

David Kasprzak is hosting Management Improvement Blog Carnival #159 on My Flexible Pencil. Highlights from this edition include: 3 Ways to Go Agile in Your Workplace in the New Year Managing Your Logistics as You Grow Your Business Raising awareness … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged management | Comments Off

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Creativity, IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, curiouscat, engineering, IT, management, programming, Software Development, Systems thinking, technology, usability | 3 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #158

Posted on February 20, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Carnival has been published since 2006. We find great management blog posts and share them with you 3 times a month. We hope you find these post interesting and find some new blogs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged management, Travel photos | Comments Off

Why Use Lean if So Many Fail To Do So Effectively

Posted on February 15, 2012 by John Hunter

If less than 1% of companies are successful with Lean, why are we doing it? Lots of us are not. I would say the efforts I see “fail” are because they don’t do it. They have something they call TQM, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, Deming, John Hunter, lean management, lean six sigma, management, Quality tools, Six sigma | 11 Comments

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #157

Posted on February 10, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat management blog carnival is published 3 times a month with hand picked recent management blog posts. I also collect management improvement articles for the Curious Cat Management Articles site; you can subscribe via RSS for new article … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged Carnival, John Hunter, management | Comments Off

Management Improvement Blog Carnival #156

Posted on February 1, 2012 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Management blog carnival highlights recent management blog posts 3 times each month. The posts generally focus on the areas I have focused on in the Curious Cat Management Guide since 1996 (Deming, evidence based management, lean manufacturing, … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged agile management, management, project management, Software Development | Comments Off

We are Being Ruined by the Best Efforts of People Who are Doing the Wrong Thing

Posted on January 30, 2012 by John Hunter

Deming’s Second Theorem: “We are being ruined by best efforts.” What did Dr. Deming mean by this? Another quote by Dr. Deming might give you a clue? “Best efforts will not substitute for knowledge.” Irwin, the porcupine at the Animal … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged Deming, Fun, management, Psychology, Systems thinking, theory of knowledge | 8 Comments