Category Archives: Management

Hire People You Can Trust to Do Their Job

Posted on February 5, 2009 by John Hunter

How great companies turn crisis into opportunity The right people don’t need to be managed. The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The right people don’t think they have a job: They have responsibilities. If I’m a climber, my job is not [just] to belay. My responsibility is that if we get in trouble, I don’t let my partner down. The right people do what they say they will do, which means … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Jeff Bezos and Root Cause Analysis

Posted on January 28, 2009 by John Hunter

Using quality tools really works. Lots of people don’t use them. Improving is often not any more difficult than just applying tools that have been used for decades. Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Quality tools, Respect | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Negativity

Posted on January 22, 2009 by John Hunter

Don’t be negative. Most people agree with that statement. We see being negative as bad. If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything. Well, I don’t agree. While presenting your ideas in a constructive way is helpful, I don’t agree with those that try to discourage negative comments. I understand that the psychology of many people has lead them to want confirmation and to dislike criticism of ideas they propose. And I understand our society has re-enforced … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #52

Posted on January 20, 2009 by John Hunter

The 2008 Annual Management Improvement Carnival Review (published on a number of site) I am counting as #51, making this #52. That annual review turned out to be a very interesting collection, if you have not read all of them yet, take some time to do so. I linked to the first set of posts previously and here are the remaining posts Lean Six Sigma Academy:   Lean Blog, Gemba Panta Rei, Evolving Excellence, Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Evolving … Continue reading →

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Checklists Save Lives

Posted on January 17, 2009 by John Hunter

Checklists are a simple quality tool that have been used widely for decades. Pilots use them, without fail, to save lives. Some surgeons have been using them and the evidence is mounting that checklists can save many more lives if more in health care use them. Studies Show Surgeons Could Save Lives, $20B by Using Checklists Eight hospitals reduced the number of deaths from surgery by more than 40% by using a checklist that helps doctors and nurses avoid errors, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Federal Government Chief Performance Officer

Posted on January 15, 2009 by John Hunter

A Quality Manager for Obama President-Elect Obama has hired a quality manager, and her name is Nancy Killefer. She is the newly appointed “Chief Performance Officer” whose mandate is to manage budget reforms while eliminating waste in government processes, ultimately making it more effective. An MIT & McKinsey alum, Time calls her the “first official waste watchdog.” Previous administrations have had exactly the same thing (regardless what Time magazine says), so I don’t think we should get carried away. Eliminating … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Public Sector | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Curious Cat Management Carnival: Select 2008 Highlights

Posted on January 12, 2009 by John Hunter

Over the last couple of years the quality of management material available online has increased dramatically. And blogs have provided much of the best management material. The Curious Cat Management Improvement Carnival now provides highlights 3 times a month. Each carnival post highlights recent management related posts from several management blogs. And for the 2008 year in review 9 blogs have each taken a handful of management blogs and provided annual highlights. In this post we will cover four blogs: … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

2008 Annual Management Blog Carnival: Part 1

Posted on January 7, 2009 by John Hunter

The first half of the 2008 annual management blog carnival posts are online now. The posts highlight some of the best posts on management blogs in the last year. Follow the links to read some of the excellent posts that have been highlighted on the following blogs: Making Sense With Facilitated Systems:   Tom Peters, MetaSD, John Schmidt, Paul Graham, FunnyBusiness, The Artful Manager and Amicus Agraria. Lean Blog:   The Lean Thinker, Elegant Solutions, John Shook’s Management and Daily … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A Programmer’s View of the Universe

Posted on December 29, 2008 by John Hunter

A few weeks ago I wrote about integrating information technology and business process management. This post from Steve Yegge is interesting and discusses one reason I find that a good strategy. Programmers, by and large, are good, practical systems thinkers (this is in the management context, thinking of inter-related systems, whatever those systems are – not to be confused with a computer system). A programmer’s view of the Universe, part 1: The fish The first thing you notice as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Management Blog Carnival: 2008 Overview

Posted on December 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Over the next 2 weeks several management blogs will be posting their contributions to the management improvement annual blog carnival. Posts will highlight some of the best posts on other management blogs in the last year. Lean Six Sigma Academy:   Lean Blog, Gemba Panta Rei, Evolving Excellence, Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog Evolving Excellence:   LSS Academy, Got Boondoggle, Work Matters and Edge Perspectives Lean Blog:   The Lean Thinker, Elegant Solutions, John Shook’s Management and DailyKaizen Curious Cat … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Cutting Hours Instead of People

Posted on December 23, 2008 by John Hunter

When financial and economic realities reach the point that labor costs must be cut I believe a good option to consider is cutting hours (and pay) instead of people. Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Creativity, Deming, Innovation, Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Managing Passionate Employees

Posted on December 22, 2008 by John Hunter

Passion vs. Productive There are actually few organizations that can support passionate employees – even if they say they want them. That’s because the original industrial revolution was designed to support productivity. Productivity means you produce. That’s how you’re measured. Passion is difficult to quantify … Managers want passionate employees, but don’t always know how to manage them. Passionate employees question things, probe and push. Who’s got the time to deal with that? Productive employees get things done. No questions … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Management Improvement Carnival #50

Posted on December 20, 2008 by John Hunter

Corey Ladas is hosting the Management Improvement Carnival #50 on the Lean Software Engineering blog, highlights include: Where did middle managers come from? by Jeffrey Krames: A new anecdote from a conversation with Peter Drucker, which leaves the reader wondering…where should middle managers be heading? 7 habits of highly effective program managers by J.D. Meier: Microsoft has a lot of Program Managers. What do the some of the best ones have in common? Exploit the workers! by Pascal Van Cauwenberghe: … Continue reading →

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Looting: Bankruptcy for Profit

Posted on December 19, 2008 by John Hunter

Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit by George Akerlof, University of California, Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Paul Romer, Stanford Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). George Akerlof was awarded the 2001 Nobel prize for economics. This is the abstract to their 1994 paper: During the 1980s, a number of unusual financial crises occurred. In Chile, for example, the financial sector collapsed, leaving the government with responsibility for extensive foreign debts. … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Some Firms Cut Costs Without Resorting to Layoffs

Posted on December 17, 2008 by John Hunter

Some Firms Cut Costs Without Resorting to Layoffs Hypertherm Inc. has never laid off a permanent employee in its 40-year history. A 20% downturn in sales in recent months led the closely held maker of metal-cutting equipment to eliminate overtime, cut temporary staff and delay a facility expansion, says Chief Executive Dick Couch. Managers are transferring employees to busy segments from those with less work. The Hanover, N.H., company also may bring some outsourced manufacturing in-house to keep its 1,100 … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , ,

Management Blog Posts From November 2005

Posted on December 16, 2008 by John Hunter

Photo of John Hunter at Glacier National Park. Management Improvement – Management concepts should evolve and improve over time. We should build upon the good ideas of yesterday and build in new innovations as they are shown to be effective. It is difficult to do so when consultants try to make their “solutions” proprietary methodologies that are sold in that way. Luckily working with the ideas of Deming, Ohno, Drucker, Ackoff, Shingo, Scholtes, Womack, Box, etc.. and building upon them … Continue reading →

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