Category Archives: Management

Six Sigma In New York Local Government

Posted on January 3, 2008 by John Hunter

New Erie County Government Executive, Chris Collins, discusses the director of six sigma position that will drive their new six sigma efforts. Related: Six Sigma for Erie County Government – Public Sector Management Improvement Site – Posts on improving management in the Public Sector – management webcasts

Posted in Management, Public Sector, Six sigma, webcast | 2 Comments

It Just Works

Posted on January 2, 2008 by John Hunter

Does Your Product Or Service “Just Work”? By Jim Kukral That’s it. It’s the highest compliment you can get. “It just works” is a very powerful phrase in this day and age There is truth to that statement. I think largely due to how bad so many products are – that they don’t actually work. The Kano model of customer satisfaction is an excellent way to view customer expectations. The Kano model states that you have expected quality – it … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Quality tools | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #26

Posted on January 1, 2008 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Lean and waiting by Aza Badurdeen – “Carefully mapping and identifying the value stream will make it possible to identify wastes in the office (or in your service). When these are identified we can remove these wastes from the system.” Happy Employees Create Value by Kevin Meyer – People have creativity, knowledge, experience, and ideas that can create value that doesn’t land on a traditional P&L. … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Communicating Change

Posted on December 29, 2007 by John Hunter

Response to: Sales Compensation Plan Changes [the broken link has been removed] I believe the best way to communicate such changes is to explain how they tie into the long term vision of the organization. This requires that such a vision actually exists (which is often not the case). Then all strategies are communicated based on how they support and integrate with that vision. In addition that communication strategy incorporates an understanding about what weaknesses with past practices are addressed … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Carnival of Human Resources #23

Posted on December 26, 2007 by John Hunter

Carnival of Human Resources #23 by Ann Bares: The purpose of performance management, according to my favorite definition, is to create an environment where successful performance is a high probability outcome. What could be more important? And, yet, is there any program that poses greater challenges to Human Resources? For this reason, I am always grateful for the wisdom and insights of those both within and outside the field of HR on this topic. HR Thoughts reminds us of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Management Improvement Carnival #25

Posted on December 18, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Some theoretical thinking by John Dowd – “Deming was fond of saying, ‘management is prediction‘ and, in this, I think he was exactly right. Management never takes action or makes decision to affect what happened yesterday, but rather to bring about what is hoped to be a desirable outcome tomorrow.” TPM Excellence: Visual Equipment Management by Mike Gardner – Visual aids must be clear to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management | 1 Comment

Deming Companies

Posted on December 17, 2007 by John Hunter

I get asked for examples of Deming managed companies fairly often. And recently I have had a number of such requests. So I figured I would provide an answer as a blog post. First, Dr. Deming would respond to such questions by referring to the theory of knowledge and the fallacy of trying to learn via examples. So remember to read up on why learning from examples is dangerous before taking to much from this. I see Toyota as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Great Visual Instruction Example

Posted on December 14, 2007 by John Hunter

This does a great job of explaining what you need to know clearly. While this presentation for Azithromycin doesn’t prevent a mistake it sure makes it much more likely that the process can be completed successfully. We need more effort in creating such clear instructions. Visual clarity is more important than lots of words. Applying that concept is not as easy as it sounds but it is a very important idea for instructions to end use and instructions for processes … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management, Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged , , , ,

Performance Appraisals are Worse Than a Waste of Time

Posted on December 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Appraisals are a waste of Time Most British workers will certainly leave their appraisal fired up and motivated, but only to look for a new job, new research from workplace and HR body Investors in People has concluded. Nearly half of those who had an appraisal did not trust their managers to be honest during it, with a third dismissing the annual chat as a waste of time and a fifth leaving it feeling they had been unfairly treated. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Dr. Deming 4 Day Seminar

Posted on December 12, 2007 by John Hunter

The W. Edwards Deming Institute is sponsoring a 4 day seminar using videos of Dr. Deming’s seminars and facilitated by Ed Baker, Dave Nave, and Joyce Orsini: Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position. Ed Baker was the person at Ford responsible for helping Ford apply Dr. Deming’s ideas. Hear and watch Dr. W. Edwards Deming identify faulty management practices. He will describe how, as better practices are introduced, quality of products and services increases, costs decline, and you create a globally … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Education, Management, Systems thinking

The Power of a Checklist

Posted on December 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Great article on The Checklist – If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do? by Atul Gawande A decade ago, Israeli scientists published a study in which engineers observed patient care in I.C.U.s for twenty-four-hour stretches. They found that the average patient required a hundred and seventy-eight individual actions per day, ranging from administering a drug to suctioning the lungs, and every one of them posed risks. Remarkably, the nurses and doctors were observed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #24

Posted on December 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Read the previous management carnivals. Is it Scrum or Lean? by Jeff Sutherland – “A thoughtful analysis of the relationship between complex adaptive systems and Lean will show that both Scrum and Lean are instantiations of complex adaptive systems theory.” Deming’s Inconvenient Truth by Shaun Sayers – “Deming actually believed that a lot of important management information is not only unknown, but also unknowable.” (See Curious Cat on: “most important figures … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Lean, Toyota and Deming for Software Development

Posted on December 2, 2007 by John Hunter

Mary Poppendieck on The Role of Leadership in Software Development, very nice 90 minute webcast: In this 90-minute talk from the Agile2007 conference, Lean software thought leader Mary Poppendieck reviewed 20th century management theories, including Toyota and Deming, and went on to talk about “the matrix problem”, alignment, waste cutting, planning and standards. She closed by addressing the role of measurement: “cash flow thinking” over “balance sheet thinking”. via, Leadership is not Obsolete for Self-Organizing Teams! Once again Mary provides … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development, Toyota Production System (TPS), webcast | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Getting and Keeping Great Employees

Posted on November 29, 2007 by John Hunter

I am not convinced of the premise of The new war for talent: that there will be a great shortage of talent soon. But the article makes some interesting points. The Conference Board CEO Challenge of 2007 points out that “Cracking the U.S. Top 10 this year is finding qualified managerial talent and top management succession.” … If we neglect to engage our own employees, those who are frustrated can surf hundreds of job boards to see what other opportunities … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Performance Appraisal, Respect | 1 Comment

Arbitrary Rules Don’t Work

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Hunter

Procedurally Enforcing Workflow by Michael Salamon: UI gem, and a great reminder for the RIAA/MPAA: You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary. I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it. Why matters. You can’t just expect people to act in a way that seems arbitrary. As I stated in Poka-Yoke Assembly, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Joy in Work – Software Development

Posted on November 25, 2007 by John Hunter

The wonderful cartoon in this link illustrates the all too common despair in work. Software programmers are more likely to really enjoy what they do. There are many reasons for this not the least of which is that they have a fair amount of control over their careers. If they don’t like what they are asked to do, the tools they are asked to work with… they will (more than others) leave for another job. Some managers get frustrated that … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments