Category Archives: Management

Craigslist’s Ongoing Success Story

Posted on May 16, 2007 by John Hunter

Craigslist is a great web site focused largely on local connections and local ads (jobs, housing, classifieds…). It is in top 10 sites for the amount of traffic and a total staff of 24 people. eBay bought 25% of the company a few years ago but Craiglist retains a very pure customer focus. Craigslist’s Ongoing Success Story [the broken link was removed]: We don’t even look at what other companies are doing. We’re not setting out to conquer the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Innovation, IT, Management | Tagged

Management Improvement Carnival #11

Posted on May 15, 2007 by John Hunter

Please submit your favorite management posts to the carnival. Deming Point 2 – Adopt a philosophy of cooperation where everyone wins and teach it to everyone by Josh Nankivel – “The win-win environment spearheaded by the project manager and sponsor should make everyone think about issues and conflicts in terms of what is the best method of dealing with it for the whole project and everyone involved.” The wanderings of a lean hitchhiker by Jamie Flinchbaugh – “These are great … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Google Customer Service

Posted on May 14, 2007 by John Hunter

Google and Ice: A service story: “Ice.com has been very vocal with its criticism. It’s a classic case of a dissatisfied customer. So from a PR dimension this was a problem for Google.” … “We got a call from Google in February asking us what they could do to help us,” Gniwisch said. He said Google put together a team of people who flew to Ice.com’s headquarters in Montreal. “We were also on the phone with them two to three … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google, Management | 1 Comment

Keeping Track of Improvement Opportunities

Posted on May 14, 2007 by John Hunter

The Priority Trap [the broken link was removed – long term reliability of the web page links isn’t a priority I guess] by Dan Markovitz makes some good points: But if it’s not important enough to make the short list, then give yourself license to dump it. Maybe it’s something you would do if you had more time, or more energy, or if your mother would notice — but since you don’t have that time, and since you don’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged | 2 Comments

Predicting Improves Learning

Posted on May 10, 2007 by John Hunter

The Power of Prediction by Jared Spool: By asking these questions up front, we give the team members something to focus on. When a participant gets stuck somewhere they predicted, it stands out. They can take pleasure in knowing they identified a potential landmine. In our experience, it stands out even more when the participant gets stuck someplace nobody expected. These opportunities allow us a chance to learn something new about how users approach our designs. Great idea. As I … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged ,

Be Careful What You Measure

Posted on May 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Be Careful What You Measure by Mike Wroblewski: Although this recalculation of productivity had a positive affect, it is not what I would consider a triumph. Ongoing efforts are still required to truly increase productivity, so it’s back to gemba. However, I am modifying the lesson to “Be careful what and how you measure, measurements drive action and behavior” Excellent points. Behavior can be changed by what is measured. The problem with arbitrary numerical targets (to take one measurement related … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

ASQ Deming Medal to Peter Scholtes

Posted on May 7, 2007 by John Hunter

I am happy that the ASQ Deming Medal was presented to Peter R. Scholtes: for his efforts to inspire others to transform organizations by helping managers understand how successful leadership of people requires an understanding of the interdependencies among knowledge about variation, psychology, appreciation for a system, and the theory of knowledge. The Deming Medal is presented to those who, like Dr. Deming, have successfully combined the application of statistical thinking and management so that each supports and enhances the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Out of the Crisis

Posted on May 5, 2007 by John Hunter

Entrepreneur.com has named their 9 best classic business books of the past 30 years including Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming: Deming’s teachings challenged American business practice at almost every point. Among his most revolutionary ideas were the notions that poor management–not slacker workers–was responsible for most quality problems, and the way to boost quality was to carefully measure defects and the effects of changing processes. The article includes a section on what to ignore from each book, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management | Tagged , ,

Learn From Success and Failure

Posted on May 5, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota’s Win That Wasn’t, an interview with, Matthew E. May, author of The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation: Toyota had a goal of 15% of the U.S. market by 2010. They’ve exceeded that number three years earlier than anticipated. The assumptions didn’t include the Detroit implosion. I know that hansei–the Japanese word for reflection–is being conducted to better understand what happened. At Toyota, exceeding an expectation often receives the same treatment as missing an objective. There’s a need … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 1 Comment

Information Technology and Management

Posted on May 4, 2007 by John Hunter

Dog Eat Dog [the broken link was removed, sadly even MIT can’t manage a website properly and they have broken the link] by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson The CVS experience is a microcosm of a pervasive trend toward using IT to replicate not only digital goods and services but also business processes. This trend encompasses core activities such as customer service and order management, as well as support activities such as accounting and human resources. Once a company embeds … Continue reading →

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

Toyota, Lean, Consultants…

Posted on May 3, 2007 by John Hunter

Toyota’s success pleases proponents of ‘lean’ The publicity about Toyota becoming No. 1 will create another burst of energy to lean, even though a survey by management consulting firm Bain shows that just 19% of companies that have tried it are happy with the results, says Mark Gottfredson, Bain’s head of performance improvement. More evidence that lean works will result in interest in lean – that seems true. And then those that have an interest will be disappointed in their … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma, Toyota Production System (TPS)

Standardized Work Instructions

Posted on April 29, 2007 by John Hunter

Standardized work instructions are in important part of Deming and lean manufacturing management systems. Processes need to be standardized and continually improved (kaizen). Without a documented standard process variation normally increases over time as processes drift away from the desired standard. As new ideas for improved are proposed those changes can be tested using PDSA and adopted if successful. The key is not having a document saying this is what the standard process is, the key is having a document … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Womack: Toyota Now and the Risks They Face

Posted on April 27, 2007 by John Hunter

Why Toyota Won and How Toyota Can Lose by James Womack Toyota’s great risk, the way it can lose, is that its new managers and the managers in its new suppliers will revert to the old, mass-production mentality of the companies or schools they have come from. If this happens, Toyota’s management performance will regress toward the mean. Instead of moving the whole world to embrace lean management, Toyota will become just another company. And that will be a tragic … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 2 Comments

Learning Lean: A Survey of Industry Lean Needs

Posted on April 18, 2007 by John Hunter

A draft version of Learning Lean: A Survey of Industry Lean Needs [the broken link was removed] by Gene Fliedner and Kieran Mathieson is now available. This voice of the customer report is product of some of those involved in the Lean Education Academic Network. Conclusions: We studied what business practitioners think graduates need to know about Lean. Our results showed that practitioners are not concerned about specific technical skills. Instead, they want graduates to possess a systems view of … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools | Tagged ,

Management Improvement Carnival #9

Posted on April 16, 2007 by John Hunter

Listening, Responding, Refining by Matt Cutts – “But you don’t need blogs or digg-like sites in this picture to respond to feedback; those are just tools. The important thing is the process. It’s a process that many groups at Google use, and that (frankly) every team at Google should consider using.” related Curious Cat post: Dell Innovation Deming Revisited by Skip Angel – “The entire organization should look at the processes across the organization and determine if everyone is working … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Lean is Not Mean

Posted on April 13, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean and Not Mean: Simple Management Most Effective [the broken link was removed]: The “pull” rather than “push” point of view first pioneered by the Japanese car manufacturers means that, in lean, everything is seen from the customer’s point of view. Production is defined by the demand from the customer instead of the push from the manufacturer. “The driver of lean is all from the customer perspective,” says Holmes. “When we talk about value, its value from the customer’s viewpoint. … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles | Tagged