Category Archives: Management

Transformation and Redesign

Posted on February 23, 2007 by John Hunter

Here is an excellent article from 1999: Transformation and Redesign at the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) (pdf link) by March Laree Jacques This article describes an organizational transformation effort undertaken at the White House Communications Agency. It shares the Agency’s efforts through the period of 1992-1998, beginning with a Deming-based approach to continuous quality improvement through implementation of a total organizational redesign using systems thinking precepts. It describes the obstacles to implementing quality concepts in a high visibility, high … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged , , ,

New Zealand Creativity

Posted on February 22, 2007 by John Hunter

Saving money by thinking creativity and leanly. $10 wok keeps TV station on air [the broken link was removed]: Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective? This is exactly how North Otago’s newest television station 45 South is transmitting its signal from its studio to the top of Cape Wanbrow, in a bid to keep costs down. 45 South volunteer Ken Jones designed … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service

Posted on February 20, 2007 by John Hunter

Once again Joel Spolsky spins a great post with, Seven steps to remarkable customer service. Read it. It’s crucial that tech support have access to the development team. This means that you can’t outsource tech support: they have to be right there at the same street address as the developers, with a way to get things fixed. This idea is powerful yet ignored by most companies. Management must look at the best way to improve the entire system not to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, IT, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

More Positive Press for Toyota Management

Posted on February 19, 2007 by John Hunter

via NY Times Magazine on Toyota, a very good article: From 0 to 60 to World Domination Certainly the most obvious example of Toyota’s long view is the Prius hybrid. I don’t think so, that is an example of their medium term thinking. Personal Robot Aids, biotechnology, housing and environmental development – that is long term thinking. More on Non-Automotive Toyota. And yet deconstructing Toyota means breaking down a corporation that uses all its resources, and more than 295,000 employees … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS)

What Job Does Your Product Do?

Posted on February 19, 2007 by John Hunter

Finding the Right Job for Your Product* by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, Gerald Berstell and Denise Nitterhouse (available online for a limited time only). The article has a very simple point. Customers buy your product or service to fill some specific need or desire. Knowing what need the customer is filling can help you improve your offering. Knowing what job the customer is using your product for lets you focus on improving your product for that market. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Management Articles, Process improvement | Tagged | 12 Comments

SWAT Raids – Systemic Failures?

Posted on February 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned Reddit (an online community that is highly skewed toward software engineers who are a bit irreverent) before: Dell, Reddit and Customer Focus. The site highlights stories voted up by the community and so the makeup of the community has a huge impact on what is highlighted. The users are very willing to challenge authority (and in fact anxious to do so I think). So some topics are common: criticizing DRM, science, criticizing the United States’ role in … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Management Improvement Carnival #5

Posted on February 16, 2007 by John Hunter

New Directions, Bad Lean Strategies and Leading Lean by Jamie Flinchbaugh – “Throughout my travels, I continue to be frustrated with the lack of creative thinking that is going into lean transformation strategies… When you begin convincing yourself that you are on the journey, when you really are not, you will get disappointed in the results and not really learn what should be different.” Start with the Customer, and Work Backwards by Peter Abilla – “Describe in precise detail the … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Management

Kaizen Online

Posted on February 15, 2007 by John Hunter

Kaizen, That Continuous Improvement Strategy, Finds Its Ideal Environment by Hal R. Varian Kaizen doesn’t just mean a business should keep trying new things. Rather, it refers to a disciplined process of systematic exploration, controlled experimentation and then painstaking adoption of the new procedures. In the original formulation, kaizen was applied to manufacturing, where experimentation could determine whether a new process resulted in quality improvements or cost savings in a matter of months. … The most successful online businesses are … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Management Articles, Software Development | 1 Comment

Scientific Thinking – the Modern Way

Posted on February 14, 2007 by John Hunter

“Scientific thinking” the modern way [the broken link was removed] by Bill Harris: What does this all mean? It simply means that Fisher’s designed experiments give us better and faster means to extract insight from tests on system dynamics models than the old one-factor-at-a-time approach. I thank Deb Schenk, then (and perhaps now) statistician at Hewlett-Packard Company, for teaching me and others about the design of experiments using Statistics for Experimenters: An Introduction to Design, Data Analysis, and Model Building … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Science | 1 Comment

Illusions – Optical and Other

Posted on February 12, 2007 by John Hunter

If the output for working for the year is a square. And the job is to produce dark squares who do you pay more A or B? Of course it is a trick question, the squares are the same color. But it doesn’t look that way at first does it? Optical illusions provide evidence that you cannot always trust what seems obvious. Dr. Deming’s red bead experiment provides some additional insight into the idea that our management systems often use … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Lean Six Sigma Efforts

Posted on February 10, 2007 by John Hunter

Lean/Six Sigma: The quest for efficiency in manufacturing [the broken link was removed]: After years of working with lean and Six Sigma principles, many companies realize that, to continue improving, they need to get suppliers and even customers involved — such as happened with Toyota. Good idea, but there is no good reason a six sigma effort didn’t do that from the start. Rather than laying off factory staff as processes have become more efficient, the firm has expanded its … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Six sigma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hospital Reform – IHI on CBS

Posted on February 9, 2007 by John Hunter

via: Safety and Quality In Health Care and Construction [the broken link was removed], One Doctor’s Crusade For Hospital Reform: Berwick estimates that for every 100 patients admitted to hospitals, there are 40 to 50 incidents in which patients are harmed — ranging from bruises and bed sores to much more life-threatening situations. “Between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year, killed by their care, not by their disease,” Berwick says. … Catherine De Santis would once have … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care, Management

Ackoff’s New Book: Management f-Laws

Posted on February 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Russell Ackoff is in London promoting his new book: Management f-Laws (see previous post: Ackoff’s F-laws: Common Sins of Management). A BBC article captures some of some of the great ideas from one of his talks (more articles… by Ackoff). How to avoid the fatal F-Laws by Peter Day: “Companies and organisations get things wrong most of the time,” he said. “The average life of a US corporation is only 11-and-a-half years, the rate of bankruptcy is increasing very year. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

3M CEO on Six Sigma

Posted on February 8, 2007 by John Hunter

3M in building spree to end capacity constraints 3M should complete the first of an 18-factory build-out in the third quarter, said its chief executive late Tuesday, as it makes up for years of underinvestment on the factory floor – even in its well-known household products. “Our major challenge will be getting all these plants launched,” said 3M CEO George Buckley at a Lehman Brothers conference. Buckley, who joined the St. Paul, Minn. company just over a year ago, has … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Manufacturing, quote, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment

Don’t ask employees to be passionate about the company!

Posted on February 7, 2007 by John Hunter

Don’t ask employees to be passionate about the company! People ask me, “How can I get our employees to be passionate about the company?” Wrong question. Passion for our employer, manager, current job? Irrelevant. Passion for our profession and the kind of work we do? Crucial. If I own company FOO, I don’t need employees with a passion for FOO. I want those with a passion for the work they’re doing. As we discussed in Stop Demotivating Employees Douglas McGregor … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Respect, Software Development

Compensation at Whole Foods

Posted on February 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Compensation at Whole Foods Market [the link that Whole Foods broke was removed] Most large companies also pay their executives large amounts of stock options in addition to large salaries and cash bonuses. However, this is not the case at Whole Foods Market. As the chart below indicates, the average large corporation in the United States distributes 75% of their total stock options to only 5 top executives with the remaining 25% going to everyone else in the company (actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment