Category Archives: Management

Operational Definitions and Data Collection

Posted on September 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Americans’ Dirty Secret Revealed [the broken link was removed] by Bjorn Carey See also: Google News on washing hands [broken link was removed] – Soap and Detergent Association press release [another broken link was remove] A study released recently spawned a flurry of articles on washing hands. I have seen such reporting before and again I find it interesting (as sad as that might be). The stories repeatedly say things like: “Men’s hands dirtier than women’s.” The study actual was … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Measurement and Data Collection

Posted on September 10, 2005 by John Hunter

This is my response to the Deming Electronic Network message (the site is dead, so I removed the link) on measurement. I find it useful to ask what will be done with the results of data collection efforts (in order to confirm that the effort is a wise use of resources). If you don’t have an answer for how you will use the data, once you get it, then you probably shouldn’t waste resources collecting it (and I find there … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

North Cascades National Park Photos

Posted on September 7, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Travel Photos I finally have posted photos from my June 2005 trip to North Cascades National Park. See more photos from the same trip: Mount Saint Helens, Olympic National Park, North Cascade National Park. Photos from other trips: Curious Cat Travel Photos.

Posted in Management

Deming and Six Sigma

Posted on September 7, 2005 by John Hunter

My message in response to messages on Six Sigma [broken link has been removed] on the Deming Electronic Network: I think the DEN members criticizing the problems with Six Sigma make valid points. However, I personally think they often go too far. That is my opinion, and each of us have our own views. While some (probably even many) of the Six Sigma exhortations for Six Sigma quality would properly be seen as a slogan or a target without a … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Six sigma | Tagged | 4 Comments

Car Navigation Systems

Posted on September 7, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Thinking About in-car Navigation Systems by Robert Scoble: What’s frustrating is there’s no way to report a mistake. So, everyone who has Toyota’s system is doomed to repeat the same errors. While Toyota is doing great things they still have things to learn. As the quote above indicates they don’t think like software companies. Software companies have learned to take every advantage of the internet to collect feedback. And those used to such system will find fault … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, IT, Management

Innovation and Customer Focus

Posted on September 5, 2005 by John Hunter

Katrina – the landline – Telecom’s Response [the broken link was removed] by Stuart Henshall via Scobleizer Is it too much to ask Bell South to: * Let displaced account holders log in and claim their accounts (phone numbers) via the Internet. * Offer every subscriber in the devastated area a free soft phone with voice mail that replicates their old home number? Softphones that would do the job are available. If the numbers were transferable then Skype could probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Life Beyond the Short Term

Posted on September 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Life Beyond the Short Term by Simon Caulkin, The Observer. Last week’s column – ‘Adrift in a parallel universe‘ – about the perversion of management provoked an eloquent, sometimes passionate, response. … In the spirit of a positive alternative, a prime text is W Edwards Deming’s 14-point programme for transforming management, drawn up in the 1980s. Once again Simon Caulkin has penned an excellent article. In this article he gives an overview of Deming’s 14 points. I am glad to … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Statistics for Experimenters Data

Posted on September 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Statistics, Six Sigma, Management Improvement Data files for Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, and Discovery , 2nd Edition by George Box, Stu Hunter and Bill Hunter, are available online. We maintain on online resource for those using Statistics for Experimenters. Visit the page to find resources, or to let us know about resources (data sets, exercises, etc.) for those using the book. Google Scholar results for the book.

Posted in Books, Management, Statistics | 1 Comment

Fixing Healthcare from the Inside

Posted on September 3, 2005 by John Hunter

Fixing Healthcare From the Inside, Today by Steven J. Spear, Harvard Business Review (PHBs broke the link so I removed it). To understand how the improvements were achieved, it is necessary to appreciate why such a gap exists between the U.S. health care system’s performance and the skills and intentions of the people who work in it. Best efforts are not the answer, as Deming said. The changes I’ve described at West Penn were individually small, but taken together they … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management | Tagged | 1 Comment

What Kind of Management Does This?

Posted on August 31, 2005 by John Hunter

Already Mired in Sales Slump, Gap Closes Two Most Popular Internet Stores Both Gap.com and OldNavy.com have been closed for the past week, driving frustrated shoppers like Kira Storch of San Francisco to other Web sites to buy clothes. … Hoping to minimize the customer inconvenience, Gap waited until after most back-to-school shopping had been finished before launching a “soup-to-nuts” overhaul of its major e-commerce sites, said company spokeswoman Kris Marubio. She said the changes were too complex to enable … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Software Development | 1 Comment

Deming and the New York Times

Posted on August 31, 2005 by John Hunter

Steve Brant, in All The News That’s FIT To Print, mentions that the New York Times applied some of Deming’s ideas in the past. He also links to several articles that mention those attempts. One article is from the The New Yorker by Ken Auletta, 1993: Opening Up The Times: Sulzberger [the Times’ publisher] has prescribed the management theories of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a professor emeritus at New York University and a business philosopher whose theories helped revitalize Japanese … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Statistical Consulting

Posted on August 30, 2005 by John Hunter

In the current issue of AMSTAT News (American Satistical Association) the President’s letter is focused on Statistical Consulting and W. Edwards Deming. He makes a good point, echoing those others have been making for quite some time: More and more, we need to define ourselves, perhaps as an internal consultant, by striking out on our own. That self-defined role is a lot more challenging, risky, and fun, too! ASA bio of Deming – Curious Cat biography of Deming The Curious … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Statistics | 1 Comment

Critical Chain, TOC Email List

Posted on August 30, 2005 by John Hunter

Email lists have been going out of style, but they can be a useful way to interact with a shared community (when moderated properly). The Theory of Constraints (TOC) email list (Yahoo group) CriticalChain, is useful for those interested in TOC concepts. This list is for those who are interested in project management via Critical Chain Scheduling and Buffer Management, as well as the application of other aspects of the Theory of Constraints to project management. The target audience for … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Theory of Constraints

Deming on Management

Posted on August 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement I have added a new section to Curious Cat Management Improvement Connections titled: Deming on Management. W. Edwards Deming’s management ideas have greatly influenced modern management practice. Many quotes and thoughts are attributed to him. Sometimes these represent his ideas accurately, and sometimes they do not. In the Deming on Management section, I attempt to clearly indicate what he actual said and include some of my thoughts on the topic. For example, Dr. Deming is often incorrectly … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Deming, Management

Lean Manufacturing at Castcon-Stone

Posted on August 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Lean manufacturing transforms operations at Saxonburg company: Kerckhoff said redoing certain portions of products accounted for about 12 percent of the company’s volume of work last year. However, after implementing the new lean manufacturing initiative, the number is now down to about 4 percent, and most of the rework is so minor that the company would not have tracked it in the past.

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing

Toyota in India

Posted on August 28, 2005 by John Hunter

The Toyota Way Goes Bottom-up [the broken link was removed] by Subir Roy, Business Standard (India). An interview with managing director of Toyota Kirloskar: Atsushi Toyoshima. Toyota’s official vision is a 15 per cent share of the global market by 2010. But that is just a convenient number. The key internal focus has been set by the new president who has identified three goals: offer drastically better value in terms of environment, safety, quality and cost; contribute to the economy; … Continue reading →

Posted in Management