Category Archives: Management

Toyota as Homebuilder

Posted on July 8, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Toyota Home – Applying the Toyota Production System to Home Building (broken link removed) from Evolving Excellence Toyota is all about cars and trucks, right? Not quite. I was just pointed to the Toyota Home [the broken link was removed] page on Toyota’s website, which briefly describes Toyota’s activities in the home building industry. From Toyota’s web site: Toyota Home – building 21st century comfort and luxury into houses in Japan. Come inside and see for yourself. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Top 25: Influential Business Leaders

Posted on July 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Top 25: Influential Business Leaders [the broken link was removed] Leaders like Warren Buffett (No. 4), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan (No. 9) and business consultant W. Edwards Deming (No. 22) changed the ways we do business. … Deming, using his theories of management and quality control, helped turn Japan into a manufacturing powerhouse. Lists such as this don’t have much value. However, I do think they have a little value in getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

BBC Radio Program on Deming

Posted on July 4, 2005 by John Hunter

BBC radio has an online podcast of a discussion of W. Edwards Deming‘s ideas. As far as I can tell the program is available for downloading just for the next couple days [link broken, so it was removed. Re-found a working link, who know how long it will work] (I am exploring if we can find a way to make the program available online permanently – if anyone has experience working with BBC and has some helpful info please let … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, UK, webcast | Tagged

Targets Distorting the System

Posted on June 13, 2005 by John Hunter

I still remember Dr. Brian Joiner speaking about process improvement and the role of data well over a decade ago. He spoke of 3 ways to improve the figures: distort the data, distort the system and improve the system. Improving the system is the most difficult. There is an interesting article on the effects of distorting the system: Tony Blair says he will ensure NHS targets do not stop people from seeing their GPs when they want to, from BBC … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking

Posted on June 9, 2005 by John Hunter

The Ackoff Center has posted a presentation, From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking (pdf format), given by Russell Ackoff in November 1993 at the Systems Thinking in Action Conference. As usual he presents many great ideas well. And ten years later the ideas presented are still fresh and worth reading. The ideas are more familiar than they were in 1993 but are still powerful. The presentation concluded with Now, I don’t want to take any more of your time, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Dilbert and Deming

Posted on June 5, 2005 by John Hunter

5 June 2005 Dilbert Strip on motivational posters – [update – well the pointy haired bosses running the site removed the page so we removed the link] New update the phb has been overthrown. Here is the strip: The point of that poster is your spirit should soar like an eagle while you continue to do mundane work Dilbert can show the silliness that is common place in many workplaces, as just that – silly. Point 10 of Deming’s 14 … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Open Source Management Terms

Posted on May 23, 2005 by John Hunter

Statistical Method Helps Boost Bottom Lines, Batting Averages [the broken link was removed] by Jon Van, Chicago Tribune: Using statistical techniques embraced by quality guru W. Edwards Deming, Holland has worked for a generation guiding enterprises large and small to boost efficiency. … Yet getting management support for an MVT project is vital, Holland said, because experience shows that only 25 percent of ideas intended to improve a process will have a positive effect. The others will either have no … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Curious Cat Blogs

Posted on May 19, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement We have started a new blog, Curious Cat Management Articles, specifically to highlight management improvement articles on topics like: Lean Manufacturing, Deming, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, Innovation, Customer Focus, SPC and System Thinking. We are still working out the best way we can use blogs effectively. Our current plan has several blogs targeted for slightly different audiences (so you may be interested in one, or several or all). The current Curious Cat Blogs: curiouscat.com Blog (this blog) … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Google: Good Service not Arbitrage

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

My comments on: Seth on Arbitrage from John Battelle’s Searchblog Thanks for the great blog. I have to disagree with this post however. First, I think Google chooses not to disclose more to investors mainly because the founders don’t go along with conventional wisdom. They would rather examine whether something is a wise use of management resources, and if not, don’t just do something just because most everyone else does. I don’t think the keeping trade secrets has much to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Google, Management | Tagged

Competing on the Basis of Time

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

Competing on the Basis of Time: The way to get rid of the big delay at verification is to move testing closer to coding – much closer. In fact, testing should happen immediately upon coding; if possible the test should have been written before the code. New code should be integrated into the overall system several times a day, with a suite of automated unit tests run each time. Acceptance tests for a feature should pass as soon as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Software Development

SEC chief quotes Deming

Posted on May 16, 2005 by John Hunter

Security and Exchange Chairman William H. Donaldson Speaks At Chartered Financial Analysts Institute Annual Conference [broken link removed]: This approach will, ultimately, better serve investors, and it will also gradually temper the pressures on some corporate executives to fudge the numbers. It would behoove us all to remember the words of W. Edwards Deming: “People with targets, and jobs dependent on meeting them, will probably meet the targets – even if they have to destroy the enterprise to do it.”

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

New Management Blog Focus

Posted on May 15, 2005 by John Hunter

We will use this blog to note blog post, articles and management resources. With this blog we will focus on serving as a central point to keep up with blogs and online articles relating to Management Improvement: Customer Focus, Process Improvement, Deming, Lean Thinking, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Statistical Tools, Quality Tools, Agile Management… This is the newest edition of the Curious Cat Blog Roster, which also includes: curiouscat.com Blog – focused on management improvement, economics, investment, travel, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Google and Acquiring Tiny Companies

Posted on May 12, 2005 by John Hunter

I like Google and enjoy reading about the company. Even so I find the number of articles about the minor moves they make strange. At some point this fascination with the minor moves Google makes will stop but for now it is hard to miss stories about Google anywhere I look. The post on John Battelle’s Searchblog (a great bog) about Google buying Dodgeball was a great example. The entire post: News is here. What is Dodgeball? I dunno, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Investing, Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on May 10, 2005 by John Hunter

Michael Porter’s Big Ideas by Keith H. Hammonds The world’s most famous business-school professor is fed up with CEOs who claim that the world changes too fast for their companies to have a long-term strategy. If you want to make a difference as a leader, you’ve got to make time for strategy.” 3 Six Sigma Articles (link to one document in word format) by Gerry Hahn 20 Key Lessons Learned: May 2002 What Does it Take to be a Master … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Six sigma

Traffic Congestion and a Non-Solution

Posted on May 9, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement, Problem Solving I read, Study: Nation’s Traffic Jams Worsening [the broken link was removed], today on CNN.com. That same headline could have appeared in newspapers every day for the last few years. For decades traffic congestion has been a problem in American cities and one that has continued to get worse. The typical proposed solution is to increase the number of roads. The theory behind this solution is not normally stated but, I believe, it amounts to: … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Brain Joiner on Dr. Deming

Posted on May 2, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement The Spring 2005 MAQIN newsletter [link broken, so it was removed] includes an interesting piece on a recent MAQIN event where the life and work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming was celebrated. Dr. Brain Joiner, author of Fourth Generation Management, gave a toast that included several Dr. Deming quotes: Best efforts are not enough, you have to know what to do. A numerical goal without a method is nonsense. The most useful numbers are unknown and unknowable. … Continue reading →

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