Category Archives: Management

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on December 8, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Management – Library Additions The articles added to our library this month are especially good, in my opinion. Recent additions to the Curious Cat Online Management Improvement Library include: * A Brief Guide to Interactive Planning and Idealized Design by Russell L. Ackoff * Improving Problem Solving by Ian Bradbury and Gipsie Ranney * How To Compare Six Sigma, Lean and the Theory of Constraints by Dave Nave * In the Beginning by A. Blanton Godfrey * A Holistic … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

Hack your way out of writer’s block

Posted on November 18, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Miscellaneous I thought this post, from 43 folders, on writer’s block, had some good ideas. If you are suppose to be witting something and instead are reading this blog perhaps you should take a look at the ideas offered and see if they help you get back on track.

Posted in Management

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on November 11, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Management – Library Additions Recent additions to the Curious Cat Online Management Improvement Library include: * Race for Quality Knows No Finishing Line by Venkatachari Jagannathan * Business Needs Determine What Black Belts Need to Know by Ronald D. Snee * Opportunities and Challenges for Industrial Statisticians in the 21st Century by Gerald J. Hahn * Innovation as a Deep Capability by Gary Hamel Find links to these, and other new additions, on the Curious Cat Management Improvement New … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

2004 Deming Prize Awardees

Posted on October 17, 2004 by John Hunter

2004 Deming Prize announcement – JUSE (Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers) This year again provided impressive showings by India and Thailand: of the 6 awards 3 went to Indian Companies and 3 went to companies in Thailand. And this is not a fluke, a unit of the TVS group (India) has been awarded in each of the last four years, see, “Deming medal for Lucas TVS and SRF.” 2004 The Deming Prize for Individuals – Mr. Akira Takahashi, Senior … Continue reading →

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

Taguchi Loss Function

Posted on October 14, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Written in response to this post on the Deming Electronic Network (DEN) [broken link removed]. The responses on this topic show the strength of the DEN. 1) thoughtful responses that should help the person posting the original message 2) thoughtful responses that are of interest to many of us 3) the chance to explore concepts in some greater depth than we may otherwise Relating to the 3rd item in my list I would like to explore part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , ,

Management Improvement Articles

Posted on October 11, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Management – Library Additions The Curious Cat Online Management Improvement Library includes hundred of online documents that have been individually selected as worthwhile for those interested in improving performance. Many of the documents we include are new, but many were written years or even decades ago (such as the article noted below by Sir R. A. Fisher written in 1947 where he sets the stage for Design of Experiments which is a critical part of Six Sigma improvement efforts). … Continue reading →

Posted in Management

How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business.

Posted on September 29, 2004 by John Hunter

Comment on How to Destroy Morale #1 from the excellent Agile Management Blog.If you want to learn to be more like Morris the Deming Institute has a seminar for you: How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business. Full disclosure, I played a small part in helping design the seminar. Serious the seminar is designed to help managers focus on the poor practices most complain about in the morning and then tolerate or actual practice in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Software Development | Tagged ,

Six Sigma and Deming Philosophies

Posted on September 27, 2004 by John Hunter

My oversimplified view is that the Deming philosophy aims to improve the system and Six Sigma is about improving within the current system. I think several Six Sigma efforts over the past 10 years have improved upon what many organizations tried with TQM, in large part by

1) putting substantial effort (significant training and application) into using statistical tools to improve

and 2) more focus on results (especially short term results) Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Six sigma | Tagged ,

Management Improvement History

Posted on September 23, 2004 by John Hunter

I do believe we need to improve our practice of Quality (and to do that we need to understand what happened in the past and why it was not more successful). The idea that Design of Experiments (DoE) was at the core of some Quality Movement to me is not at all accurate. In my experience only a few Quality professionals today understand what it means and how it should be applied. The idea that it was common place in the 40’s I seriously doubt (though I don’t have first hand knowledge of this). I find it difficult to believe we would have decided to stop using DoE if it was commonly done previously. The understanding I have from those that should know (like George Box and previously my father – Bill Hunter) is that it was not at all common practice and still is not outside of a few industries and even there it is isolated in the domain of a few experts. Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Design of Experiments, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

New Management Improvement Library Articles

Posted on September 2, 2004 by John Hunter

The Curious Cat Online Management Improvement Library includes hundred of online documents that have been individually selected as worthwhile for those interested in improving performance. The articles, reports, files, handbooks and guides touch on many areas of management improvement including: customer focus, lean manufacturing, systems thinking, understanding and managing with variation, six sigma, design of experiments, statistics, innovation, creativity, pychology, joy in work, continual improvement, mistake proofing (Poka Yoke), leadership, teams, process improvement and project management. Recent additions to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Public Sector, Six sigma

Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data

Posted on August 29, 2004 by John Hunter

We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system. Often people forget that the end result is not for the number to be improved but for the situation to be improved. We hope, if the measure improves the situation will have improved. But there are many reasons this may not be the case (one number improving at the expense of other parts of the system, the failure of the number to accurately serve as a proxy, distorting numbers, etc.). Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments