Category Archives: Popular

Dr. Deming Webcast on the 5 Deadly Diseases

Posted on August 26, 2009 by John Hunter

The W. Edwards Deming Institute has posted Dr. Deming’s 1984 video on the 5 deadly diseases of western management. Lack of constancy of purpose Emphasis on short term profits – “creative” accounting, focus on quarterly profits Annual Performance Appraisals – … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Performance Appraisal, Popular, quote, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Helping Employees Improve

Posted on February 12, 2009 by John Hunter

One aspect of managing people is to provide positive feedback and show appreciation. Doing so is important. People benefit from encouragement and reinforcement. In addition to just telling them, take action to show your appreciation. The Dilbert workplace is alive … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Fun, Management Articles, Popular, Respect, Software Development, Statistics, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Creating Customers For Life

Posted on December 18, 2008 by John Hunter

Shopping at Trader Joe’s is odd. The workers actually seem like they like that they have customers. Continue reading →

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Eric Schmidt on Management at Google

Posted on November 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Eric Schmidt speaks at the Management Lab Summit on May 29, 2008 in Half Moon Bay, California. Conversation with Professor Gary Hamel. “The culture can be thought of as a ship and iterate culture with transparency for what people are … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Creativity, Google, Management, Popular, Software Development, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Toyota Execution Not Close to Being Copied

Posted on May 7, 2008 by John Hunter

The Open Secret of Success Toyota’s innovations, by contrast, have [focused] on process rather than on product, on the factory floor rather than on the showroom. That has made those innovations hard to see. But it hasn’t made them any … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Creating Jobs

Posted on January 19, 2008 by John Hunter

Do Lean Companies Create Fewer Jobs? No, they create more. If you assume the lean company grows sales at the same rate as some poorly management company then it may well be that the lean company creates fewer jobs. However … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Deming Companies

Posted on December 17, 2007 by John Hunter

I get asked for examples of Deming managed companies fairly often. And recently I have had a number of such requests. So I figured I would provide an answer as a blog post. First, Dr. Deming would respond to such … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Arbitrary Rules Don’t Work

Posted on November 28, 2007 by John Hunter

Procedurally Enforcing Workflow by Michael Salamon: UI gem, and a great reminder for the RIAA/MPAA: You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary. I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it. Why matters. … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Great Marissa Mayer Webcast on Google Innovation

Posted on August 9, 2007 by John Hunter

Marissa Mayer speech at Stanford on innovation at Google (23 minutes, 26 minutes question and answers). She leads the product management efforts on Google’s search products- web search, images, groups, news, Froogle, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Labs, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Innovation, Management, Popular, quote, Software Development, webcast | 6 Comments

Bad Management Results in Layoffs

Posted on June 3, 2007 by John Hunter

In response to Is Laying People off Really Anti-Lean? [the broken link was removed]: Let’s say you, a Lean enthusiast, are named CEO of a mid sized manufacturing company. Let’s also assume your market has turned down and the constraint … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments