Category Archives: Popular

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. … Continue reading →

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

What Could we do Better?

Posted on November 29, 2006 by John Hunter

At the Hunter Conference, years ago, a speaker (I forget who) talked about how to get useful feedback. He discussed how asking “how is everything” normally will get the response: “fine” (which is often that is exactly what the staff … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Popular, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Amazon Innovation

Posted on November 9, 2006 by John Hunter

I believe Amazon uses technology very well. They have done many innovative things. They have been less successful at turning their technology into big profits. But I continue to believe they have a good shot at doing so going forward Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, Management, Popular | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Hiring the Right People

Posted on October 7, 2006 by John Hunter

The job market is an inefficient market. There are many reasons for this including relying on specification (this job requires a BS in Computer Science – no Bill Gates you don’t meet the spec) instead of understanding the system. Insisting … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Customer focus, IT, Management, Performance Appraisal, Popular | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Toyota IT Overview

Posted on September 5, 2006 by John Hunter

What’s Driving Toyota? by Mel Duvall is an interesting, long article discussing Toyota overall and focusing on Toyota’s Information Technology systems. Technology does not drive business processes at Toyota. The Toyota Production System does. However, technology plays a critical role … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 9 Comments

Gladwell (and Drucker) on Pensions

Posted on August 21, 2006 by John Hunter

The Risk Poolhttps://management.curiouscatblog.net/2006/08/21/gladwell-and-drucker-on-pensions/ by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Blink): The most influential management theorist of the twentieth century was Peter Drucker, who, in 1950, wrote an extraordinarily prescient article for Harper’s entitled “The Mirage of Pensions.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics, Health care, Investing, Management, Popular, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Eliminate Slogans

Posted on August 13, 2006 by John Hunter

This poster may do a better job, than my posts, of showing why posters and slogan are not an effective management strategy. Text from the poster: “If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Popular, Psychology, quote, Respect | Tagged , | 3 Comments

New Rules for Management? No!

Posted on July 14, 2006 by John Hunter

Fortune recently published an article talking about the “new rules” for management using Jack Welch (GE six sigma) as the focus of the old rules. It seems to me there is nothing new here (once again). “New” rule: “Agile is … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Popular, Six sigma | 8 Comments

Quality and Innovation

Posted on July 4, 2006 by John Hunter

I think the The Quality Movement Vs. The Innovation Movement by Bruce Nussbaum makes a mistake in calling the innovation movement separate from the quality movement. Wow. It makes sense. The father of quality, of course, was Dr. W. Edwards … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Management, Popular, quote | 5 Comments

Management Advice Failures

Posted on June 10, 2006 by John Hunter

…when we fail to value the best ideas, instead valuing the new ideas, we are not as effective as we could be. We often accept pale copies of good old ideas instead of going to the good old ideas – which will often lead to a much richer source of knowledge. Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Management Articles, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments