Category Archives: Popular

Illusions – Optical and Other

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

…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