Category Archives: Psychology

Taking Risks Based on Evidence

Posted on November 14, 2013 by John Hunter

My opinion has long been that football teams are too scared to take an action that is smart but opens the coach to criticism. So instead of attempting to make it on 4th down (if you don’t understand American football, just skip this post) they punt because that is the decision that is accepted as reasonable. So instead of doing what is wise they do what avoids criticism. Fear drives them to take the less advantageous action. Now I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Data, Innovation, Management, Psychology | Tagged Creativity, evidence based management, experiments, fear, Innovation, leadership, Psychology, risk, sports | 3 Comments

Stated Versus Revealed Preference

Posted on July 9, 2013 by John Hunter

My father provided me a good example of the flawed thinking of relying on stated preference when I was growing up. Stated preference is, as you might deduce, the preferences voiced by customers when you ask. This is certainly useful but people’s stated preference often do not match there actions. And for a business, actions that lead to customers are more important than claims potential customers make about what will make them customers. His example was that if you ask … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Popular, Psychology | Tagged Bill Hunter, Customer focus, food, Popular, Psychology, Quality tools, Statistics, theory of knowledge | 8 Comments

Experience Teaches Nothing Without Theory

Posted on June 11, 2013 by John Hunter

Experience teaches nothing. In fact there is no experience to record without theory… Without theory there is no learning… And that is their downfall. People copy examples and then they wonder what is the trouble. They look at examples and without theory they learn nothing. W. Edwards Deming in The Deming of America Our brains are good at creating theories, from our experiences, so that our brain can learn. However when this is done only subconsciously we can be led … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology, quote | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, learning, Psychology, quote, theory of knowledge | 9 Comments

Executive Leadership

Posted on May 21, 2013 by John Hunter

Senior executives must lead management improvement efforts. When senior executives only give lip service to management efforts the result is normally the same: little happens. When Dr. Deming was working with companies after the 1980’s NBC white paper, If Japan Can Why Can’t We, he wouldn’t work with companies if the CEO wasn’t attending the meetings and learning how to manage the organization better. Dr. Deming had seen far too many CEOs want improvement but wanted to delegate the effort … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, business, Deming, executives, leadership, management, productivity | 7 Comments

94% Belongs to the System

Posted on April 24, 2013 by John Hunter

I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special. Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. the system that people work in and the interaction with people may account for 90 or 95 percent of performance. Dr. Deming’s quote from the introduction to the Team Handbook I think, in looking at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, Psychology | Tagged blame, curiouscat, Deming, Joy in Work, managing people, organization as a system, Popular, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking | 15 Comments

What Does Respect for People Actually Mean?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by John Hunter

“Respect for People” is a great short hand statement. There is a great deal of complexity packed into those words. At the simplest level respect for people requires systems that are designed with people in mind – systems are not designed as though robots were doing what people did. Then those systems also must be built in a way that respects the inherent value of people. And the idea builds beyond that and grows into an understanding that in order … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Psychology | Tagged lean management, managing people, respect for people | 2 Comments

Your Brain Can Jump to Incorrect Conclusions

Posted on February 27, 2013 by John Hunter

How our brain works without us realizing it often is hugely beneficial, but it also creates some faulty conclusions at times. The video gives a good synopsis of the quick intuitive leaps our brains make all the time. These are extremely helpful, but occasionally lead us to fall into traps. I have discussed these idea before: The Illusion of Knowledge, Optical and Other Illusions. By understanding some of the traps our brain can fall into, we can improve our decision … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Psychology | Tagged learning, Psychology, system thinking, theory of knowledge | 2 Comments

Podcast Discussion on Management Matters

Posted on February 19, 2013 by John Hunter

I continue to record podcasts as I promote my new book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability. This the second part, of 2, of my podcast with Joe Dager, Business 901: Management Matters to a Curious Cat. The first part featured a discussion of 2 new deadly diseases facing companies. Listen to this podcast. Links to more information on some of the topics I mention in the podcast: Appreciation for a System Using the PDSA improvement cycle Dangers of Targets … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged Books, build capability, Data, Deming, John Hunter, Joy in Work, management, podcast, Psychology, Six sigma, Software Development, Statistics, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Double Loop Learning Presentation by Benjamin Mitchell

Posted on October 8, 2012 by John Hunter

Benjamin Mitchell – Using the Mutual Learning Model to achieve Double Loop Learning [the original video is not online anymore, I replaced it with another presentation by Benjamin on the same topic at a different conference at close to the same time – JH] Benjamin Mitchell presents ideas using Chris Argyris thinking on double-loop learning. “Double-loop learning occurs when error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization’s underlying norms, policies and objectives.” Single loop … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged change, communication, Deming, management, management webcast, Process improvement, Psychology, theory of knowledge

My New Book: Management Matters

Posted on August 2, 2012 by John Hunter

I have a new book in progress: Management Matters. It is now available in “pre-release format” via leanpub. The idea I am experimenting with (supported by leanpub) is pre-publishing the book online. The ebook is available for purchase now, and comes with free access to the updates. My plan is to continue working on the book for the next few months and have it “release ready” by October, 2012. One of the advantages of this method is that I can … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, curiouscat.com, Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Books, curiouscat, Customer focus, Data, Deming, John Hunter, Lean thinking, management, respect for people, Six sigma, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

Customers Are Often Irrational

Posted on May 31, 2012 by John Hunter

Penney Pinching “The first rule is that there are no irrational customers,” Drucker wrote in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. “Customers almost without exception behave rationally in terms of their own realities and their own situation.” “in terms of their own realities and their own situation.” is a huge caveat. Essentially plenty of customers behave irrationally – by any sensible definition of rational. I agree, to make them customers and keep them as customers you need to develop theories that can … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology | Tagged critical thinking, Customer focus, decision making, Drucker, evidence based management, marketing, Psychology, Systems thinking | 6 Comments

Joy in Work in the Quality Improvement Field

Posted on April 17, 2012 by John Hunter

As I mentioned previously, I will be posting on a topics raised by Paul Borawski, CEO, ASQ as part of ASQ Influential Voices. This month Paul’s post, Are Quality Professionals Happy On the Job? looks at job happiness in the quality improvement field. Paul stated he “wasn’t surprised that Forbes Magazine named software quality assurance engineer as the ‘happiest job’ in the U.S.” I was. Frankly looking at the results I question the methodology used – I just find their … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Psychology | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, Career, Joy in Work, managing people, Psychology, quality, respect for people, Software Development | 4 Comments

Motivation, Rewards, Performance Appraisals and Your Career

Posted on April 12, 2012 by John Hunter

In this interview Dan Pink again makes some great points relating to psychology, managing people and managing your career. Q. What kinds of programs can managers and companies put into place to motivate their workforce? Assuming companies are paying people fairly, they should do what they can to foster autonomy, mastery, and purpose. One of my favorite specific ideas is this: The Australian company Atlassian conducts what they call “FedEx Days” in which people work on anything they want for … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Respect | Tagged Career, intrinsic motivation, managing people, motivation, Psychology, respect for people | 1 Comment

The Customer is the Purpose of Our Work

Posted on April 9, 2012 by John Hunter

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. Mahatma Gandhi [his authorship of the quote is … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged aim, Customer focus, customer service, food, Psychology, purpose, quote, respect for people | 6 Comments

Respect for People: Optimize for Developer Happiness at Etsy

Posted on April 3, 2012 by John Hunter

The webcast above discusses the culture of software engineering at Etsy (a very popular site providing a marketplace and community for small businesses – artisan focus). Some of the key points of the talk. Etsy trusts employees. Etsy’s strategy is to optimize for developer happiness. Etsy has lunches twice a week where employees build community. Etsy sees code as craft. The echos Etsy’s value on authorship: “the people behind what we buy make commerce meaningful.” It re-inforces the belief that … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Psychology, Respect, Software Development | Tagged culture, engineering, IT, Joy in Work, managing people, Psychology, respect for people, Software Development, teams, trust | 6 Comments

Selling Quality Improvement

Posted on March 19, 2012 by John Hunter

In this month’s ASQ influential quality voices post, Paul Borawski asks How Do You “Sell” Quality? I am amazed how difficult it is to sell quality improvement. I look at organizations I interact with and easily see systemic failures due to faults that can be corrected by adopting management improvement strategies that are decades old. Yet executives resist improving. The desire to retain the comforting embrace of existing practices is amazingly strong. What sells to executives are usually ideas that … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, curiouscat, leadership, Management, marketing, Process improvement, Psychology, quality, Systems thinking | 4 Comments