Category Archives: Quality tools

Using Data to Improve – Quality is a Journey to Excellence

Posted on November 3, 2026 by John Hunter

Quality is a Journey to Excellence is a 2 day management seminar that Bill Hunter (my father) recorded in 1985 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The embedded clip shows the fourth section of a the seminar on using data to improve. meetings can go very smoothly and directly to solutions and get a lot of things done if somebody just brings the data. And if there is no data the only basis on which you can have a discussion is everybody’s … Continue reading →

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In Praise of Data-Driven Management (AKA “Why You Should be Skeptical of HiPPO’s”)

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Curiouscat

Guest post by Justin Hunter, originally published 18 August 2009. Jeff Fry recently linked to a fantastic webcast in Controlled Experiments To Test For Bugs In Our Mental Models. I would highly recommend it to anyone without any reservations. Ron Kohavi, of Microsoft Research does a superb job of using interesting real-world examples to explain the benefits of conducting small experiments with web site content and the advantages of making data-driven decisions. I firmly believe that the power of applied … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, IT, Management, Psychology, Quality tools, Software Development, Statistics | Tagged , , , ,

Improving Management with Tools and Knowledge

Posted on May 10, 2017 by John Hunter

Too often today I hear people disparaging management tools/concepts (PDSA cycle, mistake proofing, flowcharts, design of experiments, gemba…). The frequently voiced notion is that tools are being applied and not helping improve management in the organization. But it seems to me using these tools re-enforce the best practices of management improvement. Yes, ignoring the underlying principles (while applying tools and concepts) drastically limits how successful an organization will be in improving management practices (and limits the results the organization will … Continue reading →

Posted in Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Applying Improvement Concepts and Tools to Your Daily Life

Posted on July 7, 2015 by John Hunter

This month the ASQ Influential Voices is taking a bit different approach. This month we are looking at applying quality tools in our personal life based on the post from other influential voice, Sunil Kaushik: How Lean Helped Me Travel To Egypt With Just $500. Sunil is on a nomadic trip around the world to learn and enjoy the experience while also helping others applying lean thinking. I just returned from my own nomadic adventure. I have experience applying quality … Continue reading →

Posted in Quality tools, Travel photos | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Magnetic White-Board Kanban Card Options

Posted on September 2, 2014 by John Hunter

Just some quick ideas for Kanban whiteboard magnetic card options from a question I answered on Reddit. Here is the best lean solution: Trying Out My Agile Kanban Board from Jon Miller. Why, well mainly I am kidding about it being the best, but if you don’t read his Gemba Panta Rei blog you should! Go add it to your RSS feed reader, before you continue with this post. Ok, welcome back. In addition to thinking his blog is great … Continue reading →

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George Box Webcast on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement

Posted on June 11, 2014 by John Hunter

George Box lecture on Statistical Design in Quality Improvement at the Second International Tampere Conference in Statistics, University of Tampere, Finland (1987). Early on he shows a graph showing the problems with American cars steady over a 10 years period. Then he overlays the results for Japanese cars which show a steady and significant decline of the same period. Those who didn’t get to see presentations before power point also get a chance to see old school, hand drawn, overhead … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Science, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interview on PDSA, Deming, Strategy and More

Posted on May 8, 2014 by John Hunter

Bill Fox interviewed me and has posted part one of the interview on his web site: Predicting Results in the Planning Stage (sorry, the link has been hijacked to forward to an unrelated page [so obviously I removed the link], I have posted the interview which can now be reached here): Bill: John, what is your best process improvement strategy or tactic that has worked well for you or your clients? John: I would say the PDSA improvement cycle and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Resources for Using the PDSA Cycle to Improve Results

Posted on October 28, 2013 by John Hunter

Using the PDSA cycle (plan-do-study-act) well is critical to building a effective management system. This post provides some resources to help use the improvement cycle well. I have several posts on this blog about using the PDSA cycle to improve results including: keys to the effective use of the PDSA cycle Richard Feynman Explains the PDSA Cycle Tom Nolan on the PDSA cycle The authors and consultants with Associates for Process Improvement have the greatest collection of useful writing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

You are a Fool if You Do What I Say

Posted on August 21, 2013 by John Hunter

Guest post from Mark Graban There’s an interesting quote from Taiichi Ohno in “Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management,” which I was re-reading today… “You are a fool if you do what I say. You are a greater fool if you don’t do as I say. You should think for yourself and come up with better ideas than mine.” The best examples of Lean in healthcare are examples where leaders and organizations learned, but did not blindly copy. Sami Bahri DDS (the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Design of Experiments: The Process of Discovery is Iterative

Posted on July 30, 2013 by John Hunter

This video is another excerpt on the design of experiments videos by George Box, see previous posts: Introduction to Fractional Factorial Designed Experiments and The Art of Discovery. This video looks at learning about experimental design using paper helicopters (the paper linked there may be of interest to you also). [the video is no longer available online] In this example a screening experiment was done first to find those factors that have the largest impact on results. Once the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Art of Discovery

Posted on April 18, 2013 by John Hunter

Quality and The Art of Discovery by Professor George Box (1990): Quotes by George Box in the video: “I think of statistical methods as the use of science to make sense of numbers” “The scientific method is how we increase the rate at which we find things out.” “I think the quality revolution is nothing more, or less, than the dramatic expansion of the of scientific problem solving using informed observation and directed experimentation to find out more about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Science, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

George Box

Posted on March 28, 2013 by John Hunter

I would most likely not exist if it were not for George Box. My father took a course from George while my father was a student at Princeton. George agreed to start the Statistics Department at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and my father followed him to Madison, to be the first PhD student. Dad graduated, and the next year was a professor there, where he and George remained for the rest of their careers. George died today, he … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Design of Experiments, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Six sigma, Statistics, Systems thinking, UK | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Special Cause Signal Isn’t Proof A Special Cause Exists

Posted on October 3, 2012 by John Hunter

One of my pet peeves is when people say that a point outside the control limits is a special cause. It is not. It is an indication that it likely a special cause exists, and that special cause thinking is the correct strategy to use to seek improvement. But that doesn’t mean there definitely was a special cause – it could be a false signal. This post relies on an understand of control charts and common and special causes (review … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Six sigma, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

5s at NASA

Posted on September 11, 2012 by John Hunter

NASA did some amazing things culminating with landing on Moon. Much of what they did was doing many small things very well. They used 5s, checklists, gemba thinking, usability, simplicity, testing out on a small scale and much more. Here are a few photos from the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC. I also have some nicer NASA 5s photos from the new Annex near Dulles Airport, but, ironically, I can’t find them. These kits were used by … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Value Stream Mapping for Fun and Profit

Posted on July 24, 2012 by John Hunter

Guest post by Evan Durant, author of the Kaizen Notebook blog [The broken link was removed]. I tend to get a little preachy about the importance of value stream maps, but they really can be useful tools not only to plan an improvement effort but also to monitor your progress going forward. In particular they provide a way to quantify the impact of changes to your process. Here’s a real life example as a case in point. For a particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment