Category Archives: quote

Dr. Deming in 1980 on Product Quality in Japan and the USA

Posted on December 5, 2011 by John Hunter

I posted an interesting document to the Curious Cat Management Library: it includes Dr. Deming’s comments as part of a discussion organized by the Government Accounting Office in 1980 on Quality in Japan and the United States. The document provides some interesting thoughts from Dr. Deming and others; Dr. Deming’s statements start on page 52 of the document. For those really interested in management improvement ideas it is a great read. I imagine most managers wouldn’t enjoy it though (it … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, government, Japan, Lean thinking, management, management history, managing people, Process improvement, Psychology, Public Sector, quality, Quality tools, quote, respect for people, SPC, Statistics, Systems thinking, variation

Manufacturing Skills Gap or Management Skills Gap?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by John Hunter

I stumble across articles discussing the problem of manufacturers having difficulty finding workers with the skills they need (in the USA largely, but elsewhere too) somewhat regularly. While it is true that companies have this problem, I think looking at the problem in that way might not be the most insightful view. Is the problem just that potential workers don’t having the right skills or the result of a long term management skills gap? To me, the current manufacturing skills … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, Deming, hiring, jobs, lean manufacturing, long term thinking, management, managing people, Manufacturing, problem solving, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking, workplace improvement | 3 Comments

Rethinking or Moving Beyond Deming Often Just Means Applying More of What Dr. Deming Actually Said

Posted on October 26, 2011 by John Hunter

Don Reinertsen – Is It Time to Rethink Deming? [the broken link was removed] AGILEMinds I feel very strongly about the value of Deming’s ideas. I am glad people challenge those ideas and try to push forward management thinking. Helping us manage organizations better (to get better results and allow people to better enjoy their jobs and lives) is why I value Deming’s ideas. To the extent we find better ideas I am very happy. I understand I will disagree … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Software Development | Tagged commentary, continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, John Hunter, management webcast, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, respect for people, Software Development | 10 Comments

You’ve Got to Find What You Love

Posted on October 5, 2011 by John Hunter

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Education, Fun, Innovation, Psychology, quote | Tagged Career, Creativity, Education, Innovation, inspiration, intrinsic motivation, jobs, Joy in Work, motivation, Psychology, respect for people, Software Development | 9 Comments

Factorial Designed Experiment Aim

Posted on April 25, 2011 by John Hunter

Multivariate experiments are a very powerful management tool to learn and improve performance. Experiments in general, and designed factorial experiments in particular, are dramatically underused by managers. A question on LinkedIn asks? When doing a DOE we select factors with levels to induce purposely changes in the response variable. Do we want the response variable to move within the specs of the customers? Or it doesn’t matter since we are learning about the process? The aim needs to consider what … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Science, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged Design of Experiments, engineering, experiments, management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Six sigma, Statistics | 4 Comments

Engage in Improving the Management System

Posted on April 14, 2011 by John Hunter

To actually improve management you need to engage in continual improvement of your management systems. This requires doing the hard work of challenging complacency. The job of those improving the practice of management is not to make everyone happy and just ignore that the words about improvement are not actually carrying through to changes in behavior. Do Executives “Get It?” So many times executives spout the importance of new initiatives like wellness programs, safety programs, or improvement projects like Lean, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged business, commentary, continual improvement, Deming, John Hunter, lean manufacturing, management, management history, Psychology, quality, quote, Six sigma, Systems thinking, workplace improvement | 4 Comments

Respect for People Doesn’t Mean Avoiding Any Hint of Criticism

Posted on January 14, 2011 by John Hunter

As I said in a post a few years ago on respect for people and Taiichi Ohno‘s sometimes very aggressive style: The difference between respect and disrespect is not avoiding avoiding criticism. In fact often if you respect someone you can be much more direct and critical than you can with someone you treat as though they don’t have the ability to listen to hard truths and improve. I think we often have so little respect for people we just … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Psychology, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged curiouscat, lean manufacturing, Lean thinking, management, managing people, Popular, Psychology, Respect, respect for people, Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 4 Comments

Good Process Improvement Practices

Posted on November 8, 2010 by John Hunter

Good process improvement practices include: standardized improvement process (pdsa, or whatever) Going to the gemba – improvement is done where the work is done. You must go to the where the action is. Sitting in meeting rooms, or offices, reading reports and making decisions is not the way to improve effectively. evidence based decision making, data guides decision making rather than HiPPO broad participation (those working on the process should be the ones working on improving it and everyone in … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, quote, Respect, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, gemba, John Hunter, Lean thinking, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, respect for people, Six sigma, Systems thinking, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 8 Comments

Respect People: Trust Them to Use good Judgment

Posted on October 28, 2010 by John Hunter

Nordstrom’s employee handbook used to be presented on a single 5 x 8 card: Welcome to Nordstrom We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. So our employee handbook is very simple. We have only one rule: Use good judgment in all situations. Please feel free to ask your department manager, store … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged culture, management, managing people, Psychology, quote, respect for people, retail, Systems thinking | 3 Comments

A Theory of a System for Educators and Managers

Posted on October 25, 2010 by John Hunter

Excerpts from The Deming Library Volume XXI, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Russell Ackoff and David Langford demonstrate that educators can begin a quality transformation by developing an understanding of the properties and powers of systems-oriented thinking. You can order the entire video, as well as the rest of The Deming Library. Great stuff! If you enjoy this blog (the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog), you definitely should watch this webcast. This video has some great insight into education, learning … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Education, Management, quote, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged Ackoff, curiouscat, Data, Deming, Education, Innovation, learning, management, management webcast, quote, Systems thinking, theory of knowledge, webcast | 7 Comments

Positivity and Joy in Work

Posted on October 14, 2010 by John Hunter

After my father died, for years (at least 10), people I never had met before would emotionally share what a positive influence he had on their lives. He did great stuff helping organizations improve. But the majority of people were not telling me how much he helped the organization improve [there were also a bunch of engineers and statisticians 🙂 that were more impressed with his insights and expertise]. But most people talked about was how much happier they were … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect | Tagged Bill Hunter, Career, Deming, John Hunter, Joy in Work, management, Psychology, quote, respect for people | 8 Comments

Dee Hock on Hiring

Posted on August 16, 2010 by John Hunter

Great quote from Dee Hock, founder of Visa: Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience. Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind. Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people with all the other qualities. This short article from Fast Company is … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, quote | Tagged curiouscat, hiring, leadership, managing people, quote | 3 Comments

Build an Environment Where Intrinsic Motivation Flourishes

Posted on August 8, 2010 by John Hunter

50 years after Douglas McGregor’s classic, The Human Side of Enterprise, too many managers still have not learned that using extrinsic motivation is not an effective way to manage complex human systems (organizations). The issue is important to me because their is a huge amount of poor management based on this thinking (focused on how people need to be fixed/motivated) instead of fixing what management really needs to fix. You can succeed as a manager, and progress in your career, … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, curiouscat, Deming, intrinsic motivation, Joy in Work, leadership, managing people, motivation, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | 12 Comments

How to Manage What You Can’t Measure

Posted on August 4, 2010 by John Hunter

In Out of the Crisis, page 121, Dr. Deming wrote: the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable (Lloyd S. Nelson, director of statistical methods for the Nashua corporation), but successful management must nevertheless take account of them. So what do you do then? I am a strong advocate of Deming’s ideas on management. I see understanding system thinking, psychology, the theory of knowledge and variation as the tools to use when you can’t get … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged curiouscat, Data, Deming, management, managing people, Popular, quote, Statistics, Systems thinking, variation | 12 Comments

Delighting Customers

Posted on July 26, 2010 by John Hunter

If you have customers that see you as adequate you will keep customers based on inertia. But you have several big problems awaiting you. Those trying to win your customers business only have to overcome inertia – which can be very low hurdle (saving a small bit of money, some minor additional feature). If your customers are delighted they won’t leave (by and large) without significant reasons to. Also your attempts to increase price are very likely to lead to … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Customer focus, Deming, Management, Process improvement, quote | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Customer focus, customer service, Deming, management, Process improvement, quote, Systems thinking, tips | 5 Comments

The Problem is Likely Not the Person Pointing Out The Problem

Posted on July 19, 2010 by John Hunter

I believe the problem is likely not the person pointing out the problem. Now granted I have often been that person. Part of what I have been tasked with doing in various jobs is finding ways to improve the performance of the organization. I was told the managers wanted to hear about problems from someone working there, so I was asked to do so. What it often meant was they wanted someone to fix the problems they thought existed not … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged coaching, curiouscat, Deming, John Hunter, management, managing people, problem solving, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, respect for people | 5 Comments