Category Archives: quote

Leading Improvement and Enjoying the Rewards

The better job you do of managing the easier your job becomes. As a manager your primary responsibility is to improve the system: both the systems within your sphere of control and those outside of it. The more effectively you … Continue reading

Posted in Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Management Blog Posts From November 2006

I have selected a few great posts from the Curious Cat Management Blog back in November 2006. What Could we do Better? – There are many important ideas to improve management. This is one of the most important tips to … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Management Blog Posts From November 2006

The Customer is the Purpose of Our Work

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Keys to the Effective Use of the PDSA Improvement Cycle

The PDSA improvement cycle was created by Walter Shewhart where Dr. Deming learned about it. An improvement process is now part of many management improvement methods (A3 for lean manufacturing, DMAIC for six sigma and many other modifications). They are … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Agile Story Point Estimation

In agile software development tasks are documented as user stories. Then the level of effort for those stores can be estimated by assigning each story points. The velocity that can be produced in a period (called a sprint, for us … Continue reading

Posted in Data, IT, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Agile Story Point Estimation

Trust But Verify

The following are my comments, which were sparked by question “Trust, but verify. Is this a good example of Profound Knowledge in action?” on the Linked In Deming Institute group. Trust but verify makes sense to me. I think of … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dr. Deming in 1980 on Product Quality in Japan and the USA

Manufacturing Skills Gap or Management Skills Gap?

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

You’ve Got to Find What You Love

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Education, Fun, Innovation, Psychology, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments