Category Archives: Systems thinking

How to Sustain Long Term Enterprise Excellence

Posted on October 3, 2013 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski asked ASQ’s Influential Voices to explore sustaining excellence for the long term. There are several keys to pulling sustained long term excellence. Unfortunately, experience shows that it is much easier to explain what is needed than to build a management system that delivers these practices over the long term. The forces pulling an organization off target often lead organization astray. Each of these concepts have great deal more behind them than one post can explain. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, build capability, continual improvement, curiouscat, in-process measures, long term thinking, Process improvement, respect for people, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

What is the Explanation Going to be if This Attempt Fails?

Posted on June 25, 2013 by John Hunter

Occasionally during my career I have been surprised by new insights. One of the things I found remarkable was how quickly I thought up a new explanation for what could have caused a problem when the previously expressed explanation was proven wrong. After awhile I stopped finding it remarkable and found it remarkable how long it took me to figure out that this happened. I discovered this as I programmed software applications. You constantly have code fail to run as … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged Creativity, curiouscat, experiments, John Hunter, problem solving, Psychology, Software Development, tips

Leadership and Management

Posted on June 4, 2013 by John Hunter

I don’t think the attempts to separate leadership and management are useful. I read plenty of things that are variations on Peter Drucker’s: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” A manager that is not concerned about doing the right things is a lousy manager. And a leader that doesn’t care about doing things right is a lousy leader. Another theme of this contrasting type quote says some version of: “Managers care about efficiency and leaders … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, John Hunter, leadership, lean manufacturing, management, quote, system thinking | 7 Comments

Peter Senge on Systems Thinking

Posted on May 28, 2013 by John Hunter

People must be willing to challenge their mental models in order to find non-obvious areas of high leverage – which allow significant improvement. System thinking is a term that is often confusing to people. From my perspective it is important to understand the importance of leverage. Understanding systems lets you find solutions that may not be direct, but provide powerful leverage. Another important point is looking at the organization as a system. Understanding the interdependence of the aspects of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged learning, long term thinking, Systems thinking, teams | 4 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

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 curiouscat, Data, Deming, Design of Experiments, George Box, John Hunter, Madison, management, Process improvement, quote, respect for people, Six sigma, Statistics, UK, William Hunter | 15 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

Accept Taking Risks, Don’t Blithely Accept Failure Though

Posted on February 13, 2013 by John Hunter

For discussion by ASQ’s Influential Voices this month, Paul Borawski looks at Risk, Failure & Careers in Quality. There is a bias toward avoiding the possibility of failure by avoiding actions which may lead to failure or even any action at all. This is a problem. The need in so many organizations to avoid failure means wise actions are avoided because there is a risk of failure. Many times the criticism of such cultures however gets a bit sloppy, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, experiments, Innovation, poka yoke | 4 Comments

Leanpub Podcast on My Book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability

Posted on January 23, 2013 by John Hunter

I recently was interviewed for a podcast by Len Epp with Leanpub: Leanpub Podcast Interview #9: John Hunter. I hope you enjoy the podcast (download the mp3 of the podcast). In the podcast we cover quite a bit of ground quickly, so the details are limited (transcript of the interview). These links provide more details on items I mention in the podcast. They are listed below in the same order as they are raised in the podcast: John Hunter’s professional … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Books, Data, Deming, John Hunter, leadership, management, Management Matters, overpaid executives, podcast | 2 Comments

Indirect Improvement

Posted on January 21, 2013 by John Hunter

Often the improvements that have the largest impact are focused on improving the effectiveness of thought and decision making. Improving the critical thinking in an organization has huge benefits over the long term. My strategy along the lines of improving critical thinking is not to make that the focus of some new effort. Instead that ability to reason more effectively will be an outcome of things such as: PDSA projects (where people learn that theories must be tested, “solutions” often … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged build capability, coaching, evidence based management, long term thinking, management tools, managers, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Using Incentives to Guide Social System Improvements

Posted on December 5, 2012 by John Hunter

When confronted with the challenge of managing a social system (or market) I like to find ways to use a few simple rules that will guide the system to find improvements. I favor allowing participants in complex social system to determine how to adapt. So I support, for example, a carbon taxes where the market can decide where it is most effective to invest to reduce carbon use (both to reduce our depletion of the resource and to reduce pollution … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Economics, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged Creativity, Economics, leadership, Systems thinking | 2 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 control chart, curiouscat, Data, Deming, in-process measures, Process improvement, Quality tools, Six sigma, Systems thinking, variation

Build Systems That Allow Quick Action – Don’t Just Try and Run Faster

Posted on September 21, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on the cries for “faster, faster, faster” that so often is a refrain heard today. I have long said that the measure of management improvement isn’t only about improving. It is the speed at which the management system and internal processes are being improved. Improvement is a given. If an organization is not improving every year the odds of long term success is … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, build capacity, continual improvement, management, Process improvement, respect for people | 4 Comments

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 government, lean manufacturing, Process improvement, Quality tools, USA, usability | 1 Comment

New Deadly Diseases

Posted on August 29, 2012 by John Hunter

Management and the economy keep evolving. Many good things happen. In the last decade the best things are probably the increased deep adoption of lean thinking in many organizations and the adoption of lean and Deming methods in software development (agile software development, kanban and lean startup [which I do realize isn’t limited to software development]). Sadly all the deadly diseases Dr. Deming described remain. And, as I said in 2007, I think 2 new diseases have become so widespread … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Economics, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged Creativity, curiouscat, Deming, executive pay, Innovation, John Hunter, lean management, lean manufacturing, overpaid executives, Systems thinking | 12 Comments

Ackoff: Corporations Are Not Led By Those Seeking to Maximize Shareholder Value

Posted on August 23, 2012 by John Hunter

If I had to limit myself to a handful of management experts, Russel Ackoff would definitely be in that group. Thankfully there is no such limit. Ackoff once again provides great insight, with great wit, in the above clip. A corporation says that its principle value is maximizing shareholder value. That’s non-sense. If that were the case executives wouldn’t fly around on private jets and have Philippine mahogany lined offices and the rest of it. The principle function to those … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Management, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged Ackoff, aim, culture, evidence based management, leadership, management webcast, purpose, quote, theory of knowledge | 8 Comments