Tag Archives: commentary

Support Theatre

Support theatre provides the appearance of supporting customers when in fact it is just treating customers poorly based on a management system that disrespects customers. It is a similar idea to security theatre that has become so popular for government … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Fun, Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Functional Websites are Normally Far Superior to Apps

An email to I just sent to Uber I understand the regular Uber app not having a functional website. Uber Eats not having a functional website is super lame. It strikes me similar to Walmart 15 years ago telling people … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

I have previous written on my belief that excessive executive compensation had reached the level of a deadly disease of western management (building on the W. Edwards Deming’s list of 7 deadly diseases). I named excessive executive pay and a … Continue reading

Posted in Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

The Aim Should be the Best Life – Not Work v. Life Balance

My father had the most job satisfaction of anyone I have known. He had no separation between work and life. We toured factories on vacation. I visited Davidson College in North Carolina because he was consulting with a client in … Continue reading

Posted in Health care, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Revolutionary Management Improvement May Be Needed But Most Management Change is Evolutionary

This month the ASQ Influential Bloggers were asked to respond to the question – will the future of quality be evolutionary or revolutionary? I think it has been and will continue to be both. Revolutionary change is powerful but very … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Out of Touch Executives Damage Companies: Go to the Gemba

When your customer service organization is universally recognized as horrible adding sales requirements to customer service representatives jobs is a really bad practice. Sadly it isn’t at all surprising to learn of management doing just that at our largest companies. … Continue reading

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Out of Touch Executives Damage Companies: Go to the Gemba

Deming and Software Development

I am sometimes asked about how use Deming’s ideas on management in a software development context. My belief is Deming’s ideas work extremely well in a software development context. The main issue is often unlearning some assumptions that people might … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Respect, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Kleptocrat CEOs and Their Apologists

I am disgusted by the lack of ethical and moral fiber of many CEOs of the largest corporations (along with their cronies and apologists) in the USA. This lack comes out in many ways (see all the scandals at the … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Investing, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Managers Are Not Non-Leaders: Managers Need to Practice Things We Classify as Leadership Traits

Saying “Managers care about efficiency and leaders care about effectiveness” is like saying “Doctors care about theory and nurses care about patients.” Managers that don’t care about effectiveness are lousy managers. Leaders that don’t care about the gemba are lousy … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Leadership and Management

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments