Tag Archives: curiouscat

Management Training Program

Posted on October 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Fog Creek Software Management Training Program by Joel Spolsky: Finally, when you’re really really good, they let you hang around with Yussef on the ovens. Yussef was about 100 years old and so good at running the ovens it was scary. When Gabbi tried to show me how to solve the problem of bread sticking to the conveyer belts on the way out of the oven, he ran back and forth like a lunatic for ten minutes, turning knobs, pulling … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Popular, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged curiouscat, Education, Joel Spolsky, long term thinking, management, Software Development, training | 3 Comments

Measurement and Data Collection

Posted on September 10, 2005 by John Hunter

This is my response to the Deming Electronic Network message (the site is dead, so I removed the link) on measurement. I find it useful to ask what will be done with the results of data collection efforts (in order to confirm that the effort is a wise use of resources). If you don’t have an answer for how you will use the data, once you get it, then you probably shouldn’t waste resources collecting it (and I find there … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Statistics | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Data, Deming, evidence based management, quote, Statistics | 5 Comments

Performance without Appraisal

Posted on April 2, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Managing with Trust post from Coding Horror This interesting post includes the quote: “It seems cheap to dispatch [performance reviews] without suggesting some alternative.” Dr. Deming would mention Peter Scholtes thoughts on why performance appraisals were bad management when asked about his belief that performance appraisals should be eliminated. In the short article Performance Without Appraisal: What to do Instead of Performance Appraisals, Peter wrote: Dr. Deming said of Performance Appraisals, “Stop doing them and things will get better.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, Performance Appraisal, Peter Scholtes, Software Development | 10 Comments

Who Influences Your Thinking?

Posted on March 10, 2005 by John Hunter

Comments on Who Influences Your Thinking? [broken link removed] – Survey results [broken link removed] > 1. Are people getting most of their information > from other sources? That would be my guess. Similar to the phenomenon of “the long tail” which is an interesting topic in its own right. We tend to focus on the popular few (books, musicians, movies, authors, computer programs…) but often the sum of the less popular many is more significant. See: The Long Tail … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, quote | Tagged Ackoff, Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner, curiouscat, Deming, Douglas McGregor, George Box, management, management history, Peter Scholtes, quality management experts, Six sigma, TQM, Womack | 4 Comments

Statistics for Experimenters – Second Edition

Posted on March 8, 2005 by John Hunter

The classic Statistics for Experimenters has been updated by George Box and Stu Hunter, two of the three original authors. Bill Hunter, who was my father, and the other author, died in 1986. Order online: Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, and Discovery , 2nd Edition by George E. P. Box, J. Stuart Hunter, William G. Hunter. I happen to agree with those who call this book a classic, however, I am obviously biased. Google Scholar citations for the first edition … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Design of Experiments, Innovation, Management, Manufacturing, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged Bill Hunter, Books, curiouscat, Data, Design of Experiments, engineering, George Box, Madison, Science, Six sigma, Statistics, Statistics for Experimenters | 2 Comments

Theory of Knowledge

Posted on January 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Deming’s Management System, as expressed in his book: The New Economics has four interdependent parts: Appreciation for a System (systems thinking) Knowledge about Variation (see: variation definition) Theory of Knowledge Psychology (the human element of management systems) Quotes on the Theory of Knowledge portion from The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming. “Management is Prediction. The theory of knowledge that management in any form is prediction” (Page 101) “Knowledge is built upon theory… Rational prediction requires theory and build knowledge … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged curiouscat, Data, Deming, management, prediction | 1 Comment

Operational Excellence

Posted on January 15, 2005 by John Hunter

In, the post Is Operational Excellence Dead? the argument is made that operational excellence is dead as a differentiator of companies. “All of the emphasis on outsourcing to low labor cost countries seems to imply that organizations no longer consider their operations strategic.” I would state that, in fact, the opposite is true. Leading companies, for years, have focused on continual improvement. Toyota is the best known example. They drove the adoption of just in time inventory and then other … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement, quote | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, Innovation, management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

USA Health Care Costs reach 15.3% of GDP – the highest percentage ever

Posted on January 11, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Health Care Spending In The United States Slows For The First Time In Seven Years The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) issued a report (the press release states that report will appear in the Jan/Feb edition of Health Affairs but does not provide a link so the link is my guess of where the report will appear) and a news release putting a positive spin on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Popular, quote | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, economic data, Economics, Health care, health care system, USA | 7 Comments

The Greatest Wall Street Danger of All: You

Posted on December 31, 2004 by John Hunter

re: Born Suckers [the broken link was removed] – The greatest Wall Street danger of all: you by Henry Blodget. Henry Blodget mentions two profoundly (though simple) important factors that lead to poor investment decisions: Prospect Theory and Outcome Bias. He lists 7 factors, I find two profound. Prospect Theory (more details) essentially states people are eager to “lock in gains” (sell positions with profits to realize gains) and hold losses (deffer selling positions in which they have losses so … Continue reading →

Posted in Investing | Tagged curiouscat, Investing | 1 Comment

Taguchi Loss Function

Posted on October 14, 2004 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Written in response to this post on the Deming Electronic Network (DEN) [broken link removed]. The responses on this topic show the strength of the DEN. 1) thoughtful responses that should help the person posting the original message 2) thoughtful responses that are of interest to many of us 3) the chance to explore concepts in some greater depth than we may otherwise Relating to the 3rd item in my list I would like to explore part of … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Quality tools | Tagged curiouscat, Customer focus, Deming, management tools, Quality tools, Systems thinking

NYC Travel Photos

Posted on October 9, 2004 by John Hunter

In August I spoke to the Fordham University Deming Scholars MBA Program. I spent the weekend with my brother’s family in Brooklyn. The photo to the left shows my nephew at the Statan Island Children’s Museum. The photo accurately conveys my weekend as I stuggled to keep up with his blur of activity. See more photos: Curious Cat NYC Travel Photos

Posted in curiouscat.com, Travel photos | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, photos, travel

Management Improvement History

Posted on September 23, 2004 by John Hunter

I do believe we need to improve our practice of Quality (and to do that we need to understand what happened in the past and why it was not more successful). The idea that Design of Experiments (DoE) was at the core of some Quality Movement to me is not at all accurate. In my experience only a few Quality professionals today understand what it means and how it should be applied. The idea that it was common place in the 40’s I seriously doubt (though I don’t have first hand knowledge of this). I find it difficult to believe we would have decided to stop using DoE if it was commonly done previously. The understanding I have from those that should know (like George Box and previously my father – Bill Hunter) is that it was not at all common practice and still is not outside of a few industries and even there it is isolated in the domain of a few experts. Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Design of Experiments, Lean thinking, Management, Popular, Process improvement, Quality tools, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged Bill Hunter, curiouscat, Deming, Design of Experiments, George Box, management, management experts, management history, quality, Six sigma, SPC, Statistics, TQM | 4 Comments

Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data

Posted on August 29, 2004 by John Hunter

We use data to act as a proxy for some results of the system. Often people forget that the end result is not for the number to be improved but for the situation to be improved. We hope, if the measure improves the situation will have improved. But there are many reasons this may not be the case (one number improving at the expense of other parts of the system, the failure of the number to accurately serve as a proxy, distorting numbers, etc.). Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Popular, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged Brian Joiner, curiouscat, Data, Deming, Madison, Management, Popular, quote, Statistics, Systems thinking | 7 Comments