Tag Archives: evidence based management

Poorly Stratified Data Leads to Mistakes in Analysis

Posted on April 18, 2018 by John Hunter

Stratification can help provide insight into the nature of the real world situation. Determining what is a sensible conclusion to draw and what is not is aided by an understanding of statistics and expert knowledge of the situation the data is drawn from. Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged critical thinking, curiouscat, Data, evidence based management, management, Statistics | 2 Comments

The Importance of Critical Thinking and Challenging Assumptions

Posted on July 12, 2017 by John Hunter

There are many factors that are important to effectively practice the management improvement ideas that I have discussed in this blog for over a decade. One of the most important is a culture that encourages critical thinking as well as challenging claims, decisions and assumptions. I discussed this idea some in: Customers Are Often Irrational. There is a difference between saying people wish to have their desires met and people act in the manner to maximize the benefits they wish … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged change, critical thinking, culture, curiouscat, Data, decision making, evidence based management, problem solving, Psychology, theory of knowledge | 4 Comments

Integrating Technical and Human Management Systems

Posted on July 6, 2016 by John Hunter

ASQ has asked the Influential Voices on quality management to look at the question of integrating technical quality and human management systems. How do different systems—technical or human—work together? How should they work together? My view is that the management system must integrate these facets together. A common problem that companies face is that they bring in technical tools (such as control charts, PDSA improvement cycle, design of experiments, kanban, etc.) without an appreciation for the organization as a system. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, curiouscat, evidence based management, management concepts, management system, management tools, organization as a system, Psychology, quote | 2 Comments

Don’t Ignore Customer Complaints

Posted on November 20, 2014 by John Hunter

I find Paul Graham’s ideas very useful. I disagree with his recent tweet though. Update: See note at bottom of the post – Paul tweeted that his original tweet was wrong. Base your assessment of the merit of an idea on the actual merit of the idea, not the category you place the person in that is expressing the idea. His reply tweet addresses the problem with the first one in a very specific case. But you have “bugs” that … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus | Tagged continual improvement, Customer focus, customer service, evidence based management, feedback, gemba, organization as a system, Paul Graham | 2 Comments

Taking Risks Based on Evidence

Posted on November 14, 2013 by John Hunter

My opinion has long been that football teams are too scared to take an action that is smart but opens the coach to criticism. So instead of attempting to make it on 4th down (if you don’t understand American football, just skip this post) they punt because that is the decision that is accepted as reasonable. So instead of doing what is wise they do what avoids criticism. Fear drives them to take the less advantageous action. Now I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Data, Innovation, Management, Psychology | Tagged Creativity, evidence based management, experiments, fear, Innovation, leadership, Psychology, risk, sports | 3 Comments

Resources for Using the PDSA Cycle to Improve Results

Posted on October 28, 2013 by John Hunter

Using the PDSA cycle (plan-do-study-act) well is critical to building a effective management system. This post provides some resources to help use the improvement cycle well. I have several posts on this blog about using the PDSA cycle to improve results including: keys to the effective use of the PDSA cycle Richard Feynman Explains the PDSA Cycle Tom Nolan on the PDSA cycle The authors and consultants with Associates for Process Improvement have the greatest collection of useful writing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools | Tagged continual improvement, Deming, evidence based management, experiments, online resources, PDSA, Process improvement, Quality tools, tips | 5 Comments

The Art of Discovery

Posted on April 18, 2013 by John Hunter

Quality and The Art of Discovery by Professor George Box (1990): Quotes by George Box in the video: “I think of statistical methods as the use of science to make sense of numbers” “The scientific method is how we increase the rate at which we find things out.” “I think the quality revolution is nothing more, or less, than the dramatic expansion of the of scientific problem solving using informed observation and directed experimentation to find out more about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Data, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Science, Statistics | Tagged control chart, curiouscat, Data, evidence based management, experiments, George Box, Innovation, learning, Process improvement, quote, respect for people, Statistics, technology, webcast | 4 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

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

Customers Are Often Irrational

Posted on May 31, 2012 by John Hunter

Penney Pinching “The first rule is that there are no irrational customers,” Drucker wrote in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. “Customers almost without exception behave rationally in terms of their own realities and their own situation.” “in terms of their own realities and their own situation.” is a huge caveat. Essentially plenty of customers behave irrationally – by any sensible definition of rational. I agree, to make them customers and keep them as customers you need to develop theories that can … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology | Tagged critical thinking, Customer focus, decision making, Drucker, evidence based management, marketing, Psychology, Systems thinking | 6 Comments

Trust But Verify

Posted on January 16, 2012 by John Hunter

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 verify as process measures to verify the process is producing as it should. By verifying you know when the process is failing and when to look for special causes (when using control chart thinking with an understanding of variation). There … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Deming, evidence based management, in-process measures, Psychology, Quality tools, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

2011 Management Blog Roundup: Stats Made Easy

Posted on January 8, 2012 by John Hunter

The 4th Annual Management blog roundup is coming to a close soon. This is my 3rd and final review post looking back at 2001, the previous two posts looked at: Gemba Panta Rei and the Lean Six Sigma Blog. I have special affinity for the use of statistics to understand and improve. I imaging it is both genetic and psychological. My father was a statistician and I have found memories of applying statistical thinking to understand a result or system. … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnival, Data, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged Data, evidence based management, Six sigma, Statistics

Eliminate the Waste of Waiting in Line with Queuing Theory

Posted on December 15, 2011 by John Hunter

One thing that frustrates me is how managers fail to adopt proven strategies for decades. One very obvious example is using queuing theory to setup lines. Yes it may be even better to adopt strategies to eliminate as much waiting in line as possible, but if there is still waiting in line occurring and you are not having one queue served by multiple representatives shame on you and your company. Related: Customer Focus and Internet Travel Search – YouTube Uses … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged Customer focus, evidence based management, management, Process improvement, Quality tools, research, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Warren Buffett’s 2010 Letter to Shareholders

Posted on March 3, 2011 by John Hunter

Warren Buffett has published his always excellent annual shareholder letter. His letters, provide excellent investing insight and good management ideas. Yearly figures, it should be noted, are neither to be ignored nor viewed as all-important. The pace of the earth’s movement around the sun is not synchronized with the time required for either investment ideas or operating decisions to bear fruit. At GEICO, for example, we enthusiastically spent $900 million last year on advertising to obtain policyholders who deliver us … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Investing, Management | Tagged evidence based management, Investing, management, Psychology, Systems thinking, Warren Buffett | 1 Comment

Airport Security with Lean Management Principles

Posted on November 16, 2010 by John Hunter

The ‘Israelification’ of airports: High security, little bother [the broken link was removed] We [Israel] said, ‘We’re not going to do this. You’re going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport.” … “The whole time, they are looking into your eyes — which is very embarrassing. But this is one of the ways they figure out if you are suspicious or not. It takes 20, 25 seconds,” said Sela. Lines … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Deming, Lean thinking, Psychology, Respect | Tagged airlines, commentary, Creativity, evidence based management, Innovation, Lean thinking, problem solving, Quality tools, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

Actionable Metrics

Posted on July 22, 2010 by John Hunter

Metrics are valuable when they are actionable. Think about what will be done if certain results are shown by the data. If you can’t think of actions you would take, it may be that metric is not worth tracking. Metrics should be operationally defined so that the data is collected properly. Without operationally definitions data collected by more than one person will often include measurement error (in this case, the resulting data showing the results of different people measuring different … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Statistics | Tagged curiouscat, Data, Deming, evidence based management, management, Statistics, tips | 4 Comments