Tag Archives: guest post

Remembering Peter Scholtes

Posted on October 14, 2014 by John Hunter

Guest Post by Fazel Hayati [the broken link was removed] Fall always reminds me of my friend Peter Scholtes. It was during 2008 annual Deming Institute fall conference in Madison, Wisconsin when Peter said farewell to his friends and colleagues. He gave a keynote titled Deming 101 (that full speech can be watched online). Although inactive for many years and managing numerous health challenges, he was sharp, witty and very happy to be talking about Dr. Deming, systems thinking, problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Your Purpose Must Be About You

Posted on May 19, 2014 by John Hunter

Guest post by Jurgen Appelo I’m a writer. It’s the one thing that I intend to do for the rest of my life. That means, when I focus on writing, I cannot focus on knitting. Somebody else will have to do the knitting, so I can focus on the writing. And maybe later, I can trade my wonderful book for someone’s beautiful sweater. This concept applies to all other professionals too. Everyone is entangled in a web of economic dependencies, … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Analysis Must be Implemented by People to Provide Value

Posted on March 25, 2014 by John Hunter

Guest Post by Bill Scherkenbach Every time I look at this picture, I think of Dr. Deming’s words to drive out fear and take joy in your work. We were talking in my home office when Sylvester saw a good lap and took it. Our conversation immediately shifted when both Dr. Deming and Sylvester started purring. The greatest statistical analysis is nothing if it can’t be implemented by people. But people learn in different ways. Some like good stories, others … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

You are a Fool if You Do What I Say

Posted on August 21, 2013 by John Hunter

Guest post from Mark Graban There’s an interesting quote from Taiichi Ohno in “Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management,” which I was re-reading today… “You are a fool if you do what I say. You are a greater fool if you don’t do as I say. You should think for yourself and come up with better ideas than mine.” The best examples of Lean in healthcare are examples where leaders and organizations learned, but did not blindly copy. Sami Bahri DDS (the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Value Stream Mapping for Fun and Profit

Posted on July 24, 2012 by John Hunter

Guest post by Evan Durant, author of the Kaizen Notebook blog [The broken link was removed]. I tend to get a little preachy about the importance of value stream maps, but they really can be useful tools not only to plan an improvement effort but also to monitor your progress going forward. In particular they provide a way to quantify the impact of changes to your process. Here’s a real life example as a case in point. For a particular … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Quality tools | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Impact of Leadership on Business Outcomes

Posted on October 18, 2011 by John Hunter

Guest post by Joe Folkman Have you ever been part of an organization where things were proceeding smoothly, where goals were achieved, people were busy and the organization was doing well? Then, a new leader came and everything suddenly changed for the better. The energy level of employees went up substantially, pride in the organization increased, the effort and dedication of individuals jumped, bold objectives were enthusiastically accepted and even greater results were achieved. The differences were not only measurable … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Psychology | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

One factor at a time (OFAT) Versus Factorial Designs

Posted on May 25, 2011 by John Hunter

Guest post by Bradley Jones Almost a hundred years ago R. A. Fisher‘s boss published an article espousing OFAT (one factor at a time). Fisher responded with an article of his own laying out his justification for factorial design. I admire the courage it took to contradict his boss in print! Fisher’s argument was mainly about efficiency – that you could learn as much about many factors as you learned about one in the same number of trials. Saving money … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Design of Experiments, Popular, Quality tools, Science, Six sigma, Statistics | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Achilles’ Heel of Agile

Posted on December 14, 2010 by John Hunter

Guest post by Jurgen Appelo When I wrote this, I was working in a big open office space in the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam (see photo). About 100 people work in an office that was the first of its kind in Europe, when it was built in 1929. And more than 80 years later, architecture lovers from all over the world still come to admire it, take pictures, and make drawings. I sometimes waved at them. Van Nelle office, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Embrace Diversity, Erase Uniformity

Posted on December 1, 2008 by John Hunter

Guest Post by Jurgen Appelo, author of the Managing Software Development blog. Five years ago, when I started working for my current employer, the entire organization (about 30 people) consisted only of 20-something white straight single males. The atmosphere was what you would expect from such an environment: conversations on football/soccer, lewd jokes, the smell of beer, and trash in every corner. In short, the perfect place to work, if you were a 20-something white straight single male. Then the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Science, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment

Dr. Deming’s 15th Point

Posted on September 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Guest post from John McConnell, Wysowl Pty Ltd Dr. Deming opened his first Australian seminar in 1986 with the question, “What are we here to do”? After some discussion he answered his own question with, “To learn”, and “To have a good time”. He repeated this opening at subsequent seminars. The Fifteenth Point Mr. Murray Mansfield of Melbourne has what I believe to be the only completely up to date version of Dr. Deming’s famous Obligations for Top Management. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Fun, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , ,

I Don’t Know

Posted on May 5, 2008 by John Hunter

Guest post by David Kerridge (originally posted to the Deming Electronic Network): This is part of a series in which I recall striking or thought-provoking things that W. Edwards Deming said, but did not put into his books. I remember taking a manager to his first Deming 4-day seminar. Afterwards my friend said to me “I was very impressed with that man. He said ‘I don’t know.’” Something in our culture makes us ashamed to admit ignorance. We expect quick, … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Deming, Management, Psychology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Deming and Performance Appraisal

Posted on April 22, 2008 by John Hunter

Guest post by Ron Kingen (originally posted to the Deming Electronic Network) Several weeks ago someone in the DEN list ask what did Dr. Deming recommend about this issue, well I ask that very question of Dr. Deming back in the 80’s when I had the good fortune to work with him. I had expressed my concern to Dr. Deming about several of his fourteen points that I either didn’t understand completely or did not fit with my experience and/or … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Where to Start Improvement

Posted on October 10, 2007 by davenave

Guest post by Dave Nave The question of where to start improvement is not an ‘either/or’ choice of top-down or bottom-up approach. The place to start is both. Leading an organization requires both a long-term and a short-term focus. With changing management practices being long-term and improving operational efficiency being short-term. The organization is a system. Optimization of any single component (management practices or production operations) frequently detracts from the whole. For many years I firmly believed (actually hoped) the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management | Tagged , , | 3 Comments