Tag Archives: long term thinking

Curious Cat Management Improvement Institute

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Curiouscat

I have established the Curious Cat Management Improvement Institute as a non profit that will serve as an online resource to help those that want to improve the practice of management. Curious Cat Management Improvement Institute is dedicated to furthering the education, professional growth and development of current and future managers and the practice of management in organizations. That is quite a vast aim. We do think we can provide a useful service by connecting those interested in improving the … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management | Tagged CCMII, long term thinking, management

Factfulness – The Importance of Critical Thinking

Posted on June 4, 2019 by John Hunter

Factfulness by Hans Roling (of TED talks and Gapminder charts fame) is an exceptionally good book. It provides great insight into how to think more effectively and how to understand the reality of the world we live in (versus the large distortions so common in most people’s view of the world). Today the people living in rich countries around the North Atlantic, who represent 11 percent of the world population, make up 60 percent of the Level 4* consumer market. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Systems thinking | Tagged critical thinking, curiouscat, Data, long term thinking, Psychology, Systems thinking | 1 Comment

The Best Form of Fire Fighting is None at All

Posted on July 30, 2018 by John Hunter

The best form of problem solving is to avoid problems altogether. At the point you have a “fire” in your organizaiton you have to fight it. But it is better to create systems that avoid fires taking hold in the first place.* This is a simple idea. Still many organizations would perform better if they took this simple idea to heart. Many organizations suffer from problems, not that they should solve better, but problems they should have avoided altogether. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged long term thinking, mistake-proofing, organization as a system, problem solving, Systems thinking

Good Project Management Practices

Posted on May 2, 2018 by John Hunter

I find myself working as a project manager, or a program management consultant more frequently in the last few years. As would be expected by those reading the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog, my project management views are based on the management improvement principles I have discussed here for over 20 years. This post is in the style of my Good Process Improvement Practices and Practical Ways to Respect People posts. Good project management practices include Deliver a working solution … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged agile management, curiouscat, long term thinking, management concepts, organization as a system, prioritize, productivity, project management, Psychology, work in process | 3 Comments

Robots for Health Care from Toyota

Posted on April 12, 2017 by John Hunter

Japan has an extremely rapidly aging population. This increases the need for health care and for assistance with everyday tasks from the elderly. Japan is also among the leading countries for developing robots for health care and living assistance. I have written about the efforts to have robots fill some needs in Japan previously, on this management blog and also my partner Curious Cat Engineering blog: Toyota Develops Thought-controlled Wheelchair (2012), Toyota’s Partner Robot (2007), Toyota Human Support Robot (2012) … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, IT | Tagged engineering, Health care, Innovation, Japan, long term thinking, system thinking, Toyota

A Good Management System is Robust and Continually Improving

Posted on May 22, 2014 by John Hunter

Imagine a big clock, the big and little and sweeping second hands moving with absolute accuracy for years and years. Then, imagine various people working within it, somehow swapping out gears and cogs without the clock stopping or slowing down even a little. This is a fairly good quote on a good management system. Some people might not like the mechanistic model – comparing an organization to a clock, and I agree that isn’t the right model, but even so … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, long term thinking, management system, managing people, organization as a system, robust, Software Development, sports, Systems thinking, teams | 5 Comments

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Posted on November 5, 2013 by John Hunter

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary on a Japanese sushi restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, that is full of great quotes for those interested in continual improvement. Throughout the film people discuss a never ending focus on doing better and better – never becoming complacent. Quotes from Jiro Dreams of Sushi: Jiro: “Once you decide on your occupation you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with what you do… You must dedicate your life to … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Process improvement, Respect | Tagged continual improvement, Customer focus, Deming, food, Japan, Joy in Work, long term thinking, Psychology, suppliers | 4 Comments

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

Jeff Bezos: Innovation, Experiments and Long Term Thinking

Posted on September 4, 2013 by John Hunter

Jeff Bezos, bought the Washington Post. He has long showed a willingness to take a long term view at Amazon. He is taking that same thinking to the Washington Post: In my experience, the way invention, innovation and change happen is [through] team effort. There’s no lone genius who figures it all out and sends down the magic formula. You study, you debate, you brainstorm and the answers start to emerge. It takes time. Nothing happens quickly in this mode. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Innovation, Process improvement | Tagged Bezos, business, business model, Customer focus, experiments, long term thinking, PDSA, Quality tools | 2 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

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

Creating a Quality Culture

Posted on August 21, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on the Feelings and Quality Culture. I don’t think creating a culture of continual management improvement is complex but it takes more commitment than most organizations seem to have. To build a culture that supports customer focused continuous improvement a management system needs to reinforce consistent behavior over the long term. There is far too much saying certain things (customers are valued, people … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged culture, long term thinking, managing people, respect for people, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Moving Beyond Product Quality

Posted on June 12, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on moving beyond product quality. The opening paragraph of the Quality Council’s perspective is, “For some organizations, ‘quality’ remains a set of tools and techniques associated almost exclusively with quality control. For others, quality has evolved into a critical partner, closely linked with business model development and the enterprise-wide execution of long-term strategy to achieve results. The way to move beyond just the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, long term thinking, management, quality, Quality tools, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Long Term Thinking with Respect for People

Posted on May 9, 2012 by John Hunter

Toyota nearly went bankrupt near 1950 and had to lay off a third of their employees. A huge focus of the Toyota Production System as envisioned by Taiichi Ohno was to secure the long term success of the company. The priority of doing so is easier to see when you respect people and are in danger of witnessing the destruction of their careers. I can’t find the quote (maybe Jon Miller, or someone else, can provide one), but I recall … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, Deming, Economics, Investing, leadership, lean management, long term thinking, respect for people, Taiichi Ohno, Toyota, Toyota Production System (TPS) | 6 Comments

Manufacturing Skills Gap or Management Skills Gap?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by John Hunter

I stumble across articles discussing the problem of manufacturers having difficulty finding workers with the skills they need (in the USA largely, but elsewhere too) somewhat regularly. While it is true that companies have this problem, I think looking at the problem in that way might not be the most insightful view. Is the problem just that potential workers don’t having the right skills or the result of a long term management skills gap? To me, the current manufacturing skills … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, Deming, hiring, jobs, lean manufacturing, long term thinking, management, managing people, Manufacturing, problem solving, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking, workplace improvement | 3 Comments

Practical Ways to Respect People

Posted on November 3, 2011 by John Hunter

What matters is not your stated respect for people but your revealed respect for people. Here are some ideas that I collected on how to practice respect for people. Don’t waste people’s time: have meetings only when necessary and provide agendas in advance. Use email effectively instead of presenting material in meetings that can better be presented in email. Don’t have complex benefit manuals, aimed at making lawyers happy, that employees are expected to use. Do what you say you … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged coaching, curiouscat, Deming, John Hunter, lean manufacturing, long term thinking, management, managers, managing people, Psychology, respect for people | 12 Comments