Tag Archives: mistake-proofing

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 … Continue reading →

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Add Constraints to Processes Carefully

Posted on November 23, 2016 by John Hunter

Take great care in adding constraints to processes to avoid doing so needlessly. Online you will frequently find forms that have required fields that needn’t be. Certainly if you were designing with focus on what is best for customers those … Continue reading →

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Human Proof Design

Posted on October 6, 2015 by John Hunter

Human proof design is design that prevents people from successful using the item. It is similar to mistake proofing except instead of prevent mistakes it prevents people from using it. When you see human proof design you will often see … Continue reading →

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Visual Management and Mistake-Proofing for Prescription Pills

Posted on May 5, 2015 by John Hunter

Good ideas often just require some sensible thought to think of an improved approach. Management concepts can help guide such thinking, such as mistake-proofing and visual management. To apply visual management requires giving a bit of thought to how to … Continue reading →

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Practicing Mistake-Promoting Instead of Mistake-Proofing at Apple

Posted on June 5, 2014 by John Hunter

Mistake proofing is a wonderful management concept. Design systems not just to be effective when everything goes right but designing them so mistakes are prevented. I have had several bad customer experiences in the short time I have had my … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

SWAT Raids – Systemic Failures?

Posted on February 18, 2007 by John Hunter

I have mentioned Reddit (an online community that is highly skewed toward software engineers who are a bit irreverent) before: Dell, Reddit and Customer Focus. The site highlights stories voted up by the community and so the makeup of the … Continue reading →

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European Blackout: Human Error-Not

Posted on November 18, 2006 by John Hunter

German utility E.On says major European blackout was caused by human error [the broken link was removed] Germany utility E.On AG said Wednesday that a European-wide blackout earlier this month that left millions without power was the result of human … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Designing In Errors

Posted on October 12, 2006 by John Hunter

TiVo’s “self-destruct button” destructs [the broken link was removed] In so doing, they’ve created a bunch of potential failures in which the user is locked out of her own equipment. It’s like those movies where an accident or a bad … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Poka-Yoke Assembly

Posted on December 12, 2005 by John Hunter

Got Boondogle asks, Do you Read Instructions Carefully Before Assembly? Nope, I don’t. I expect I can make a quick judgment if I really need to or I basically get it and can put things together well enough. I expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Customer focus, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged | 1 Comment