Tag Archives: process thinking

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 →

Posted in Customer focus, IT, Software Development | Tagged bad customer service, Customer focus, customer service, IT, mistake-proofing, process thinking, tips, usability | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Management | Tagged curiouscat, Customer focus, design, Health care, health care system, management concepts, management system, management tools, mistake-proofing, Process improvement, process thinking, Quality tools, user experience, visual management | 4 Comments

The Value of Professional Conferences. Also Why Has There Been So Little Innovation?

Posted on April 28, 2015 by John Hunter

In the most recent ASQ Influential Voices post, Julia McIntosh takes a look at the costs and benefits of professionals attending conferences. I still remember being in high school and George Box talking about the primary value of conferences was … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Customer focus, Education | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, Career, conference, Creativity, Customer focus, learning, management history, Process improvement, process thinking, technology | 5 Comments

Peter Drucker Discussing The Work of Juran, Deming and Himself

Posted on September 10, 2014 by John Hunter

In this clip Peter Drucker talks about Japan and his work there as well as the work of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. His discussion highlights how he remembers the Japanese were so willing to take new ideas and … Continue reading →

Posted in Process improvement | Tagged Drucker, management webcast, process thinking, quality, quality management experts | 3 Comments

Root Cause, Interactions, Robustness and Design of Experiments

Posted on June 18, 2014 by John Hunter

Eric Budd asked on The W. Edwards Deming Institute group (LinkedIn broke the link with a register wall so I removed the link): If observed performance/behavior in a system is a result of the interactions between components–and variation exists in … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, problem solving, Process improvement, process thinking, Quality tools, root cause, Software Development, Systems thinking | 4 Comments

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 bad customer service, Customer focus, management system, mistake-proofing, Process improvement, process thinking | 4 Comments

Poor Results Should be Addressed by Improving the System Not Blaming Individuals

Posted on February 6, 2014 by John Hunter

My response to: Where is the Deming study that asserts most errors are in organization or process? There is no such study, it is based on Dr. Deming’s experience as I discuss in 94% Belongs to the System (improve the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged coaching, continual improvement, Deming, gemba, process thinking, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Bad Weather is Part of the Transportation System

Posted on January 6, 2014 by John Hunter

The job of managers is to create a robust system that delivers value to customers. A system that fails constantly (fails during the continual variation the system faces) is a failed system. Bad weather is part of the variation airlines … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged airlines, bad customer service, Customer focus, engineering, leadership, poka yoke, process thinking, respect for people, robust, Systems thinking, travel, USA | 8 Comments

Epidemic of Diagnoses

Posted on January 3, 2007 by John Hunter

What’s Making Us Sick Is an Epidemic of Diagnoses by Dr. Welch, Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Woloshin: For most Americans, the biggest health threat is not avian flu, West Nile or mad cow disease. It’s our health-care system. True, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged control chart, Deming, process thinking, Quality tools, tampering, variation | 4 Comments

How to Improve

Posted on December 12, 2006 by John Hunter

My management philosophy is guided by the idea of seeking methods that will be most effective.* There are many ways to improve. Good management systems are about seeking systemic adoption of the most effective solutions. What this amounts to is … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged blame, build capacity, continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, management, managing people, process thinking, Quality tools, Systems thinking, tips | 12 Comments