Tag Archives: Public Sector

Interview of Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner and Peter Scholtes on Better Management Practices

Posted on October 26, 2021 by John Hunter

Interview with Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner and Peter Scholtes (listen to the interview) on a Public Affair, National Public Radio about improving management practices in the USA. The interview is over 30 years old now but the better management ideas are as true today as they were then. Sadly we have not improved management practices based on these ideas very much. There have been improvements in how many organizations are managed but those improvements are so slow that fundamental problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Public Sector, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged application, Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner, Data, management, Peter Scholtes, podcast, problem solving, Psychology, Public Sector, respect for people, Statistics

Transforming a Management System – A Case Study From the Madison Wisconsin Police Department

Posted on March 10, 2015 by John Hunter

This post in an excerpt from The Quality Leadership Workbook for Police by Chief David Couper and Captain Sabine Lobitz (buy via Amazon). Transformational Steps A Case Study Madison, Wisconsin (1981-1993) Step 1: Educate and inform everyone in the organization about the vision, the goals, and Quality Leadership. This step must be passionately led by the top leader. Begin discussion with top management team and train them. Discuss and ask employees; get feedback from them. Share feedback with the chief … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Deming, Management, Respect, Statistics | Tagged Books, case study, change, continual improvement, Customer focus, Data, Deming, leadership, Madison, management, organization as a system, Public Sector, respect for people, TQM, transformation | 6 Comments

George Box Articles Available for a Short Time

Posted on May 14, 2014 by John Hunter

A collection of George Box articles have been selected for a virtual George Box issue by David M. Steinberg and made available online. George E. P. Box died in March 2013. He was a remarkably creative scientist and his celebrated professional career in statistics was always at the interface of science and statistics. George Box, J. Stuart Hunter and Cuthbert Daniel were instrumental in launching Technometrics in 1959, with Stu Hunter as the initial editor. Many of his articles were … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector | Tagged Deming, George Box, management, Management Articles, management system, open access, Psychology, Public Sector, respect for people, Science, society, Statistics

Stu Hunter Discussing Bill Hunter, Statistics for Experimenters and EVOP

Posted on August 27, 2013 by John Hunter

In this clip, Stu Hunter talks about Bill Hunter (my father, and no relation to Stu Hunter), Statistics for Experimenters and EVolutionary OPerations (EVOP). Stu mentions Bill Hunter’s work with the City of Madison, which started with the First Street Garage (Out of the Crisis included a short write up on this effort by Dad, which, I believe, was the first application of Deming’s ideas in the public sector). There was also a great deal of work done with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Statistics | Tagged Bill Hunter, Design of Experiments, evop, George Box, Madison, Public Sector, Six sigma, Statistics, Statistics for Experimenters, webcasts | 1 Comment

Quality Processes in Unexpected Places

Posted on March 25, 2013 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski asked ASQ’s Influential Voices to explore the use of quality tools in unexpected places. The most surprising example of this practice that I recall is the Madison, Wisconsin police department surveying those they arrested to get customer feedback. It is obvious that such “customers” are going to be biased. Still the police department was able to get actionable information by seeking the voice of the customer. Certain of the police department’s aims are not going to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Data, Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Public Sector, Respect | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, Creativity, Customer focus, customer service, leadership, Lean thinking, Madison, Process improvement, Public Sector, respect for people, Systems thinking | 5 Comments

Better Management in Government

Posted on May 27, 2012 by John Hunter

This month Paul Borawski (CEO of ASQ) has asked the ASQ Influential Voices to share their thoughts on quality management in the public sector. I have been involved in quality improvement in government at the Office of Secretary of Defense Quality Management Office and the White House Military Office and elsewhere. Transformation and Redesign at the White House Communications Agency by March Laree Jacques provides a nice look at some good efforts. I also was on the board of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Public Sector | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, government, leadership, management, Public Sector | 2 Comments

ASQ Influential Voices

Posted on January 26, 2012 by John Hunter

I am joining the ASQ Influential Voices project for 2012. The effort started last year when ASQ chose a few people to participate in a group effort to share their thoughts on various topics in quality improvement. I have been asked to join for 2012, along with a couple lean bloggers (Mark Graban and Tim McMahon) and others. Each month the ASQ executive director will post on a topic and I, and the other influential voices participants, will share out … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged ASQ Influential Voices, John Hunter, Public Sector, quality, William Hunter | 4 Comments

Web Seminar with Gerald Suarez: Better Thinking About Leadership

Posted on January 23, 2012 by John Hunter

In2In offers some great opportunities for those interested in management improvement. Their conference is excellent. They also offer various conference calls with speakers knowledgeable about Deming and Ackoff’s ideas. These normally take the form of conference call presentations (similar to a podcast) followed by some question and answers. The consistently get remarkable people like, Gerald Suarez, and earlier: Peter Scholtes and Brian Joiner. Gerald Suarez is kicking off the new InThinking Network monthly webinar series. I worked for Gerald at … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Public Sector, Systems thinking | Tagged Ackoff, Deming, leadership, learning, Public Sector, seminar, training | 1 Comment

Dr. Deming in 1980 on Product Quality in Japan and the USA

Posted on December 5, 2011 by John Hunter

I posted an interesting document to the Curious Cat Management Library: it includes Dr. Deming’s comments as part of a discussion organized by the Government Accounting Office in 1980 on Quality in Japan and the United States. The document provides some interesting thoughts from Dr. Deming and others; Dr. Deming’s statements start on page 52 of the document. For those really interested in management improvement ideas it is a great read. I imagine most managers wouldn’t enjoy it though (it … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector, Quality tools, quote, Respect, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged continual improvement, curiouscat, Deming, government, Japan, Lean thinking, management, management history, managing people, Process improvement, Psychology, Public Sector, quality, Quality tools, quote, respect for people, SPC, Statistics, Systems thinking, variation

How ‘Buy American’ Can Hurt U.S. Firms

Posted on September 16, 2009 by John Hunter

How ‘Buy American’ Can Hurt U.S. Firms Canadian communities angered by perceived American chauvinism have started a Buy Canadian campaign to exclude U.S. bidders from municipal contracts. “If that sticks, well, there goes 25% of my business,” said Mr. Pokorsky. “To me, Ontario may as well be Indiana.” Halton Hills, a town of 50,000 people about 25 miles west of Toronto, is one of about a dozen Canadian communities forging ahead with plans to amend their procurement policies to freeze … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Economics, Lean thinking, Systems thinking | Tagged Economics, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Systems thinking, Wisconsin | 2 Comments

Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street

Posted on April 30, 2009 by John Hunter

Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street The famous Pecora Commission of 1933 and 1934 was one of the most successful congressional investigations of all time, an instance when oversight worked exactly as it should. The subject was the massively corrupt investment practices of the 1920s. In the course of its investigation, the Senate Banking Committee, which brought on as its counsel a former New York assistant district attorney named Ferdinand Pecora, heard testimony from the lords of finance that cemented … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Systems thinking | Tagged Economics, ethics, government, Public Sector, regulation | 2 Comments

Combinatorial Testing for Software

Posted on March 26, 2009 by John Hunter

Combinatorial testing of software is very similar to the design of experiments work my father was involved in, and which I have a special interest in. Combinatorial testing looks at binary interaction effects (success or failure), since it is seeking to find bugs in software, while design of experiments captures the magnitude of interaction effects on performance. In the last several years my brother, Justin Hunter, has been working on using combinatorial testing to improve software development practices. He visited … Continue reading →

Posted in Design of Experiments, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged Bill Hunter, Design of Experiments, Process improvement, Public Sector, Software Development, software testing | 9 Comments

Lean Thinking in Minnesota Government

Posted on February 8, 2009 by John Hunter

The Office of Governor Pawlenty issued a press release on Minnesota’s Drive to Excellence effort: Increased Quality via Lean Continuous Improvement Reform – The State has adopted “Lean Thinking” as its preferred process improvement tool. So far, 18 agencies are actively involved, with 302 staff members participating in 38 Kaizen improvement events. These events have yielded significant improvements in the delivery of state government services, from issuing duplicate birth certificates to processing State Soldiers Assistance requests. … The Drive to … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Public Sector | Tagged government, Lean thinking, Public Sector | 1 Comment

Checklists Save Lives

Posted on January 17, 2009 by John Hunter

Checklists are a simple quality tool that have been used widely for decades. Pilots use them, without fail, to save lives. Some surgeons have been using them and the evidence is mounting that checklists can save many more lives if more in health care use them. Studies Show Surgeons Could Save Lives, $20B by Using Checklists Eight hospitals reduced the number of deaths from surgery by more than 40% by using a checklist that helps doctors and nurses avoid errors, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Health care, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged checklist, continual improvement, Deming, health care system, Process improvement, Psychology, Public Sector, Quality tools | 3 Comments

Federal Government Chief Performance Officer

Posted on January 15, 2009 by John Hunter

A Quality Manager for Obama President-Elect Obama has hired a quality manager, and her name is Nancy Killefer. She is the newly appointed “Chief Performance Officer” whose mandate is to manage budget reforms while eliminating waste in government processes, ultimately making it more effective. An MIT & McKinsey alum, Time calls her the “first official waste watchdog.” Previous administrations have had exactly the same thing (regardless what Time magazine says), so I don’t think we should get carried away. Eliminating … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Public Sector | Tagged change, commentary, curiouscat, Deming, government, John Hunter, management, Public Sector, quality, quote | 1 Comment

Lean Management in Policing

Posted on August 18, 2008 by John Hunter

Justice served up Jacksonville–style is all lean [broken link was removed] by Joe Jancsurak: The Jacksonville Sheriff Office’s (JSO) Crime Reducing Initiatives Management and Enforcement Strategies (CRIMES) measures, tracks and analyzes crime-fighting statistics, such as the number of arrests and value of stolen and recovered property. Such findings are instrumental in determining the overall effectiveness of the JSO and where improvements need to be made. Investigations stress uniformity. Lean “changed how we approach investigations,” says Sheriff Rutherford. “We found that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Public Sector | Tagged government, Madison, Public Sector | 1 Comment