Tag Archives: Quality tools

Why Use Lean if So Many Fail To Do So Effectively

Posted on February 15, 2012 by John Hunter

If less than 1% of companies are successful with Lean, why are we doing it? Lots of us are not. I would say the efforts I see “fail” are because they don’t do it. They have something they call TQM, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, curiouscat, Deming, John Hunter, lean management, lean six sigma, management, Quality tools, Six sigma | 11 Comments

Agile Story Point Estimation

Posted on February 8, 2012 by John Hunter

In agile software development tasks are documented as user stories. Then the level of effort for those stores can be estimated by assigning each story points. The velocity that can be produced in a period (called a sprint, for us … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, IT, Process improvement, Quality tools, quote, Software Development | Tagged agile management, project management, Quality tools, quote, Software Development, variation | Comments Off

Trust But Verify

Posted on January 16, 2012 by John Hunter

The following are my comments, which were sparked by question “Trust, but verify. Is this a good example of Profound Knowledge in action?” on the Linked In Deming Institute group. Trust but verify makes sense to me. I think of … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged Deming, evidence based management, in-process measures, Psychology, Quality tools, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

Eliminate the Waste of Waiting in Line with Queuing Theory

Posted on December 15, 2011 by John Hunter

One thing that frustrates me is how managers fail to adopt proven strategies for decades. One very obvious example is using queuing theory to setup lines. Yes it may be even better to adopt strategies to eliminate as much waiting … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged Customer focus, evidence based management, management, Process improvement, Quality tools, research, Systems thinking | 2 Comments

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 … 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 | Comments Off

Management Blog Posts From October 2006

Posted on October 25, 2011 by John Hunter

I have selected a few posts from the Curious Cat Management Blog back in October 2006 for those of you who were not reading this blog then. Why Pay Taxes or be Honest – “I don’t think acting illegally, immorally, … Continue reading →

Posted in Quality tools, Respect | Tagged continual improvement, hiring, Quality tools, respect for people | Comments Off

Not Ambiguous Sign

Posted on August 18, 2011 by John Hunter

I like the series of posts by Jon Miller on Ambiguous signs (another example). Here is a sign that got my attention recently and they succeeded in keeping me away (which I think was their intention). The area is near … Continue reading →

Posted in Quality tools | Tagged Quality tools, visual instructions, visual management | Comments Off

Visual Management with Brown M&Ms

Posted on August 15, 2011 by John Hunter

When you hear about rock musicians having a clause in their contract that they must have a bowl of M&Ms in their dressing room with all the brown M&Ms removed you could be excused for thinking: what will these crazy … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Quality tools | Tagged communication, Creativity, poka yoke, problem solving, Quality tools, visual communication, visual management | 3 Comments

Good Execution Can Make Management Tools Like Time and Motion Studies Useful

Posted on August 11, 2011 by John Hunter

In my experience most management concepts are applied poorly. Many of the concepts may also be bad. For example, performance appraisals are both done poorly and a bad idea. The solution is not to do performance appraisal righter: for what … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Quality tools | Tagged management, Quality tools | Comments Off

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 … Continue reading →

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